Edinburgh — By Andy Hayes on June 3, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Filed under: News

Edinburgh Named One of World’s Top 25 Destinations

Tripadvisor, a popular travel review site, has announced their Traveler’s Choice Top 25 Destinations 2010. The traveler’s choice awards are based on a massive survey of their community, and includes awards for top hotels as well as rankings of destinations by experience (e.g. “beach” locales). But the overall Top 25 is a coveted position, indicating an overall must-see city with lots of great tourism experiences, which is exactly what you’d expect from Edinburgh.

Why Edinburgh

It’s interesting to read the factsheet summary on why Tripadvisor chose Edinburgh. Of course, it is all but impossible to encapsulate the entire city’s “must see” status in 50 words or less, but I always find it interesting to see what is said. Funnily enough, it is Hogmanay that Tripadvisor suggests is the reason to come, not the Edinburgh Festival. Along similar lines, they suggest having the “traditional fruitcake” (which I believe they mean a black bun), without any mention of haggis or shortbread. Interesting choices, though it is refreshing to hear of other suggestions beyond your bog standard guidebook tips.

As for attractions, a few top city sights made a mention as well, mostly your classic Royal Mile treats:

Edinburgh Castle
St Giles Cathedral
Museum of Scotland
Mary King’s Close

All in all, I’m very pleased that Edinburgh as selected as there are some world-class destinations on the list. Edinburgh was the only British city to be ranked in the Top 25 worldwide, beating out our southernly neighbour London. Auld Reekie also appears on other top lists, include the top 25 Europe and the Top 25 United Kingdom.

Another interesting factoid: Edinburgh was also ranked in the Top 10 for European nightlife. It’s hard to believe the city outranked party paradise Mykonos as well as the hopping towns of Hamburg and Paris to be one of Europe’s get-down-and-boogie backdrops.