Don't book a holiday to Iceland this year. Seriously, it's been done, the tourists have claimed it, and there's a whole wide world of sights to see. For instance, Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet has released its list of travel-expert recommended destinations for 2018, and Belfast and the Causeway coast tops the lot for best region.
"A city once patrolled by heavily armed troops and dogged by sectarian violence is now full of hip neighbourhoods that burst with bars, restaurants and venues to suit all tastes," Lonely Planet writes of Belfast. The Titanic set off from Belfast, where there's a giant museum dedicated to the doomed sea liner, and you can take "bombs and bullets" taxi tours of the city's recent violent history, the Troubles. The Causeway coast itself is stacked with geographically mind-blowing rock formations—including Giant's Causeway, where rock chimneys line up and look like hexagonal stepping stones from above. The coast should also look familiar, as scenes from a certain hit HBO show about dragons and ice zombies was filmed there.
Lonely Planet has more:
As for the rest of the deserving regions primed for a tourism boost in 2018, Lonely Planet ranks them as such:
- Belfast and the Causeway, Northern Ireland
- Alaska, USA
- Julian Alps, Slovenia
- Languedoc-Roussillon, France
- Kii Peninsula, Japan
- Aeolian Islands, Italy
- Southern USA
- Lahaul and Spiti, India
- Bahia, Brazil
- Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic
Make travel plans to any before they become the next insufferably "cool" region to visit.
