Over the past two years, we here in Ireland have gotten to know our country pretty well. From summer staycations climbing Croagh Patrick to Sunday sea swims and scenic walks along The Wicklow Way, we’ve explored all that this gorgeous country has to offer.
After so many local adventures (or watching other people’s adventures via Instagram from the comfort of your bed), it should come as no surprise that new research has ranked Ireland among the best countries around the world for a hiking holiday.
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The study, conducted by SportsShoes.com, used Google Search Data to analyse global search volumes using the terms ‘walking + country’ and ‘walking holidays + country’ over the past 12 months.
They combined this data with the number of Instagram hashtags for #hikecountry and gave each destination its own score. The countries were then ranked according to this score to identify the most popular locations worldwide for a hiking holiday.
From there, they collated a list of over 500 of the most popular hikes from these destinations and ranked them according to monthly Google Search Data and their own hashtags, in order to rank the most popular hikes within each country.
All data correct as of November 2021 and countries that did not return enough data were excluded from the research.
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According to their research, the world’s best hiking holiday destinations are:
- Spain
- Japan
- England
- Scotland
- Australia
- Germany
- France
- Wales
- Italy
- Northern Ireland
- Austria
- Singapore
- Canada
- Ireland
- India
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The best Irish hikes:
- Croagh Patrick
- Errigal
- Torc Mountain
- Ballycotton Cliff Walk
- The Kerry Way
- The Wicklow Way
- Hare’s Gap
- The Dingle Way
- The Gap of Dunloe
