Tripadvisor reveals the world’s best experiences for 2022: A £17 Amsterdam canal cruise takes the global No1 spot (with a high-speed River Thames boat tour top in the UK)
- The Tripadvisor awards celebrate the world’s ‘most amazing tours and activities’
- Second place in the global ranking is a Dubai desert trip with quad-biking
- Top in the U.S and third in the global ranking is a guided tour in Oahu, Hawaii
An Amsterdam canal cruise has been named by Tripadvisor as the number one tourist experience on the planet.
The honour is courtesy of the 2022 Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ Things to Do Awards, which celebrates the world’s ‘most amazing tours and activities’, ranking experiences based on travellers’ reviews and ratings over the past 12 months.
Swooping into second place in the global ranking is a Dubai desert trip that features quad-biking and a barbecue, while a guided tour of Hawaiian island Oahu’s North Shore ranks third – also earning the top spot in the U.S ranking. Meanwhile, the highest-ranking experience in the UK is a ‘high-speed’ River Thames boat tour, which is eighth in the global ranking.
An Amsterdam canal cruise (above) has been named by Tripadvisor as the number one tourist experience on the planet. The honour is courtesy of the 2022 Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ Things to Do Awards
The silver medal in the global ranking goes to a Dubai desert barbecue, quad-biking and camel-ride trip (above)
A guided tour of the North Shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii (pictured), ranks third overall – also earning the top spot on the U.S ranking
The highest-ranking experience in the UK is a ‘high-speed’ River Thames boat tour. It’s eighth in the global ranking
The gold-medal-winning Dutch boat trip, priced from £17, is a ‘scenic cruise along Amsterdam’s stunning canals that passes iconic spots such as the Anne Frank House, the Jordaan, the Houseboat Museum, Leiden Square, Rijksmuseum, De Duif [a landmark church] and much more’.
Tripadvisor notes: ‘With nearly 10,000 reviews, this tour has travellers raving about its guides, as well as the accompanying wine and cheese.’
Meanwhile, the runner-up Dubai desert trip invites travellers to ‘zoom off on an ATV (quad bike), ride a camel, [and] go sandboarding’ before sitting down to a barbecue buffet dinner. The tour, described as ‘fun-filled, thrilling and adventurous’ by recent reviewer ‘Gbolagade I’, is priced from £69.40 per person.
TRIPADVISOR’S BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCES 2022
TOP 10 EXPERIENCES IN THE WORLD
1. Amsterdam Open Boat Canal Cruise – Live Guide – from Anne Frank House – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2. Red Dunes Quad Bike, Sandsurf, Camels & BBQ at Al Khayma Camp from Dubai – Dubai, UAE
3. Tour of North Shore (70 per cent) and Sightseeing (30 per cent) – Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Natural Pool & Indian Cave Jeep Safari – Aruba
5. Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve and Tampa Bay Area – Tierra Verde, Florida
6. Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu – Cusco, Peru
7. Reykjavik Food Walk – Reykjavik, Iceland
8. High-Speed Thames River Rib Cruise in London – London
9. Rafting – Sprouts – Rio Jacaré Pepira by Wild Canoe Territory – Brotas, Brazil
10. City & Beatles Tour – Blue Route – Liverpool
TOP 10 EXPERIENCES IN THE UK
1. High-Speed Thames River Rib Cruise, London
2. City & Beatles Tour – Blue Route, Liverpool
3. The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience, Edinburgh
4. Cab tours Belfast famous black taxi tours, Belfast
5. Historical Pub Walking Tour of London, London
6. The Mountebank Comedy Walk of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
7. Walking Tour of Bath with Blue Badge Tourist Guide, Bath
8. The Cloak and Dagger Tour, London
9. The Manchester City Stadium Tour, Manchester
10. West End Musicals Silent Disco Tour, London
TOP EXPERIENCES IN THE U.S
1. Tour of North Shore (70 per cent) and Sightseeing (30 per cent), Hawaii
2. Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve and Tampa Bay Area, Florida
3. Little Havana Food and Walking Tour in Miami, Miami
4. Half-Day Mojave Desert ATV Tour from Las Vegas, Las Vegas
5. Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, 7 Magic Mountains Small Group VIP Tour, Las Vegas
6. 3 Hour Guided TomCar ATV Tour in Sonoran Desert, Arizona
7. Pearl Harbor City Tour, Hawaii
8. 5 Island Maui County -Private- Discovery Flight, for up to 3 people: See it All!, Hawaii
9. Little Toot Dolphin Adventure at Clearwater Beach Clearwater, Florida
10. Party Bike Private Party Up To 15 People in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona
Source: Tripadvisor
A jeep safari experience in Aruba, pictured, bags fourth place in the global ranking
Pictured is fifth-place ‘Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve and Tampa Bay Area’, a £59 tour in Florida
On the third-place Oahu North Shore tour, which lasts eight hours and costs £113, travellers are transported in a minivan and learn facts about Hawaii along the way, with stops built-in for swimming and paddleboarding.
An £85 jeep safari experience in Aruba’s Arikok National Park bags fourth place in the global ranking, followed by a £59 kayaking tour around Florida’s Tampa Bay (fifth).
Sixth place goes to ‘Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu’, a £563, four-day guided hiking trip that begins in Cusco, Peru, whilst seventh place is snapped up by Iceland’s ‘Reykjavik Food Walk’ (£97), which invites travellers to ‘expand their knowledge’ of Icelandic cuisine.
Sixth place in the global ranking goes to ‘Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu’, a £563, four-day guided hiking trip that sets off from Cusco, Peru
Seventh place is snapped up by Iceland’s ‘Reykjavik Food Walk’ tour (above)
Tripadvisor says of eighth-place ‘High-Speed Thames River Rib Cruise’ in London: ‘If you’re a bit of a daredevil, this is just the activity for you.’ It adds that travellers board a ‘rigid inflatable boat’ and ‘soar past the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, and Shakespeare’s Globe while listening to a high-octane soundtrack’.
The review site adds: ‘Once you reach Tower Bridge, your skipper accelerates to speeds of 35mph (55kmph) and performs sharp turns guaranteed to increase adrenaline levels.’
Ninth place goes to a rafting trip down the Jacare Pepira River in Brazil. A recent reviewer, ‘MoralCompass’, described the £23 experience as a ‘magical journey’.
Ninth place goes to a £23 rafting trip down the Jacare Pepira River in Brazil (pictured above)
Liverpool’s £18 ‘City & Beatles Tour’ nabs tenth place overall in the global list
Edinburgh’s ‘The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience’, pictured, lands third in the UK ranking
It is Liverpool’s £18 ‘City & Beatles Tour’ that nabs tenth place overall – as well as landing second in the UK ranking. With a hop-on, hop-off bus for transportation, travellers follow a ‘Beatles-themed itinerary, visiting Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’. ‘A laugh a minute,’ is how ‘Dorothy M’ described the trip in her recent review.
Third place in the UK ranking goes to Edinburgh’s ‘The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience’, a £19.50 ‘immersive chocolate-making experience’.
A black-cab tour of Belfast lands in fourth place. The £60 experience invites you to ‘expand your knowledge of Belfast’s turbulent history and find out about The Troubles’.
In fifth place, it is a £25 ‘Historical Pub Walking Tour of London’, guiding travellers around the city’s most historic alehouses, followed by the £19 ‘Mountebank Comedy Walk of Edinburgh’, where a ‘local, professional, stand-up comedian’ steers travellers around Edinburgh Old Town.
TRIPADVISOR’S BEST OF THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN 2022 ACROSS 10 CATEGORIES
TOP IN THE WORLD
Food Experiences – Reykjavik Food Walk – Reykjavik, Iceland
Nature & Outdoor Activities – Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve and Tampa Bay Area – Tierra Verde, Florida
Sailing & Day Cruises – Amsterdam Open Boat Canal Cruise – Live Guide – from Anne Frank House – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cultural & Historical Tours – Renaissance & Medici Tales – Explore Florence with the best storytellers – Florence, Italy
Snorkeling & Water Sports – Rafting – Sprouts – Rio Jacaré Pepira by Wild Canoe Territory – Brotas, Brazil
Wine, Beer, and Spirits Experiences – St. Augustine’s Wine, Cocktail and Food Experience – St. Augustine, Florida
Bucket List Experiences – Premium Red Dunes, Camel Safari & BBQ at Al Khayma Camp, Dubai – Dubai, UAE
Pop Culture Tours – Full-Day Iconic Sights of LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Beaches and More – Los Angeles, California
Top Attractions – Basilica de la Sagrada Familia – Barcelona, Spain
Amusement Parks & Water Parks – Siam Park – Adeje, Spain
TOP IN THE UK
Food Experiences – The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience, Edinburgh
Nature & Outdoor Activities – Inverness Bike Tour a 2 hours guided bike tour around the Waterways of Inverness, Inverness
Cultural & Historical Tours – Walking Tour of Bath with Blue Badge Tourist Guide, Bath
Snorkeling & Water Sports – High-Speed Thames River Rib Cruise, London
Wine, Beer, and Spirits Experiences – London Pub Crawl, London
Pop Culture Tours – West End Musicals Silent Disco Tour, London
Top Attractions – The Roman Baths, Bath
Amusement Parks & Water Parks – The Milky Way Adventure Park, Clovelly, Devon
Source: Tripadvisor
A black-cab tour of Belfast, which invites travellers to ‘expand [their] knowledge of Belfast’s turbulent history and find out about The Troubles’, lands in fourth place in the UK list. Above is one of the city’s murals, which features on the tour
Seventh place is claimed by a £15 ‘Walking Tour of Bath with Blue Badge Tourist Guide’ – billed by recent reviewer ‘Roamifyouwantto’ as a ‘lovely walk pointing out some of the details in the architecture of Bath that would otherwise go unnoticed’.
The rest of the top ten comprises The Cloak and Dagger Tour, a walking tour that reveals the ‘little-told stories of London’s grisly past’ (eighth, £18); The Manchester City Stadium Tour (ninth, £25); and a ‘Silent Disco Tour’ around London’s West End theatres (tenth, £24).
In the U.S, following the Oahu guided tour and the Tampa Bay kayaking trip, a ‘Little Havana Food and Walking Tour’ in Miami (£56) ranks third.
Fourth place has been bagged by a quad-biking tour from Las Vegas to the Mojave Desert (£89), while a ‘VIP Tour’ of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam (£162) finishes in fifth place.
Fifth place in the UK ranking goes to a £25 ‘Historical Pub Walking Tour of London’, guiding travellers around the city’s most historic alehouses
The rest of the U.S top ten is made up of a guided Tomcar (a type of off-road vehicle) tour of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona (sixth, £192); a ‘Pearl Harbor City Tour’ in Hawaii (seventh, £48); a plane ride around the islands of Hawaii’s Maui County (eighth, £373); a dolphin-spotting tour around Florida’s Clearwater Beach (ninth, £28) and a ‘party bike tour’ of Old Town Scottsdale in Arizona (tenth, £486 per group).
As well as recognising experiences, Tripadvisor also awards the best-rated attractions around the world and in the UK – ‘those must-see points of interest for travellers exploring the world and their own country’.
The number one attraction for 2022 is Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, while in the UK, it is The Roman Baths in Bath that takes the top spot. In the U.S, New York’s Empire State Building reigns supreme.
Speaking about the awards, Kate Urquhart, General Manager of Experiences at Tripadvisor, says: ‘From a luxurious food-filled evening to a long-haul trek, there is something for every traveller on this list.
‘Tripadvisor offers an unparalleled platform to find and book things to do, so check out this year’s winners to discover the tours and activities travellers say you can’t miss.’
For more information, visit www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-ThingsToDo.
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