Share
17th July 2024
03:18pm BST
Time Out has long been a go-to guide for travel content, anointing specific areas around the world and using experts to hand-pick restaurants, bars, cafes and everything in between.
For the second year in a row, the UK-based publication has named Wicklow’s premiere coastal town Bray in their list of 24 destinations which are the “most underrated travel destinations in the world”.
Ranked by Time Out’s “network of expert editors and globetrotting travel writers” who were tasked with finding “overlooked spots” which offer an alternative travel experience than your usual.
Ranked as number 24, Bray features alongside the likes of Filandia in Colombia, Brown Station in Antarctica and Prince Edward Island in Canada.
In the list you won’t find “your Bangkoks or your Balis, your Amalfis or your Amsterdams,” the piece reads, “what you will find is a Yosemite dupe, Morocco’s overlooked neighbour, a place where penguins outnumber people, and plenty more travel inspo where that came from.”
Here’s what Time Out had to say for our beloved Wicklow town, “It was the arrival of the railway in 1854 that made Bray, just twelve miles south of Dublin, so popular it became known as the Brighton of Ireland.
"After years of decline, its mile-long Victorian seafront now buzzes with cafés and restaurants.
"Stroll from the harbour along the esplanade to the 800-foot high Bray Head, worth the hour’s climb for panoramic views from its rocky summit.
"Refuel at Butler & Barry on the beach, before a Guinness at ace local institution the Harbour Bar."
Here’s the full list:
24. Bray, Ireland
23. Lombok, Indonesia
22. Turku, Finland
21. Plymouth, England
20. Gippsland, Australia
19. Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe
18. Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
17. São Tomé and Príncipe
16. Srebrenik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
15. Lake Bacalar, Mexico
14. Karpathos, Greece
13. Cuenca, Ecuador
12. Mongolia
11. Brown Station, Antarctica
10. Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
9. Newcastle, Australia
8. Cochamó Valley, Chile
7. Tasmania, Australia
6. Sibiu, Romania
5. Prince Edward Island, Canada
4. Côn Đảo, Vietnam
3. São Sebastião, Brazil
2. Southern Tunisia
1. Filandia, Colombia
