Are these the 30 most beautiful towns in Europe?

The Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA) was challenged to come up with 30 smaller European destinations to promote to holidaymakers. This is what they came up with (and there is only one in Britain).

1. Kilkenny, Ireland

On the banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, Kilkenny is often referred to as a city though it is the size of a large town. Its heritage is on display in the form of Kilkenny Castle, St Canice’s Cathedral and its medieval walls.

2. Berat, Albania

Mangalem, the city of Berat’s old town, sits on the banks of the river Osum and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. In medieval times it was a frontier town of the Byzantine Empire, to which its citadel testifies.

3. Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

With a permanent population of around 10 people – but 600,000 annual tourists – the hilltop village has become a focal point of central Italian holidays. It is, however, at risk from the steady erosion of its volcanic perch.

4. Corricella, Italy

If the postcard pretty jumble of sun-bleached buildings, steep stone stairways and narrow, arched passages of this fishing village looks familiar, it could be because Corricella was used as a location in both Massimo Troisi’s 1994 film ‘Il Postino’ and Anthony Minghella’s 1999 ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’. This is the prettiest spot on the unpretentious island of Procida, low-key neighbour of spa-rich Ischia and glitzy Capri. There’s little to do here except watch the boats bobbing in the harbour, sip an Aperol-spritz at one of the waterfront bars or tuck into a plate of spaghetti with sea urchins, a local speciality.

5. Conwy, Wales

Conwy was the only UK location to make the JATA list of 30 beautiful European towns and villages. It is dominated by its incredible castle, but there are plenty of other cultural attractions to enjoy too, such as the Royal Cambrian Academy art gallery, Pals Mawr, one of the UK’s finest surviving Elizabethan townhouses, and Aberconwy House, the town’s oldest medieval merchant’s house, dating from around 1300.

6. Lech, Austria

A fashionable Austrian ski resort whose charm is often amplified by a covering of snow, Lech is an old farming village set high in a valley that spends large parts of winter cut off from the outside world, until the Flexen Pass can be cleared.

7. Hindeloopen, Netherlands

Readers will perhaps have heard of this town in northern Netherlands thanks to the winter ice skating that takes place on the frozen Ijsselmeer inland sea nearby. The old city itself has its own language, a mixture of West Frisian, English, Danish and Norwegian.

8. Lefkara, Cyprus

Famed for its lace, Lefkara is a village in south Cyprus. According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci visited in 1481, and purchased a lace cloth for the main altar of the Duomo di Milano.

9. Rovinj, Croatia

This Istrian gem, just up the coast from Pula, competes with Dubrovnik for the title of Croatia’s most picturesque destination. Jane Foster, our expert, writes: “With its pastel-coloured Venetian-style facades curving round a wide sheltered fishing harbour, backed by a hill crowned with an 18th-century church, it is irresistibly photogenic. Besides its luxury design-conscious hotels, rustic-chic seafood eateries and candlelit cocktail bars, its home to Zlatni Rt, a green peninsular planted with pines, cedars and cypresses, skirted by a coastal path leading to a series of pebbles coves giving onto warm turquoise sea, perfect for bathing.”

10. Soglio, Switzerland

Austrian painter Giovanni Segantini described Soglio as “the gateway to paradise”. High in the Swiss Alps, the village of 300 is also famous for its flowers – when not coated in snow.

11. Visby, Sweden

On the Swedish island of Gotland, Visby is a popular summer holiday destination for Scandinavians. Explore one of the best preserved medieval towns in Scandinavia, recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

12. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain

Famed for its dwellings built into the rock, Setenil de las Bodegas, 100 miles north-east of Cadiz, has also gained a reputation for its chorizo sausages from pigs bred in the surrounding hills.

13. Piran, Slovenia

On the Adriatic coast, the Venetian-style town of Piran is a fishing port with exquisite piazzas, churches, labyrinthine streets and fabulous waterfront fish restaurants.

14. Vlkolinec, Slovakia

Another Unesco World Heritage Site, this small hamlet is “a remarkably intact settlement of 45 buildings with the traditional features of a central European village,” says Unesco. “It is the region’s most complete group of these kinds of traditional log houses.”

15. Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic

A famous Eastern European spa town is where “famous composers, exhausted intellectuals and jaded aristocrats came to enjoy the restorative treatments and social whirl,” according to Claire Gervat, who visited for Telegraph Travel.

16. Quedlinburg, Germany

British writer Simon Winder described Quedlinburg as a “daft little Harz Mountain town” and said that its sheer beauty was never far from his mind. He misses its “rambling street pattern, the beauty of the countless, red-roofed half-timbered houses and, of course, the ‘pocket Schloss’ perched on its hill with a beautiful Romanesque abbey.”

17. Bernkastel-Kues, Germany

A “health resort” recognised by the state, Bernkastle-Kues is also, paradoxically, in the heart of a well-known wine-growing region. Its medieval marketplace is a popular draw, border by gabled timber-frame, 17th century houses.

18. Golyazi, Turkey

Golyazi, an ancient Greek trading city, is on one of the few islands dotted about the waters of Lake Uluabat.

Note: The Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to some parts of Turkey and urges caution to those visiting some part of the country, including Istanbul. See gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey for more information.

19. Reine, Norway

Reine is among the countless pretty ports in the Lofoten Islands. “Others include Nusfjord, Henningsvaer and Kabelvag (which dates back to the ninth century, making it the oldest village above the Arctic Circle),” says Telegraph Travel’s Oliver Smith. “In each one, you can see those classic pyramids of cod drying on wooden racks, and rent cosy, rustic wooden fishermen’s huts, or rorbuer.”

20. Sopron, Hungary

The site of a diplomatic picnic that helped end communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, Sopron is also home to more than 300 dentists. Now you know.

21. Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria

“It was here that the struggle for independence from the ‘Turkish yoke’ kicked off in 1876, and today Bulgarians recognise its significant place in their history,” wrote Robert Nurden for Telegraph Travel. “This picturesque town of half-timbered buildings, guarding the Sredna Gora Mountains and divided by the meandering River Topolnitsa, hosts important music and folklore festivals.”

22. Porvoo, Finland

The second oldest town in Finland, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, dates back to the early 14th century. Its old district is made up of a pattern of dense, medieval streets and wooden houses.

23. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France

This village is the Lot’s star turn. “It is so alarmingly perfect that it cannot have emerged, haphazard, from the Middle Ages,” says Anthony Peregrine. “Except that it has. The village is draped over rocks standing proud from the plateau. It marries the contours to the top, where monumental church and castle ruins dominate the valley, as they should. Near vertical streetlets and venerable buildings cram in. Peasants and pageants are but a breath, and aeons, away. Instead, we have artists, restaurants and tourists, which is also pretty good. When writer and founder of surrealism André Breton showed up, post-war, he bought the village’s oldest house immediately. ‘I ceased to wish myself elsewhere,’ he said: as pompous as you’d expect from an anarcho-surrealist, but clear enough.”

24. Riquewihr, France

A famous part of the Alsace wine-growing region, Riquewihr is “the prettiest village in the region, its medieval defensive walls still largely intact, and many of the half-timbered houses that hem the narrow streets date back to the 16th century,” according to Telegraph Travel’s Nick Trend.

26. Zalipie, Poland

This village in southern Poland is best known for its cottages decorated with intricate designs. The custom was reportedly begun by the women of the village more than a century ago.

27. Monsanto, Portugal

Monsanto is a mountain-top village in eastern Portugal where the homes were built to coexist with enormous boulders. Some of the rocks form walls and ceilings to various houses, which date back to the 16th century.

28. Ohrid, Macedonia

So beautiful is this tiny fragment of Macedonia - with its churches and houses arranged around the edge of Lake Ohrid - that it has been granted Unesco World Heritage status. It is a place to stand, stare, stroll at a slow pace, and soak up the scenery.

29. Kotor, Montenegro

“With its mountainous backdrop, beautiful blue waters and medieval and Venetian-era settlements, butterfly-shaped Kotor Bay is the jewel in Montenegro’s crown,” says Telegraph Travel's Jane Foster.

“The walled town of Kotor itself is a wonder of cobbled streets and squares, churches and a lovely museum bearing proud testimony to the region’s seafaring prowess. Farther around the bay, the baroque town of Perast is the site of a famous victory against the Ottomans. From here it is possible to make a very special pilgrimage by boat to the island known as Our Lady of the Rocks: truly a place to inspire princely reflection and a sense of wellbeing.”

30. Gura Humorului, Romania

In the north of Romania, Gura Humorului is a town nestled in a depression near where the Moldova and Humour Rivers meet, and replete with an array of colourful buildings.

Which do you think is Europe's prettiest town or village? Leave your comments below.