This week, TripAdvisor revealed the winners of the Travellers' Choice Landmarks. Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the best preserved temple in Angkor, is the monument of choice for travellers.
Travellers have shown a preference for historical monuments that have stood the test of time. Proof lies in the temple of Angkor Wat clinching the first spot in the Travellers' Choice Landmarks listing, followed by the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu in second and the Taj Mahal in third.
This ranking shows the popularity of spots in Asia as well as in Europe and the Americas. The Middle East is represented in position 4 by the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, and Barcelona's Sagrada Familia rounds out the top 5. Religious sites feature highly in the ranking: Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is sixth, the Milan Cathedral (also known as the Duomo) is seventh, and the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro is ninth.
The two top spots in the U.S. were both in the San Francisco area: Alcatraz coming in at number 8 outranked the Golden Gate Bridge at number 10.
The winners were determined with the help of an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of the comments on these monuments over a period of 12 months.
Tourists' top 10 favourite monuments around the world:
  1. Angkor Wat - Siem Reap, Cambodia
  2. Machu Picchu - Machu Picchu, Peru
  3. Taj Mahal - Agra, India
  4. Sheikh Zayed Mosque - Abou Dhabi, UAE
  5. Basilica of the Sagrada Familia - Barcelona, Spain
  6. Saint Peter's Basilica - Vatican City, Italy
  7. Milan Cathedral (Duomo) - Milan, Italy
  8. Alcatraz - San Francisco, California, USA
  9. Corcovado - Christ the Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  10. The Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco, California, USA