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SPAIN appears twice in this year's TripAdvisor 'best in the world' destinations list of winners, along with 20 other established holiday hotspots on three continents.
The Travellers' Choice Awards for 'Trending World Destinations', under the heading of 'Best of the Best', hails one of Spain's favourite holiday magnets as the outright winner, with another in sixth place.
Mallorca tops the list, ahead of Cairo, Egypt – home of the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum where Tut Ankh Amon's remains and his massive collection of jewellery and body armour are held – with the Greek island of Rhodes third.
Mayan archaeological gems right on a rural beach put Tulúm, eastern México, fourth, followed by the historic coastal city of Dubrovnik, in Croatia.
Mallorca's neighbouring island, Ibiza – the second-most inhabited of the Balearics – comes next, beating the low-rise, laid-back beach city of Natal on Brazil's north-eastern tip, the safari destination of Arusha in Tanzania, and Göreme in Turkey's Kapadokya, or Cappadocia area, famous for its fascinating forest of natural sand-rock chimneys.
Another Greek island, that of Santorini – with its famous bright-blue domed roofs and white houses above rugged beaches – completes the top 10.
Paraty, south of Rio de Janeiro on the Brazilian coast, the Caribbean island of Aruba, the popular red-roofed historic holiday city of Split in Croatia, and the tropical beaches of Playa del Carmen on México's east coast come next, with Hawaii Island in the archipelago of the same name at number 15.
Spain's two islands also beat Luxor in Egypt – home of the famous Luxor temple, Colossus of Memnon and the Valley of the Kings – the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, the French-style colonial city of Charleston in South Carolina, USA, the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten, and North Male Atoll in the Maldives, at number 20.
Zanzibar Island of the coast of Tanzani, and the tropical rainforests of La Fortuna de San Carlos in Costa Rica complete the list, of which 22 destinations appear in total.
TripAdvisor describes its 'Trending Destinations' winner, Mallorca, as a 'dreamy island' with 'something for every taste', and includes the Caves of Drach with their 30-metre-deep underground lakes, Palma Cathedral, and Alcúdia old town and beach among top places to visit.
It does not mention the Caves of Ham, the artists' colony of Deià – where World War I veteran and author of the I, Claudius series, Robert Graves, lived for most of his adult life – or Valldemossa, in whose famous Cartuja monastery the French novelist George Sands and Polish-French composer Frédéric Chopin spent a winter together.
But all of these come recommended.
TripAdvisor introduces Ibiza as synonymous with 'party 'til you drop', and as 'one of Europe's favourite nightlife playgrounds' with 'more than 100 miles [160 kilometres] of coastline'.
It does, however, recommend 'fitting in a little culture' and visiting Ibiza's 'UNESCO-designated old town'.
In addition to several beaches, a Baleària ferry trip to neighbouring Formentera, and a night at Ushuaia Beach Club, TripAdvisor recommends a visit to Ibiza castle in the island's capital town.
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