The best countries in the world: 2022 Readers' Choice Awards
The survey for the 2023 Readers' Choice Awards is open, vote now for your favourite places, hotels, airports, cruise ships, travel fixers and more.
Among the many phrases to have emerged from the pandemic is “revenge travel” – not as sinister as it sounds, but merely a desire to make up for lost time and go large on bucket-list experiences. Perhaps that’s one reason New Zealand and Asian countries such as Japan did well – even though both only reopened to visitors this summer. This wanderlust, though, was tempered with a concern for safety, criteria that helped Denmark onto the list. A rare appearance by the UK was partly down to its culture, but when it comes to food, the highest-rated destinations read like the cookery section of a bookshop: Italy, Thailand, Japan, India and France. Portugal, meanwhile, the overall winner for the second year running, was appreciated for the friendliness of its people, whom you rated only second to those of Ireland.
These are the best countries in the world, according to the 2022 Readers' Choice Awards, counting down from 20-1.