Lovin Wrapped: Our top 10 most read stories from 2023

Katy Thornton

It’s been a weird and wonderful year for stories.

We’re coming to the end of another news filled year, and before we enter 2024, and see all that is in store for us there, we decided to take a little look-back at the stories that most caught your attention in 2023.

There’s a little mixture of everything, from where to eat around the country, to celebrity spottings, and even some slightly depressing stats about Ireland being the loneliest country across Europe.

We’ve got all the weird and wonderful stories from up and down the country that our readers were the most into this year, and if you want a little refresh, Spotify Wrapped style, just keeping reading.

10. Kildare schoolboy who had nightmares after Ryanair flight awarded €10,000

A story from July ranks as 10th on our list of most read stories, where an 11-year-old schoolboy from Kildare was awarded €10,000 in a personal injuries claim against Ryanair, after he suffered a “terrifying ordeal” onboard one of the airline’s flights when they had to make an emergency landing after losing cabin pressure.

You can read more on this story here.

9. Ireland is officially the loneliest country in Europe

Coming in as our 9th most read story of the year was the sad, sad statistic that Ireland is apparently the loneliest country in Europe. This June story showed that 20% of respondents said they felt lonely, with other European countries in Europe such as Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Greece also reporting high loneliness levels.

You can read the whole list of the loneliest countries here.

8. 8 spots where you should go to eat while out in Bray

Bray earned its place as the most underrated travel destinations from Time Out Magazine, but Irish people have long appreciated this seaside Wicklow town. A short drive from Dublin, it is often seen teeming with people whenever the sun comes out, which might’ve been why so many people were interested in where to eat there.

If you’re interested in our top spots for you to go and eat in Bray is, you can check them out here.

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7. Colin Farrell names West Cork town as his favourite in Ireland

We love to hear when a celebrity sings Ireland’s praises, whether that celebrity is Irish themselves or not. We got a bit of a buzz off when Colin Farrell named Castletownbere on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork as his favourite town in Ireland.

Farrell has a lot of history with the West Cork town, so it’s no wonder it sticks out in his mind.

You can read the whole story here.

Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

6. 7 Christmas markets to visit in Ireland

Our 6th most read story was about all the Christmas markets you can visit in Ireland, probably from people who don’t want to spend the money on flying abroad to any of the European iterations. While we sometimes get a bit of flack for not having that many market offerings in this country, but there are many counties that host them if you know where to look.

You can read the whole story here.

5. The 22 best private wedding venues in Ireland have been revealed

In the prime of wedding season, it’s no surprise that Ireland’s top private wedding venues were on people’s minds. Newly engaged people everywhere (or just those anticipating an engagement) might not know where to start when looking for a venue, and this in-depth list, put together by Save My Day, is the perfect place to start.

If you’re in need of some wedding inspo, check it out here.

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4. American tourist sounds off about ‘problems in Ireland’ in lengthy Reddit thread

It’s also become clear to us that we love to rip on Yanks, but apparently they also like to rip on us too. A lengthy reddit thread revealed one American tourist’s grievances with Ireland, which includes but is not limited to “children with broccoli fades“, “elf bars everywhere and in every pub“, pricey alcohol as well apparently the erasure of spicy food.

You can read the full thread here.

3. Kanye West spotted at Electric Picnic

We are a country who loves a bit of celebrity spotting, it’s true, and Kanye West showing up at Electric Picnic truly got us excited.

Fresh off a controversial summer in Italy Kanye was spotted, albeit with his identity mostly protected by a black hood, locked in an embrace with Lacy after the latter’s set at the festival on Friday night.

It wasn’t exactly on our bingo card for this year so the Grammy winner 24 times over showing up in Stradbally naturally had the Irish pop in a bit of a tizzy.

You can read all about Ye’s visit to Laois here.

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2. Hen party invades cattle mart in County Leitrim

Our runner-up for most read story of 2023 is this little gem from April, when a hen party invaded a cattle mart in Leitrim.

Despite this being a somewhat atypical location to host those important bachelorette rituals, the gals certainly seemed to enjoy themselves amid the auctioning.

If you missed out on all the hen-night madness, you can read the whole story here.

1. Newly reopened Irish hotel named as one of the best in the world

Much as we like to give out about the amount of hotels that spring up in this country, we can’t deny that there is obviously an appetite for learning about them, with our top story this year, written in September, being about Tipperary’s Cashel Palace being crowned as one of the very best hotels worldwide by Condé Nast Traveller.

You can read the whole story here.