London Takes Bronze In Destination Awards

by Lucy Aspden | 8 April 2014

The nations capital took bronze at the Travellers' Choice awards for destinations.

Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the London Eye are all highlights of our country's capital and this week London has been voted third top destination in the world.

The annual TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards saw England's capital shunning the likes of Paris and New York to clinch a place in the top 3 global destinations.

Joining London on the podium was the Italian capital, Rome in 2nd and Turkey's Istanbul making it's stamp as a newcomer in poll position.

Gordon Innes, the Chief Executive of London & Partners, said of the title: 'During the last year we've seen record numbers of visitors to the capital, who have enjoyed everything our great city has to offer.'

Further-a-field Asian destinations have seen the biggest success, with Beijing, Hanoi and Shanghai all making the top ten for the first time

The awards - which are based on millions of reviews and opinions from the sites users - saw a shock result with the French city of love, Paris dropping to seventh place and the US giant, New York not even making it into the top ten in twelfth place.

So what makes our capital so special? James Kay from TripAdvisor said: 'There is no doubt the birth of the royal baby helped keep the eyes of the world on London in 2013, but the capital's continued appeal among travellers around the world surpasses any one event.'

To celebrate the success of local tourism, Tripadvisor also named the top ten destinations in the UK.

With two seaside resorts making the cut, Torquay and Llandudno, it seems we still enjoy a bit of British sea air.

London led the way in the number one spot, but Manchester, Glasgow and Blackpool are all absent from the list this year; making way for newcomers Edinburgh in second, York in sixth and ninth place going to Leeds.

The 2014 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Destinations winners:

World’s top 10
1. Istanbul
2. Rome
3. London
4. Beijing
5. Prague
6. Marrakech
7. Paris
8. Hanoi
9. Siem Reap
10. Shanghai