The travel media company, one of the world’s leading guidebook publishers, made the announcement on Tuesday morning.

Paphos received the accolade in Lonely Planet’s Best in Europe 2017, which highlights, ‘the most exciting European destinations to visit this year’.

“Lonely Planet’s experts have highlighted the spectacular monuments and historic sites that visitors to the city can discover in Paphos, the first capital of Cyprus in Roman times, this year given new life with hundreds of activities and events celebrating regional culture,” said a spokesman for the company.

Paphos currently holds the European capital of culture title, an honour it shares with Aarhus in Denmark.

“The award brings with it world attention, significant cultural investment and the opportunity to showcase Paphos culture. And there’s much to admire,” the company said. “The island of Aphrodite has weathered so many occupations that history has piled monument upon monument on its sun-kissed shores: catacombs, temples, castles, medieval baths, Roman-era mosaics, and the Unesco World Heritage sites of Kato Paphos and the Tombs of the Kings all bring to life a fascinating bygone era.”

Inspired by this history, Lonely Planet said that Paphos was transforming itself, both socially and spatially, into an Open Air Factory of 300 accessible events aimed at building bridges between cultures.

Established more than 40 years ago, Lonely Planet’s travel experts have garnered a good reputation among travellers. The brand offers compelling travel content utilising various means, including an award-winning website, guidebooks, illustrated reference books, children’s titles, 12 international magazines, mobile apps and video.

More than 145 million Lonely Planet books taking in numerous destinations have been printed in 14 different languages.

Zagreb in Croatia took the top spot in the list as Europe’s number one destination this year, followed by Gotland, Sweden at number two, Galicia in Spain is third, Northern Montenegro is in fourth place, Leeds in the UK came fifth, Alentejo in Portugal claimed sixth place, Northern Germany is at seven, Moldova is eighth, Paphos is at number nine and taking the last spot in the top ten, is Le Havre in France.

Source: Cyprus Mail