The world’s greatest places for 2019 have been revealed by Time magazine.
It has come up with 100 destinations from around the world that it believes are breaking new ground, leading industry trends and offering visitors extraordinary experiences.
This year’s list includes Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in California, the new V&A Museum in Dundee, a sprawling resort in the mountains of Bhutan and a park in Dubai inspired by the Quran.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in California, which has been included in Time magazine’s list of the world’s greatest places to visit in 2019
The V&A Museum in Dundee makes Time’s list with the magazine saying the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Oak Room is a highlight
To create the second annual list, Time asked for nominations across a variety of categories including museums, parks, restaurants and hotels — from experts around the world.
Each nomination was then evaluated on its quality, originality, innovation and influence and the final list was split into three categories – places to visit, places to stay and places to eat and drink.
The eagerly awaited $1billion Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in California is in the places to visit section, with Time saying it brings ‘planet Batuu and its trading post to life’.
It adds: ‘At Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, guests don’t simply mingle with their favourite characters, they live among them while customizing their own droids at the Droid Depot.’
Visitors at the Cave of Miracles, part of Dubai’s new Quranic Park – the world’s first Quran-inspired park
The Shed, an arts centre close to Hudson Yards in New York City, which offers tickets for performances for as little as $10
The V&A Dundee makes the places to visit list with the magazine praising the building’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh Oak Room as a highlight.
Time writes: ‘It’s the cornerstone of a more than $1 billion plan to revitalize the city, a onetime industrial powerhouse now struggling with high unemployment.’
Dubai’s Quranic Park, the world’s first Quran-inspired park, also makes the best places to visit section.
The gardens are based on stories from Islam’s sacred text and include a ‘lake split by a stone pathway, symbolizing the parting of the Red Sea’.
Another entry in the places to visit list is The Shed, an arts centre close to Hudson Yards in New York City.
The view from one of the rooms at Six Senses Bhutan, a hotel that is spread across the west and central valleys of Bhutan
Omaanda, an isolated clutch of 10 huts in a 22,000-acre nature reserve in Namibia, makes the ranking
A UK entry in the places to stay section is University Arms Cambridge, which underwent an £80million renovation last year
The venue has been likened to a ‘bubble-clad airplane hangar’ and offers tickets for art events for as little as $10.
A pick of the ‘places to stay’ bunch is Six Senses Bhutan, a hotel ‘spread across the west and central valleys of Bhutan’ where rooms start at £1,300 per night.
Then there’s Omaanda, an isolated clutch of 10 huts in a 22,000-acre nature reserve in Namibia, which also makes the list.
This resort works with the nearby Naankuse animal sanctuary and guests can spot ‘zebras, giraffes, rhinos and more on daily excursions, or simply relax in the hotel’s infinity pool’.
Inside the Macallan Distillery in Moray, Scotland. The distillery saw a new visitor centre open earlier this year
A UK entry in the places to stay section is University Arms Cambridge, which underwent an £80million renovation last year.
Time writes: ‘In many ways, the hotel channels Cambridge University’s library: suites are named after graduates like Newton and Darwin, and you’ll find their portraits lining the walls.’
In the places to eat and drink category one of the more unusual entries is the Macallan Distillery in Moray, Scotland, which has an other-worldly Scotch bar.
The distillery saw a new visitor centre open earlier this year and Time says: ‘The undulating grass rooftops and stone paths fringed with wildflowers evoke some distant Celtic past, while the 69-ft-high ceilings, whirring machinery and a hovering UFO-like Scotch bar root you squarely in the 21st century.’
Other places to eat and drink making the list include The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel in Singapore; Under, an underwater restaurant in Norway and All Square, a specialist sandwich shop in Minneapolis.
To see the full list of the World’s Greatest Places for 2019 click here.
The September issue of Time magazine, which features the list of 100 places it says are the world’s greatest locations to visit this year