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Fall in love with the ten most romantic cities in Australia

You’re most likely to be struck by Cupid’s arrow in the NSW town of Orange and WA’s Albany

Melissa Woodley
Winnie Stubbs
Written by
Melissa Woodley
Written by:
Winnie Stubbs
Couple enjoying a scenic walk through the vineyards at Rowlee Wines, Nashdale
Photograph: Destination NSW | Philip Shaw Wines, Orange
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There’s something in the air… Oh yes, Valentine’s Day! The season of candy hearts, stuffed teddy bears and red hot roses has snuck up on us once again. If you’re still on the hunt for love this year, then perhaps it's time to take your romance elsewhere. A recent study from online language learning marketplace Preply has revealed the most romantic cities in Australia, with surprising cities in NSW and WA taking out the top three spots. 

To determine which of Australia's cities are best for love, Preply compared the country’s 50 largest cities based on seven categories: the number of romantic hotels, romantic restaurants, activities for couples and amount of romance-related online searches (concerning engagements, Valentine's Day plans, buying flowers and dating interests). Based on their aggregated score, each city was given a ‘Romantic City Break Score’ out of five.

It turns out, you’re most likely to be struck by Cupid’s arrow in the NSW town of Orange. The vineyard-studded town landed its crown for several reasons; scoring an overall romance score of 4.47, compared with the national average of 2.58. Orange scored high based on its wide range of ‘couples’ attractions (according to Tripadvisor data) and was the Aussie town with the highest rate of online searches for Valentine’s Day festivities. The loved-up city is also the unofficial dating capital of Australia, swiping right more than any other romantic city, and ranked as the top city for proposals too.

WA’s beautiful port city of Albany came in second place with a score of 3.79, thanks to its abundance of romantic hotels (according to Booking.com data) and online interest in Valentine’s Day plans. The unpretentious beach town of Port Macquarie in NSW came in third, followed by Devonport in Tasmania and Bathurst in regional NSW. 

It seems Cupid’s arrow missed its mark in Geelong, Newcastle-Maitland and Bunbury, with these cities ranking as the three least romantic in Australia. 

You can read the full study here and find the top ten most romantic cities in Australia below:

  1. Orange, NSW 
  2. Albany, WA
  3. Port Macquarie, NSW
  4. Davenport, TAS
  5. Bathurst, NSW
  6. Dubbo, NSW
  7. Busselton, WA
  8. Kalgoorlie-Boulder, WA
  9. Victor Harbour-Goolwa, SA
  10. Hervey Bay, QLD

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