While the Eiffel Tower shouts romance, much of the city’s appeal lies in everyday attractions, from patisseries and chocolate shops to the Art Nouveau metro entrances.
By Rebecca Flint Marx, Food & Wine
From the Victorian inns of San Francisco to the teahouses of Kyoto, the world is full of romantic destinations. Although Paris is the obvious choice, there are many other cities (domestic and exotic) where the vistas, architecture and food can inspire passion and even marriage proposals.
Slideshow: See which cities are the most romantic cities
The qualities that make a city romantic are subjective. For some people, nothing surpasses Buenos Aires’s tango clubs and cutting-edge restaurants. Visitors can stay in the Palermo Soho neighborhood at 1555 Malabia House, which was originally built as a 19th-century convent and is now considered Argentina’s first designer B&B.
For dinner, the unmarked entrance to Tegui is hidden by graffiti, but once inside, you’ll find ambitious, locally sourced cuisine from hotshot chef German Martitegui.
Other travelers may be seduced by Fez. Morocco’s ancient fortress city has maze-like alleyways lined with mysterious windowless shops, tiled mosques, tea gardens and souks overflowing with fruits, spices and nuts.
Once the summer palace of a Moroccan pasha, the carefully restored Le Jardin des Biehn now welcomes hotel guests with a hammam, gallery space and large Andalusian-style garden.
Cecile Houizot-Nanot’s Fes et Gestes is another find in Fez. Housed in an old French colonial building with a high-walled garden, the restaurant is known for its traditional Moroccan tea service and tagines.
In Europe, Budapest offers architectural beauty and thermal baths; Paris, chocolatiers’ windows and the Seine at night.
From great food to magnificent ruins, fabulous nightclubs to medieval streets, the most romantic cities have one thing in common: They’ll keep you in the mood for love.
