Kent ‘thrilled’ at being named best family holiday destination

Best family holiday destination

Tourism bosses in Kent are celebrating the county being named Europe’s best family holiday destination.

Chief executive of Visit Kent, Sandra Matthews-Marsh MBE, said: “We are absolutely thrilled by this news. This is the happy result of a decade of ongoing hard work to transform the county’s image and bring Kent’s unique story to life.”

Kent – known as The Garden of England – was voted No1 in Lonely Planet’s Best in Europe 2015 and Sandra added: “As Lonely Planet recognised, our county offers ‘a host of opportunities for curious young minds’; we combine rich heritage with cutting-edge culture.

“The Kent coast (Botany Bay, above) is experiencing a thrilling renaissance, and we have more Blue Flag beaches than anywhere else in the UK. You don’t need to go to Europe for sun, sea and sand!

“Where else can you see Grayson Perry ceramics, pristine blue flag beaches, the Magna Carta, the White Cliffs Dover, Wayne Hemingway’s Dreamland, giraffes crossing a savannah, and taste award-winning English wine?”

best family holiday destination

Kent (Dover Castle, above) beat off Ireland’s beautiful County Kerry to the top spot, but there were two other UK destinations in the Top 10 – Skomer off Wales’s Pembrokeshire coast and nearby Marloes Sands.

The Top 10 European places for a family holiday are:

  1. Kent, England
  2. County Kerry, Ireland
  3. Black Forest, Germany
  4. Budapest
  5. Vorarlberg, Austria
  6. Aland Archipelago, Finland
  7. Ibiza
  8. Normandy, France
  9. Skomer and Marloes Sands, Wales
  10. Bohinj, Slovenia

See Visit Kent