Six Irish spots make must-see tourist list

Six destinations on the island of Ireland have been named on a global must-see list for tourists.

Alongside some of the world’s most prestigious heritage sites, travel bible Lonely Planet has ranked a handful of destinations in the Republic and Northern Ireland as part of its guide to 500 places to go.

None managed to scrape into the top 100 but the highest ranking was the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim, which came in at 103.

Others on the list were Bru na Boinne, the prehistoric monument and passage tombs at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth, Co Meath, at number 224 and the Cliffs of Moher in Clare at 378.

Titanic Belfast, the visitor centre which has only been open for three years, also made it on to the list of must-dos at number 424.

The final two on the guide were Trinity College Dublin, home to the Book of Kells, and the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary.

Lonely Planet’s experts and writers drew up a list of the top-rated sites in the world in an effort to name the best 500 places to visit.

Four came from the Republic, two from Northern Ireland and 32 from the UK, including the British Museum in London, the Lake District, Snowdonia in Wales, and Edinburgh Castle.

The number one spot in the list was taken by Cambodia’s Temples of Angkor, which is regarded as one of the world’s most important archaeological sites.

Much of the list was dominated by places on Unesco’s World Heritage Sites

The top 10 of the Lonely Planet travel list:

1. Temples of Angkor, Cambodia

2. Great Barrier Reef, Australia;

3. Machu Picchu, Peru;

4. Great Wall of China, China;

5. Taj Mahal, India;

6. Grand Canyon, US;

7. Colosseum, Italy;

8. Iguazu Falls, Brazil-Argentina;

9. Alhambra, Spain;

10. Hagia Sophia