Belfast Tops Definitive List Of Places To Visit In 2018

Every time you see something to do with the top cities in the UK, you have a look out of curiosity.

You don't really expect your home town to be there, but if it is, there's a brief moment of excitement before you realise it's not actually that great and you can't actually visit it yourself. When it's another town though, you'll cheerfully proclaim that it's a shithole and should never be visited.

On this occasion, Belfast has topped Lonely Planet's top place to visit next year - not only in the UK, but in the world. And who are we to argue with that?

It's scenic, has great people and, if Northern Irish stereotypes are to be believed, they love a drink over there.

Belfast was in the only place in the UK (shock) to make Lonely Planet's definitive list, rubbing shoulders with Alaska, the Kii Peninsula in Japan and Slovenia's Julian Alps, as the Evening Standard reports.

The city's greenery - particularly places like Iron Island port on the Causeway Coast - are often used for various films and TV shows such as Game of Thrones. You can actually go there and check out where scenes were shot, taking daft pictures like this one:

If the rain isn't too vicious - although this is the British Isles we're talking about, so there's a chance it will be - you could even sneak in a cheeky game of golf while enjoying the sights.

Belfast topped the list, and was followed in the top ten by Alaska, USA; Julian Alps, Slovenia; Languedoc-Roussillon, France; Kii Peninsula, Japan; Aeolian Islands, Italy; The Deep South, USA; Lahaul & Spiti, India; Bahia, Brazil; and Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic.

Delving further into Lonely Planet's website, they also give tips on what other UK cities are worth visiting, especially on a budget.

Coming top was Liverpool, with its docks, numerous historic places to do with The Beatles to visit, as well as its museums. They also included Edinburgh, Brighton, Manchester, Cardiff and St Davids - Britain's smallest city. We've got some good stuff, to be fair.

Topics: city, Interesting, list, travel, UK

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.