Australia is full of iconic tourist spots that are renowned all over the world… We have the Great Barrier Reef, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Ayer’s Rock, Fraser Island, the Dampier Archipelago, the Great Ocean Road and so many more. But, only two of our national treasures made it on to TripAdvisor’s list of the top 25 Tourist Attractions in the World.
Our top tourist attraction according to the list beats the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Golden Temple in India. It is also the only one of it’s kind on the list.
The Australian War Memorial in Canberra was named the world’s 17th best tourist attraction. It seems unusual to have a war memorial featured as a true tourist attraction, but the moving and reflective atmosphere of the memorial has won the hearts of travellers from all around the world.
On the TripAdvisor page for the memorial, travellers have left comments saying, “Amazing, you really no need to spend a couple of days here to take it all in. Very moving and a great place to take the kids.” And another traveller said, I’m not a great one for museums but this was spellbinding and very moving. Reading the personal stories of loss and courage were humbling, the wall of remembrance helps to drive home the enormity of the loss plus major exhibits of aircraft and ships. Easy to lose yourself for a day in here, especially if you start looking up your ancestors in the war records.”
The second Australian attraction to make it to the list was the Sydney Opera House in 25th place. While it holds little spiritual value, travellers seem to enjoy the ‘fun’ of seeing it and the great atmosphere of the area saying, “A must see. Just awesome to see… the coast and opera house are just awesome! Great bars and restaurants as well.”
The full list is below, but we want to know, what do you think Australia’s best tourist attraction is? What would you add to the list? Tell us in the comments below…
TripAdvisor: World’s Best Tourist Attractions