🍴Food & drink

Best Countries for Food Lovers in 2026

By WanderTourScore EditorialPublished 22 March 2026Last updated 22 March 2026

We ranked 25 countries for food-focused travel using a food-specific model that keeps dining-scene breadth at the center, adds a culinary-prestige layer from distinguished restaurants and gastronomy-city recognitions, and then uses culture, safety, and development as lighter support signals. It is designed to surface destinations that work especially well for real-world food trips.

#	Country	Culinary Fit	🍴 Food & Cuisine	🏛️ Culture & Heritage	🛡️ Safety
1	🇯🇵JapanEastern Asia	82	84	80	87
2	🇮🇹ItalySouthern Europe	82	78	100	77
3	🇫🇷FranceWestern Europe	82	77	97	63
4	🇳🇱NetherlandsWestern Europe	79	82	64	77
5	🇬🇧United KingdomNorthern Europe	78	73	87	70
6	🇧🇪BelgiumWestern Europe	75	75	69	72
7	🇨🇭SwitzerlandWestern Europe	75	77	64	82
8	🇪🇸SpainSouthern Europe	75	67	95	75
9	🇩🇪GermanyWestern Europe	74	68	98	73
10	🇵🇹PortugalSouthern Europe	68	68	70	79
11	🇺🇸United StatesNorth America	68	61	80	37
12	🇧🇷BrazilSouth America	67	62	79	28
13	🇦🇹AustriaCentral Europe	66	68	62	77
14	🇹🇷TurkeyWestern Asia	64	62	76	43
15	🇰🇷South KoreaEastern Asia	64	65	70	78
16	🇲🇽MexicoNorth America	64	54	87	24
17	🇳🇴NorwayNorthern Europe	64	69	53	77
18	🇨🇳ChinaEastern Asia	63	47	100	71
19	🇸🇪SwedenNorthern Europe	63	60	67	71
20	🇩🇰DenmarkNorthern Europe	63	62	62	77
21	🇹🇭ThailandSouth-Eastern Asia	61	66	53	54
22	🇬🇷GreeceSouthern Europe	60	58	74	72
23	🇨🇿CzechiaCentral Europe	59	57	70	78
24	🇭🇷CroatiaSoutheast Europe	58	59	58	77
25	🇮🇪IrelandNorthern Europe	55	63	27	76

Methodology

This guide uses a food-specific travel model. The ranking is led by our core food score, built from OpenStreetMap restaurant density and cuisine diversity plus open prestige signals from Wikidata and UNESCO-backed gastronomy city recognitions. Culture carries the strongest supporting role, while the separate culinary-prestige layer and lighter safety and development signals help keep the list grounded in real-world food trips. Countries with a Level 3+ US State Department travel advisory are excluded. Learn more about our methodology on the About page.

Data current as of June 2026 and may change. Rankings are generated algorithmically from publicly available datasets and are not a substitute for independent research. Do not rely solely on this information when making travel decisions. Always verify conditions with official government sources. Terms of Use · About our data