London, 29 January 2025

The most romantic countries in the world and their Valentine's Day traditions

29 January 2025

TravelLocal sheds light on the most romantic destinations and how traditions have evolved

From ‘true feeling’ chocolates to marzipan figurines and ‘drawings of love’, here are the quirkiest Valentine’s traditions from past and present - with some even banned today.

“Brits aren’t typically considered the most romantic of people, with displays of affection being relatively understated compared to many countries. It might not come as a surprise that other nations are more creative in their romantic pursuits, and whilst some traditions are still going strong around the world today, others have evolved over the years, while some are even banned.”

Huw Owen, co-founder at tailor-made holiday platform TravelLocal

To mark Valentine’s Day on the 14th February, TravelLocal reveals some of the lesser known, obscure Valentine’s Day celebrations around the world, and how they’ve changed.

1. Italy

Of course, taking the top spot has to be the region of love where Valentine’s Day originated. The Roman Empire and the legend of Saint Valentine paved the way for romance today. In Italy, Valentine’s Day is often called La Festa Degli Innamorati meaning ‘the feast of lovers’ and is strictly for lovers only. Going back in time, a more unusual tradition was for unmarried women to wake before dawn on Valentine’s Day and stand by the window, waiting for a single man to pass. Some believed that the first man she saw would be the one she married.

Fast forward to the present day, Italians will often celebrate by gifting chocolates and flowers but also, a new tradition has seen the ‘locks of love’ or ‘lucchetti dell’ amore’ - become popularised. This sees young lovers attach padlocks to bridges and railings and throw away the key to show eternal love. Although once a charming way to prove one’s commitment, to allow the monumentor bridge to last without damage, we would perhaps avoid throwing away the key and instead bring the padlock home. The intact structure of our beautiful cities will thank you for it!

Say 'I love you' in Italian: Ti Amo

2. France

Valentine’s Day in France is more subtle and less commercialised than in some other countries. The French prefer to celebrate with romantic and traditional gestures such as gifting chocolates and flowers. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but things weren’t so subtle back in the day…

Now banned in France, is ‘loterie d’amour’ or ‘drawing for love’. This involved single people getting together in a house or on a street to be paired together. If the man wasn’t attracted to the woman he was paired with, he could leave her. It's reported that the women left behind would then get together to burn pictures of the men whilst shouting curses.

Say ‘I love you’ in French: Je t'aime

3. Argentina

As well as celebrating Valentine’s Day with the more traditional, universal activities, Argentinians also celebrate ‘Sweetness Week’ in July, where kisses are exchanged for sweet treats such as chocolates. It started as a commercial invention but is now a tradition each year. Who needs one day when you can have a whole week?

Say 'I love you' in Argentina: Te amo

4. Japan

In Japan, it’s common for women to gift all the men in their lives chocolates on Valentine’s Day –from boyfriends to co workers – but not all chocolates are equal…The more special men in their lives receive ‘honmei choco’ or ‘true feeling’ chocolates and the less special will get ‘giri choco’ or ‘obligatory chocolates’ or even ‘tomo-choco’, which translates to ‘friend chocolate’. Interestingly, men don’t gift anything back until March 14th, known as ‘white day’ - where gifts must greatly exceed the value of what was gifted by the female.

Say 'I love you' in Japan: Aishite imasu

5. Spain

Whilst the Spanish do often celebrate the usual Valentine’s Day traditions in Valencia, the ‘day of love’ actually falls on 9th October during the Feast of St Dionysus. On this day it’s common for people to make and give their loved one a ‘macadora’ - a marzipan figurine - a symbol of their love together.

Further north in Catalonia, the ‘day of love’ is celebrated on St George’s Day, April 23rd. In the past the woman would gift a book to the man in their life, whilst the man would offer the woman a single rose. Fast forward to the present day, it’s common for books and roses to be gifted between partners on St George’s Day. As it’s also ‘The Day of the Book’, the streets of Barcelona are filled with stalls of booksellers and florists, bringing to life a shared celebration of love and culture.

Say 'I love you' in Spain: Te quiero

Notes to editors

We looked at four reliable travel and tourism websites (see list below) that have posted listicles about the most romantic countries and destinations around the world. We found the number of times each country was mentioned and used this to form a list of the top 10 most romantic countries. We then delved into each country to find out how (and if) they celebrate Valentine’s Day and outlined some of the key traditions. Any country that doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day was removed from the list and replaced from the ranked list. We then conducted desk research to identify the countries with the most unusual traditions.

Data sources: 1; 2; 3; 4; Full data set can be found here