Survey: Two Greek Cities Among Top Stress-free Destinations for Americans

Heraklion, Crete.

Two Greek cities are among the least anxiety-inducing destinations for American travelers seeking to unwind, according to a survey by the convenient luggage storage company Radical Storage.

To compile the list, the company analyzed 100 cities from Euromonitor’s 2023 Top 100 City Destinations Index, with data collected in September 2024. Analysts evaluated 31 indicators of anxiety and reviewed 97,409 traveler comments on tourist attractions in the 100 most-visited cities worldwide.

Based on the findings, Thessaloniki in Northern Greece and Heraklion on Crete were ranked among the stress-free cities globally for travelers from the United States, placing 7th and 8th, respectively. Only 3.4 percent of reviews for Thessaloniki contained words or phrases linked to anxiety, while Heraklion had a slightly higher percentage at 4.1 percent.

Thessaloniki, Greece. Photo source: Thessaloniki Travel

The world’s least anxiety-inducing destination was Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, which received glowing reviews for its attractions. Visitors described the city’s vibe as “serene but vibrant”, with a “relaxing atmosphere” and “a quiet city away from the tourist traps in Europe”.

Zhuhai, Guilin, and Guangzhou in China, along with Vilnius in Lithuania, rounded out the top five least anxiety-inducing destinations.

In contrast, some of the world’s most popular cities were found to cause the highest levels of anxiety for travelers. Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto in Japan were ranked as the most anxiety-inducing cities, followed by London and Shanghai.

Of the reviews analyzed in the study, one in ten (9.6 percent) highlighted anxiety and stress, with the most stressful cities reaching as high as 25.2 percent of total reviews, down to the least, which exhibited 1.6 percent in comparison. The main cause of anxiety on holiday is overcrowding, as the most frequent keywords found in the study were “crowds”, “busy”, and “overwhelm” respectively.