Off the wire
• China stock index futures open mixed Friday  • Chinese yuan rises sharply against euro  • China treasury bond futures open higher Friday  • 2 dead, thousands evacuated as floods hit S. Philippines  • Tunisia defeats Zambia and leads Group B at African Cup  • China stocks open higher Friday  • ChiNext Index opens lower Friday  • Hong Kong stocks opens higher  • Chinese yuan weakens to 6.1342 against USD  • Kobe Bryant has torn rotator cuff  
You are here: 　 Home

Brazil home to world's top beach: survey

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Brazil is home to the world's No. 1 beach, Baia do Sancho in the Fernando de Noronha islands, according to a survey released Thursday by online travel site TripAdvisor.

"Truly spectacular, from the walkway on the cliff above and on the beach itself," the site said of the idyllic spot located off Brazil's Atlantic coast.

The world's No. 2 beach, crescent-shaped Grace Bay, is also located in Latin America, in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos, which are a British overseas territory, while Mexico's Playa Norte, a long stretch of soft sand in Isla Mujeres, just managed to squeak into the top 10, at No. 10.

Latin America is also home to three of the world's top 25 museums, according to the survey of travelers, including Mexico City's Museum of Anthropology, at No. 2, Brazil's Instituto Ricardo Brennand, in Recife at No. 17 and the Gold Museum in Colombia's capital Bogota at No. 25.

Peru's ancient Incan capital of Cusco was voted the second best destination city in South America.

The iconic Andean mountain city, located 1,151 km southeast of Peru's capital Lima, grabbed the No. 2 spot, only behind Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, which was also voted the 14th best destination worldwide, according to TripAdvisor's annual survey of travelers.

"Incan majesty and Andean baroque exist side-by-side in Cusco's stone streets," the site says of the Peruvian city, adding travelers will "find extraordinary textiles, lively summer festivals and archaeological wonders."

The former capital of the Inca Empire was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983, by UNESCO, and receives almost 2 million travelers a year, who combine a visit to the city with a visit to the Incan mountain-top ruins of Machu Picchu, named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Rounding out the top five destination cities in South America are Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, both in Brazil, and Lima.

Also listed among the top 10 South American destinations are Santiago, Chile, at No. 6, followed by Bogota, Colombia; San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina; Quito, Ecuador; and Brazil's Amazonian city of Gramado, at No. 10.

In other parts of Latin America, Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic's top beach resort, was voted the No. 1 destination in the Caribbean, and Costa Rica's surfing beach of Santa Teresa was elected the top destination in Central America. Enditem