Istanbul edges out Paris in a new culinary index, signalling a "massive shift from formal fine dining to street food heritage", as studies claim gastronomy has turned increasingly crucial in today's travel choices.
Eating local is one of the best parts of travelling, but, in the most crowded places, it can also mean stumbling into tourist traps serving mediocre food at sky-high prices.
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As more travellers watch their wallets, a new index by Holidu, a short-term accommodation rental platform, ranked the cities with the most Michelin-approved "Eat Like a Local" restaurants in Europe, including Turkey.
Two exceptions aside, it's mostly a Franco-Italian affair in the top 10, though a couple of cities might catch you by surprise.
Venice tops the ranking by a mile in this sense, with 18 local restaurants awarded the coveted title. To make it an even better experience for travellers, the city's lagoon has been quite heavily populated by flamingos in recent years as ecological efforts restore damaged wetlands.
Istanbul, Marseille and Nice share second place, with 10 "Eat Like a Local" restaurants each.
Kitchen hands on: Who has the largest number of cooking classes?
Some travellers want to go a step further and learn how to cook local food themselves.
Here, Rome comes out on top. The Italian capital offers more than 300 cooking classes. Perfect for mastering carbonara, cacio e pepe or fried zucchini flowers.
Florence ranks second with 250, and Paris rounds out the podium with 135.
Food tours are a more relaxed option but still a great way to explore a city's culinary scene, with the same cities leading the ranking here, just in a different order: Florence 129, Paris 123, Rome 112 — followed by Istanbul and Barcelona, each with more than 60 food tours.
All in all: The top 100 all-round food experiences in Europe
For those who can't decide between experiences or seek a more complete itinerary rather than just single tours or classes, Holidu has also put together a comprehensive ranking of the top food cities, which also includes the breadth of the local and national food offer.
"While Paris holds the glamour, Istanbul took the #4 spot (edging Paris into #5). It signals a massive shift in what travellers want — moving away from formal fine dining and toward rich, street-level food heritage", Holidu told Europe in Motion.
Data shows that Eastern Europe and smaller regional hubs are quietly stealing the spotlight for authentic "Eat Like a Local" experiences.
Budapest cracked the top 10, and Zagreb made the top 15, outperforming traditional heavyweights like Lisbon and Vienna in terms of authentic food scenes.
Also, capitals don't always win. The "sibling rivalry contest" had Germany's Munich beating out Berlin, Poland's Kraków topping Warsaw, and Switzerland's Geneva outpacing Bern.
Has gastronomy become the main driver behind travel choices?
For anyone who's ever been told they spend too much on food while travelling, there is finally evidence to prove critics wrong.
According to American Express' Global Travel Trends Report, more than 80% of travellers say that trying the local food and cuisine is the part of the trip they look forward to the most.
That's not all: another study, this one from online travel marketplace GetYourGuide, claims that 68% of travellers now eat more on holiday than they do at home. In fact, 12% claim to eat at least five meals a day when on a trip.
The result? Tickets for activities with "food tour" in the title grew by 20% in 2025.