Ireland has nabbed eight spots on the Lonely Planet top 500 places to visit list. No mean feat for a little island in the middle of the Atlantic, eh?
Lonely Planet has compiled a comprehensive list of some of the world's top attractions. Titled the '
ultimate travel list', it features 500 sights from across the globe - ranking them in order of popularity... and Ireland features a whopping eight different times. Pretty impressive.
Unsurprisingly, outdoor experiences dominated the rankings this year, with the top spot going to Petra in Jordan. Ranked as the world's most unmissable travel experience, it was joined by the Galapagos Islands and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Australia to complete the top three.
Stating that a total of eight of the world’s best travel experiences can be found in Ireland – six in the Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland - the Wild Atlantic Way was the highest Irish entry on the list, coming in at a very respectable number 21.
Saying that the Covid climate has encouraged people to holiday a little closer to home, our Emerald Isle was praised for its "miles upon miles of rugged coastlines, characterful towns and exciting attractions". Other Irish adventures to make the top 500 include a road trip around Ring of Kerry (number 114), a taste of the local pub culture in the Connemara Peninsula (number 163) and climbing the 600m high sea cliffs of Donegal's Sliabh Liag (number 389).
The remaining four attractions to get a mention were the prehistoric tombs of Brú na Bóinne (number 25), Trinity College - singled out for its gorgeous Georgian buildings (number 423), the Giant's Causeway (number 102) and Titanic Belfast (number 298).
Compiling the list with thanks to highlights found in every Lonely Planet guidebook over the years, this is the second edition of the ultimate travel list.
Here's what made the top 10:
- Petra, Jordan
- The Galapagos Islands – see the islands that changed the course of science
- Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia
- Okavango Delta, Botswana
- Yellowstone National Park, USA
- Lake Bled, Slovenia
- Iguazú Falls, Argentina-Brazil
- Temples of Angkor, Cambodia
- Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
- Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Commenting that the list is a "mix of knock-out new openings, sights that have upped their game, or places more relevant to the way we travel now", it's clear that the Lonely Planet team has definitely done their research anyways.
