Which city have you visited the most or the longest cumulative days?

Paris is in the lead for me. When I started back to International travel in 2013 I did Paris for about 2 weeks in 2014 (including the end of the 21 Day Best of Europe tour and a 7-day RS Best of Paris tour + a week with a friend) and just fell in love. I've been back for several weeks at a time each year since. It's an awesome place for a solo woman! I have extremely poor foreign language skills and do not speak French but it's still easy to manage.

London is 2nd although I spent longer in London back in the 80's due to the travel companion at the time (now ex-husband, lol) and the fact that my aunt was working there and we could stay in her flat. Still I do enjoy London!

Have been to Berlin 5 times and would enjoy going back again. Santiago de Compostella is my next most visited city, having also been there 5 times. Usually for 2-3 days each time in both cities.

We've been all over Europe and tend not to do repeats. That said, I've been in Paris at least 5 times, Rome, Amsterdam and Vienna twice. For me, and perhaps others, much depends on airline hubs. I'm typically a Delta flyer, hence its convenient to tack on days in Paris and Amsterdam. (I'm only counting a visit as leaving the airport for overnights.)

Technically, it would probably be Munich, since it was the nearest city to the town we lived in for 3 years. We would go for the day, as a couple or with a small group, at least monthly. And we've been back for short stays 3 times since then.

Otherwise it would be London, where we've spent on average a week each time we've visited the UK. So around 6 weeks altogether.

So far Rome has the most cumulative days over 3 visits. It's also the city I've visited the most frequently, although I suspect London and Paris might take the leads in a few years.

It's an awesome place for a solo woman!

Happy to hear this about Paris, Pam!

Florence —- 10 + 35 + 35 = 80 nights (with a plan for another month in a couple of years)

I've been to a few cities twice - Amsterdam, Paris, Florence, Vienna, Munich, and Frankfurt. Longest in one city was Paris for a month and Budapest for 6 days, those were my two favorite cities.

I’ve spent the most time in smaller German towns. As far as cities, Salzburg with 3 visits for 15 days, London 4 visits for 14 days, Paris 4 visits for 10 days with another 5 days coming up.

Pat, fun question! London is where I have had the longest stay and the most trips (7 nights 1996, 3 nights 1999, 5 nights 2024 and 10 nights this year - total of 25 nights).

I've been to Berlin for 6 nights, Istanbul 7 nights, and Amsterdam 7 nights. So those are probably my top ones, although maybe not Berlin. I enjoy it but love the other 3.

Rome - 6 visits (4 days, 5 days, 7 days, 4 days, 3 days)

Paris - 5 visits (3 days, 10 days, 7 days, 10 days, 10 days) + 12 more days planned for October 2025

London - 5 visits (7 days, 4 days, 12 days, 7 days, 12 days)

Venice - 4 visits ( 3 days, 7 days, 12 days, 3 days)

Florence - 3 visits (3 days, 5 days, 3 days)

Barcelona - 3 visits (3 days, 7 days, 5 days)

Madrid - 3 visits (3 days, 6 days, 5 days)

Amsterdam - 2 visits (4 days, 11 days)

Lisbon - 2 visits (3 days, 5 days)

London for me - both most number of nights as well as most number of visits. Fun question, looking forward to the other answers too!

Paris, 9 visits totalling several months
London, 7 visits totalling several weeks
Norway, my dad’s hometown, several visits totalling several weeks, over 55 years

Paris is a no brainer for me, as is London. Endless possibilities.

in order of cumulative time

London - on and off frequently since I was about 9

Frankfurt

Köln

Salzburg or Seefeld in Tirol - I haven't kept count

maybe Luxembourg or Trier

guessing

I've been to Amsterdam something like 20 times (maybe more), Barcelona 10 or 12 times, San Antonio / Ibiza Town maybe 8 times and I stayed in Leiden, NL for nigh on a month many years ago.

Without checking my notes and records for the most cumulative stays in terms of an exact count of total nights in a city, it is a toss-up between PARIS and BERLIN, longest stay of consecutive nights is 15 straight in Berlin.

Bottom line: every trip has to include staying in either Paris or Berlin or simply both.

Rome would be our top with 3 visits. Partly because we can get direct flights there, but also because we enjoy it more each time we go. Lisbon gets an honourable mention. Only twice, but I would go again if I could get there as fast as Rome.

Great topic! I have hopes when retired to spend a month in one city, so love these ideas.

I went to Nairn, Morayshire, Scotland every year as a child for about 7 or 8 years straight, a week or two in a static caravan (trailer / mobile home in US English?) at a time. I've been back as an adult 3 or 4 times, last time was June 2024.

Budapest arrival at the airport or train station 35 +/- times for maybe 2.5 years total time here as a tourist before staying here.
3 or 4 visits each (probably averaged 5 days each visit) to; Kyiv (5), Odesa, Paris. Rome, Vienna, Perast, Budva, Zabljak, Kljuc, Sarajevo, Bucharest, London, Istanbul. The highlighted ones will be visit 4 or 5 later this year. The list of 2 returns is pretty long.

Paris, by a lot, estimated total days at 150 +/-.

In more than 40 years of European travel, the vast majority of the travel occurring in the last 25 years, I counted up 15 visits to Paris. Shortest stay was 4 nights in 1985, longest was 3 weeks in 2023. Average stay 10 nights...so 150 nights,.

London is a distant 2nd place, 7 visits since 2003, average stay 6 nights...say 42 days +/- cumulatively.

Want to guess where I will go next, later this year? You got it, Paris and London...plus other destinations as yet undetermined. Berlin and Budapest are favorites, too.

Excluding the time I lived in Spain, probably London, Madrid, Rome, and Sevilla; not necessarily in that order. Now we tend to visit smaller town and villages rather than large cities. Including that time, Sevilla and Madrid would easily top the list.

For the last 25 years, my wife and I have traveled to Europe essentially yearly, and I went for work frequently.

For me, London probably tops the list, the group I worked with was based there, so easily 1 1/2 to 2 months total there.

Amsterdam, and surrounding area, probably second. I often start and/or end my trips there, so easily a month or more.

Tied for third are Rome and Madrid at 3-4 weeks.

Lots of other places at 1-2 weeks. (Paris, Sorrento, Nerja, Munich, Bruges, Berlin, Lisbon, and more.

Munich for me, with maybe Brienz or Geneva Switzerland second.

Paris-about 23 days total over 3 visits.
It is the only city I have gone back to.
I will keep going back.

I’m an infrequent traveler, but Paris is by far the winner for me. I visited it 5 times between 1992 and 2007. Haven’t been back since—I’m obviously overdue!

London....50+ visits and over 300 nights. Dundee about 200 night and Manchester around 90.

On the continent I've been to Vienna 3 times and about 35 nights, Berlin 4 times and about 25 nights, Paris 3 times about 30 nights, and a whole lot of return visits all over the place.

Antalya: 4 visits (2 days + 7 days + 14 days + 14 days) = 37 days (I didn't like it on the first visit but grew to like it)

Venice: 3 visits (2 days + 14 days + 14 days) = 30 days (love at first sight)

Hi Pat, thanks for asking the question! It’s been fun to think through the past trips & favorites that were repeated.

I don’t keep track of total days, but I have stayed in several cities more than once. Ones in Italics will have another stay to count this year:

5
Paris
Rome

4
”Venice”

3
”Stresa, Italy”
”Verona, Italy”
Vienna, Austria
Florence
Amsterdam
Sevilla, Spain
Malaga, Spain

2
Wengen/Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Cordoba, Spain
Estepona, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Salzburg, Austria
Munich, Germany
London
Oxford, England
Laren, The Netherlands
Siena, Italy
Parma, Italy
Alberobello, Italy
Bari, Italy,
Polignano a Mare, Italy

4 more cities in Italy will become repeats in Fall
Torino, Ferrara, Mantova & Bergamo

Paris is in the lead for me. First trip was in 2001, for 6 days with my husband, mom and sister, shortly after my dad passed away. Next was in 2003 for 4 nights with my husband, our baby and 4 of my husband’s family members. Next was in 2018 for 5 nights with our two teens. And in 2024 for 5 nights with a different sister. And I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Next is Salzburg, where we spent 5 nights in 2000 with my mom and dad. Then again in 2018 for 5 nights with our teens. Such a gorgeous part of the world.

There are so many places I still want to see, after about 13 trips to Europe. But sometimes it’s nice to return to a place you know you love, and to see it through the eyes of first time visitors.

Besides places I have lived -- Scotland, Budapest, Paris -- or done longish work assignments to - Madrid - I guess mine would be London. Although I still don't get there as often as I would like to.

Edit to add: and, duh, Turin, but that is because I married into it !!

Outside of France, where I live, and outside of work assignments, the answer is probably New York (~2-3 weeks across 4 visits), followed by Kyoto (~12-14 days across 3 visits). Otherwise, living in a European capital, when in Europe I generally tend to visit places that aren't cities.

Paris, Amsterdam and Rome in that order over several trips.

Otherwise, living in a European capital, when in Europe I generally tend to visit places that aren't cities.

This !! If I am doing the planning, I am going out into the countryside !!

Rome.

Our first trip, in 2013, came at the tail end of a RS tour and we were tired, it was hot, and ... eh. We hardly saw anything other than a really special evening visit to the Sistine Chapel where there were hardly any other people in the room. The rest was kind of a blur.
We did annual travel over the next few years, mostly to France, but didn't return to Italy until early 2023. I was hooked. We went back later in 2023, then again in 2024 and we'll be there again in November.

Until that 2023 trip, I never though anywhere else would live up to France, but having gone to both again in 2024, I am drawn more to Italy than France.

Now, that doesn't mean I'd pass up a trip to Paris ... :D

"Edit to add: and, duh, Turin, but that is because I married into it !!"

Kim!! That made me laugh!

So Pat, what city is in the lead for you?

Europe Specific:

San Vito dei Normanni Italy area: 4 years - Lived there (Looking to revisit in 2026)

Paris: 34 nights (5 trips) - (Sep - Oct 2025: another 29 nights)

Vilseck Germany: 20 nights (2 trips)

Wiesbaden Germany: 13 nights (2 trips)

Naples Italy: 12 nights (2 trips)

1. I'm very envious of the answers so far.
2. Apparently I'm still a rookie traveller.
3. I've got a lot of catching up to do.
4. Now that we're retired the goal is two European adventures/year.

We haven't repeated a destination yet unless it's an overnight stay to catch a flight, so London wins for me with 1 week. With Rome, Lisbon, Edinburgh and Venice close behind. If I'm not as specific and break down by country then Italy-4 weeks, France-3 weeks, England-2 weeks, Scotland- 2 weeks. London will be my first repeat visit when we go in November this year. London and Nice will eventually be my answers to the OP's question as we have both on a wishlist for month long stays.

Edit to change my answer. I guess Sorrento is a city, I was there for two weeks. But I almost consider that a regional trip and didn't think of it immediately.

London 6 weeks in 2024

However Been visiting since 1972.

Math atheist so no attempt to calculate days.

London is always changing, always the same.

Have done hotels, airbnbs, flat rentals, stayed with friends.

Love the people, the traditions, free museums, the tube, countless parks, theatre, street markets, churches, Thames Path, Regents Canal, cafes and pubs and I can converse with ease.

Never bored there.

Pam, I also feel like a rookie here, (like Allan), and thanks for asking. I think Venice leads, with our fourth visit coming up,
and actually Rothenburg, three visits, just a favorite of my daughter and I.
Cumulative, I've spent over a month in Switzerland, which obviously isn't one city,
I better get a move on to catch up with you all! I've had such a great time reading these answers.

Hmmm, let's see. My top 3 (can't recall exact # of days in each) would have to be London, Paris (despite only having been once), and for third....hmmmm. Possibly Istanbul or Munich.

EDIT: D'oh, both Dublin and Belfast would rank in the top 3 but that was for summer study, not specifically tourism.

Lauterbrunnen/Wengen/Mürren - 161
Ortisei - 127
London - 43
Venice - 43
Paris - 34

Rome - 4.5 years :-)

Aside from business travel in the US early in my career, my more extensive travel really began in the 20-teens. We've been to London and Paris about four times apiece and Edinburgh three times, but otherwise no place more than twice, so far. As for total days, I've spent two weeks total in Torremolinos. We'll spend five weeks in Bordeaux this summer. I guess we've spent two weeks cumulative in London and Edinburgh, and nearly as long in Inverness.

I am surprised at my #1 stay, two weeks in Prague. (My Czech ancestors must be happy!) Why the surprise? Now that I'm retired I tend to plan trips focused on one country, so up to three weeks divided among 4-5 locations. That first visit to Prague was part of a pre-retirement "sampler" trip-I credit that one with infecting me with the travel "bug":).

Well, if living in a place counts, then Edinburgh is my top most frequented place.
Lived there as a child, then as a student and for work for 11 years on and off.
I still visit now and then, and it feels like my second home every time.

London, as I went there a lot when I was living in Edinburgh and have been back as a traveler countless times.

Florence is my favourite place to be, I've been there 12 times and will always end a trip to Italy with a few days there.
While we are in Italy:
Venice: six visits.
Rome: seven visits.
Naples: three visits.

Paris... visited five times, took language classes there on one trip, and going back again this Fall.

Turkey...Istanbul, Bursa and the southern coast: three visits.

All places have had a minimum of three nights, and some up to two to three weeks in a place at a time.

Many others, but those are my favourites.

My top 2 cities that I will hopefully return to many more times are London and Budapest with 6 visits each. London I have spent 35 days and Budapest 30 total, and it is always coupled with another country or two. I have visited Tallinn twice and would hope to get there again, 11 days total. Edinburgh and Paris are on my list for returns as well, but once you have found your special places it's hard to not try to work them in, somehow.

I have been in Innsbruck 36 times. Never did an exact count, but I estimate having spent there 18 months of my life. Second comes Salzburg at 25 times for tourism and three or four for non touristic reasons.

Technically Łódź, Poland but that wasn't a vacation.
For vacation, Paris just now.
I'm just a beginning Europe vacationer but had been to Poland 2 weeks at a time twice before my daughter and I did a best of Italy trip in 2024.

Paris is very repeatable! I'd go back in a heartbeat and we just got back Saturday evening.

This fun discussion has made me aware of something about the travel style of my wife and me: we're urban travelers. We like to station ourselves in a city when we travel. We enjoy taking day trips to the hinterlands, certainly, but when it's time to sleep we want to be somewhere that offers amenities like supermarkets and many restaurants. Other folks obviously find more pleasure in lodging in small villages or hamlets. Just different ways of traveling.

This fun discussion has made me aware of something about the travel style of my wife and me: we're urban travelers. We like to station ourselves in a city when we travel. We enjoy taking day trips to the hinterlands, certainly, but when it's time to sleep we want to be somewhere that offers amenities like supermarkets and many restaurants. Other folks obviously find more pleasure in lodging in small villages or hamlets. Just different ways of traveling.

This is our style, too, particularly as we have gotten older (in our late 60s).

Day trips rule!

Pat, I'm continuing to enjoy the thread. And novice or not....it is fun to see people's choices. Some driven by school or work. Some by tour itineraries. Most, I'd imagine by particular interest in a location. Plus for me, the more you visit a place the more you understand there is to see.

I'll add that I'm impressed by the folks who have kept track of the # of days they have been in a certain place, lol. I'm not sure I could go back and reconstruct those days even if I just started with 2013 which is when I "returned" to international travel after retiring and then doing parent care.

Let's see....1973 - Madrid 4, Paris 4, London 5, hahaha.

This discussion made me realize that I need to do a better job of tracking the places that I visit; unfortunately, I’ve never been good about keeping a travel journal. All the great trip reports posted on the forum have made me wish I were better at recording my travel.

My 3 places with the most visits are:

1) London - More than 20 tourist visits ranging from 1 to 10 nights. I also lived and worked in London for a year. After my work assignment ended, I started adding a couple days in London to the beginning or end of every trip. Until 2023, United had a daytime flight from Dulles to London so starting European vacations there was a no-brainer. As someone who cannot sleep on planes, I loved that flight. Unfortunately, they took that flight off the schedule in 2024 but I have still started my trips in London and will be there next month for a week before visiting Ireland. One of the main draws for me is theatre. I go to a show nearly every night in London. You can never run out of things to do in London … history, theatre, world class museums with new exhibits, walking tours, great restaurants, etc. In the words of Samuel Johnson, “ When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford.”

2) Stockholm - 7 visits as a tourist and/or to visit friends ranging from 3 to 7 days. I also lived and worked in Stockholm for more than 2 years. I don’t think there is any more beautiful city than Stockholm on a sunny, summer day. I haven’t visited since 2014 and I am due for another trip.

3) Paris - 7 visits ranging from 3 to 7 days. This is another city where there is so much to do, particularly for someone who is interested in food and loves to cook. I’ve taken 7 or 8 cooking classes across the various trips. It has also been a launching point for visits to other parts of France; I mean, it is hard to justify skipping Paris when the plane or train takes you there. Am I right?

I have so many places I want to return to and so many new places I want to explore.

Thanks to all for the comments- I'll be reading and reviewing these for quite awhile. We certainly have an interesting group here on the Forum .

Budapest by a mile: I am finishing up a 7th visit and 59 days. I am mostly past the point of actual sightseeing and find myself ending trips to new places here just to relax and be here before heading home. I love the music that is everywhere.

Dubai: 3 visits for 35 days. But I tend to forget this because I only went because my daughter lived there 4 years.

And a handful of other repeat cities for 8-12 days: Sarajevo, Krakow, Prague, and adding Stockholm and Riga to this list later this year. I’ve had other shorter repeats.

I do now tend to spend longer in a country, with longer stays in each city, so I don’t usually feel the call to repeat. But I think I will be doing some repeating in 2026.

I love what Pam said “ the more you visit a place the more you understand what there is to see.”

I agree it's such a fun question! I will also be in the Wengen/Switzerland-in-general category. Heading there in Sept for my 3rd time in 4 years.

Thanks Pat also for recently posting the link for your trip report of your 2019 Christmas markets trip with your daughter.
My two 30-something daughters and I are planning on visiting Swiss, and German Christmas markets in 2026. Your detailed trip report will be SO helpful.

I suppose for me it has to be Rome. Can't seem to visit Europe without spending at least 4-5 days in Rome. Perhaps oddly, a distant second is Lake Bled in Slovenia. Been there three times and it's pretty perfect for just chilling for a week, although I've probably spent more cummulative time in Venice and Athens.

London. I don’t even try to count anymore.

Eastern (former GDR) part of Berlin because I lived there 14 years but grew up in Western part of Berlin with Berlin Wall. So it was really like exploring another city - and 1990 was very different to today though.

Also various other places but I am too lazy to write all this down.

lyntrues6
, glad that the Trip Report helped! It will be magical!

I have had to really think on this. It is not our style to stay in one place for very long at all, so we are often on the move.

Our 8th trip to Iceland is coming up, and so far we have 61 nights that we have stayed there, but all over the country not just Reykjavik etc.

What a fun question! For me, it would be London over the course of 7 visits. In fact, when I retire in three years I would like to figure out a way I can stay for a month or two without spending my retirement fund lol. Anyone out there with ideas, please let me know.

Dublin: 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2002. Combined, I must have spent close to 2.5 to 3 weeks there. When I made my first visit, I rented a room for 35 euros/night, a figure that was seemed higher than the median. In addition, the "dear dirty Dublin" of yore was still visible. (In 2010, I visited Ireland a fifth time, but didn't make it to Dublin.)

Since we live part time outside Bordeaux, mine would be Bordeaux. I love, love, love this charming little city and never tire of it. With that said, I've also been to a few other cities numerous times for various reasons:
Rome: 6 times (vacations and for work)
Paris: lost count but maybe 15-20? (vacations, layovers during transit and work)
Dublin: 4 times (family, vacations)

Edinburgh - this is aided by a flight cancellation that added another 3 bonus days to our stay in 2023. Our total is 14 days in Edinburgh over 3 trips and we can't wait to go back.

What a fun forum post!

I've traveled to Italy over 20 times and every single trip has included a stay in Florence of at least 4 nights. Next summer, I will be staying in Florence at least 7 days but hoping for 30 days. That is my happy place.

Paris is my favorite by far, sad to say I haven’t been since 2019 but going for 10 days in February. But only 4 trips, 2006, 2007, 2015, and 2019 do total up to 52 days so when I go I stay awhile! Rome, Florence and London are at 3 trips each.

This is a fun forum post, I learn so much on this travel forum. We thought we would only go to new places with each vacation but yet we really have enjoyed going back several times to Paris and London, spending about 3 total weeks in each city thru several trips. When I retire I hope to spend at least a couple months in each city, so much to see, so much to explore.

We also have made several trips to Vienna and Amsterdam. The city vibe, history, and wonderful museums I think are why we enjoy these places so much. Only one trip to Italy so far, need to fix that soon!

That must be Stockholm. If I'm only looking at cities outside the Nordic countries it's probably Oxford.

We’ve had a LOT of repeat visits to many European cities. Not counting our fall ‘90 sabbatical city of Bielefeld Germany for 180+ days, the most time we’ve spent in another city has been London and suburbs for 130+ days over 12 trips. We are here and near again now!

This is a fun thread, and I’m enjoying reading reasons and getting new ideas for future travels!

Longest stay in a city: Paris for 10 days, celebrating a special anniversary years ago. Paris is also the city that we’ve visited the most, and can’t wait to get back to again!

Runner up: Colmar, France for 9 days. We wanted to live like temporary locals and day trip from there. It was lovely, but we both decided that we could have left two days sooner and still been content.

Mürren, Switzerland for 7 days…fantastic, and so glad we had ample advice from the Forum to allow for bad weather days, as we began with a sunny early September day or two, then the temps fell during the week, with rain, and then 4-5 inches of snow the day we left town! Unusually early snowfall, they said…I would love to return and stay in Wengen next time! I’d go back to Mürren again for hikes and cafes and views, but think Wengen as a home base would save us some travel time to get around.

Our sweet spot seems to be 4-5 nights in a city or town, then move on, so we can feel relaxed, as well as be able to make the most of our sightseeing options. We’ve been to a lot of beautiful places with that mindset, and have quite a wish list for future trips! Most of our travels have been in France, Italy, and Switzerland…so I love to read of other possibilities in this thread!

Our My Way Italy trip was an exception to our usual timeframes, with 2 nights per city for 6 cities. We saw so many wonderful sights, and it was at a busy pace. We were able to get to some places that had proven tough for me as I tried to plan that trip independently, and it was a fantastic tour. We added in more time at the end in Rome, then went to Orvieto for 3 nights, then home. That was a relief to slow ourselves down after the tour.

Laurie