Only one Co Armagh destination has been featured in a comprehensive list of 500 ‘must see’ attractions and events by the world’s most famous travel guide.
Lonely Planet has unveiled its favourites after much anticipation and deliberation.
It features the “top 500 unmissable experiences and hidden gems across Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands”.
It is described by Lonely Planet as “the ultimate UK travel hitlist”.
In all Northern Ireland warrants 20 mentions in the guide.
The overall attraction is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
But Northern Ireland comes in well up the list with the Giant’s Causeway in third place.
One attraction features for the whole of Co Armagh and it is to be found in the Ecclestiastical Capital itself.
The Armagh Robinson Library, at Abbey Street, comes in in 476th place.
The free to visit library was founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1771, his intention being to share his own collection of books and fine art with the general public. There are over 42,000 printed works, with Jonathan Swift’s own copy of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ among the many treasures.
The Armagh Robinson Library comes in ahead of Saint Patrick’s Way in Downpatrick, Seamus Heaney’s Home Place, in Co Londonderry/Derry, Marble Arch Caves and Enniskillen Castle in Fermanagh, and Downhill Demesne – which includes the Mussenden Temple – in 497th place.
The other Northern Ireland ‘must see’ destinations and placings are as follows: Titanic, Belfast (57); Crown Bar Belfast (154); Dunluce Castle (164); Rathlin Island (194); Belfast Black Taxi Tour (201); The Mourne Mountains (210); Devenish Island, in Lower Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh (211); Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, Co Antrim (291); Ulster Museum, Belfast (365); St George’s Market, Belfast (389); The Gobbins, Co Antrim (400); Derry City Walls (405); and Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast (456).
