Tripadvisor reveals the world’s best experiences with an Amsterdam canal cruise taking the No1 spot

An Amsterdam canal cruise has been named by Tripadvisor as the number one tourist experience on the planet.

The honour is courtesy of the 2022 Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ Things to Do Awards, which celebrates the world’s ‘most amazing tours and activities’, ranking experiences based on travellers’ reviews and ratings over the past 12 months.

Swooping into second place in the global ranking is a Dubai desert trip that features quad-biking and a barbecue, while a guided tour of Hawaiian island Oahu’s North Shore ranks third – also earning the top spot in the U.S ranking. Meanwhile, the highest-ranking experience in the UK is a ‘high-speed’ River Thames boat tour, which is eighth in the global ranking.

An Amsterdam canal cruise (above) has been named by Tripadvisor as the number one tourist experience on the planet. The honour is courtesy of the 2022 Travellers’ Choice ‘Best of the Best’ Things to Do Awards

The silver medal in the global ranking goes to a Dubai desert barbecue, quad-biking and camel-ride trip (above)

A guided tour of the North Shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii (pictured), ranks third overall – also earning the top spot on the U.S ranking

The highest-ranking experience in the UK is a ‘high-speed’ River Thames boat tour. It’s eighth in the global ranking

The gold-medal-winning Dutch boat trip, priced from £17, is a ‘scenic cruise along Amsterdam’s stunning canals that passes iconic spots such as the Anne Frank House, the Jordaan, the Houseboat Museum, Leiden Square, Rijksmuseum, De Duif [a landmark church] and much more’.

Tripadvisor notes: ‘With nearly 10,000 reviews, this tour has travellers raving about its guides, as well as the accompanying wine and cheese.’

Meanwhile, the runner-up Dubai desert trip invites travellers to ‘zoom off on an ATV (quad bike), ride a camel, [and] go sandboarding’ before sitting down to a barbecue buffet dinner. The tour, described as ‘fun-filled, thrilling and adventurous’ by recent reviewer ‘Gbolagade I’, is priced from £69.40 per person.

A jeep safari experience in Aruba, pictured, bags fourth place in the global ranking

Pictured is fifth-place ‘Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve and Tampa Bay Area’, a £59 tour in Florida

On the third-place Oahu North Shore tour, which lasts eight hours and costs £113, travellers are transported in a minivan and learn facts about Hawaii along the way, with stops built-in for swimming and paddleboarding.

An £85 jeep safari experience in Aruba’s Arikok National Park bags fourth place in the global ranking, followed by a £59 kayaking tour around Florida’s Tampa Bay (fifth). 

Sixth place goes to ‘Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu‘, a £563, four-day guided hiking trip that begins in Cusco, Peru, whilst seventh place is snapped up by Iceland’s ‘Reykjavik Food Walk‘ (£97), which invites travellers to ‘expand their knowledge’ of Icelandic cuisine. 

Sixth place in the global ranking goes to ‘Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu’, a £563, four-day guided hiking trip that sets off from Cusco, Peru 

Seventh place is snapped up by Iceland’s ‘Reykjavik Food Walk’ tour (above) 

Tripadvisor says of eighth-place ‘High-Speed Thames River Rib Cruise’ in London: ‘If you’re a bit of a daredevil, this is just the activity for you.’ It adds that travellers board a ‘rigid inflatable boat’ and ‘soar past the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, and Shakespeare’s Globe while listening to a high-octane soundtrack’.

The review site adds: ‘Once you reach Tower Bridge, your skipper accelerates to speeds of 35mph (55kmph) and performs sharp turns guaranteed to increase adrenaline levels.’

Ninth place goes to a rafting trip down the Jacare Pepira River in Brazil. A recent reviewer, ‘MoralCompass’, described the £23 experience as a ‘magical journey’.

Ninth place goes to a £23 rafting trip down the Jacare Pepira River in Brazil (pictured above)

Liverpool’s £18 ‘City & Beatles Tour’ nabs tenth place overall in the global list 

Edinburgh’s ‘The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience’, pictured, lands third in the UK ranking

It is Liverpool’s £18 ‘City & Beatles Tour’ that nabs tenth place overall – as well as landing second in the UK ranking. With a hop-on, hop-off bus for transportation, travellers follow a ‘Beatles-themed itinerary, visiting Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’. ‘A laugh a minute,’ is how ‘Dorothy M’ described the trip in her recent review.

Third place in the UK ranking goes to Edinburgh’s ‘The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience‘, a £19.50 ‘immersive chocolate-making experience’.

A black-cab tour of Belfast lands in fourth place. The £60 experience invites you to ‘expand your knowledge of Belfast’s turbulent history and find out about The Troubles’.

In fifth place, it is a £25 ‘Historical Pub Walking Tour of London‘, guiding travellers around the city’s most historic alehouses, followed by the £19 ‘Mountebank Comedy Walk of Edinburgh‘, where a ‘local, professional, stand-up comedian’ steers travellers around Edinburgh Old Town.

A black-cab tour of Belfast, which invites travellers to ‘expand [their] knowledge of Belfast’s turbulent history and find out about The Troubles’, lands in fourth place in the UK list. Above is one of the city’s murals, which features on the tour

Seventh place is claimed by a £15 ‘Walking Tour of Bath with Blue Badge Tourist Guide’ – billed by recent reviewer ‘Roamifyouwantto’ as a ‘lovely walk pointing out some of the details in the architecture of Bath that would otherwise go unnoticed’. 

The rest of the top ten comprises The Cloak and Dagger Tour, a walking tour that reveals the ‘little-told stories of London’s grisly past’ (eighth, £18); The Manchester City Stadium Tour (ninth, £25); and a ‘Silent Disco Tour‘ around London’s West End theatres (tenth, £24).

In the U.S, following the Oahu guided tour and the Tampa Bay kayaking trip, a ‘Little Havana Food and Walking Tour’ in Miami (£56) ranks third.

Fourth place has been bagged by a quad-biking tour from Las Vegas to the Mojave Desert (£89), while a ‘VIP Tour’ of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam (£162) finishes in fifth place.

Fifth place in the UK ranking goes to a £25 ‘Historical Pub Walking Tour of London’, guiding travellers around the city’s most historic alehouses

The rest of the U.S top ten is made up of a guided Tomcar (a type of off-road vehicle) tour of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona (sixth, £192); a ‘Pearl Harbor City Tour’ in Hawaii (seventh, £48); a plane ride around the islands of Hawaii’s Maui County (eighth, £373); a dolphin-spotting tour around Florida’s Clearwater Beach (ninth, £28) and a ‘party bike tour’ of Old Town Scottsdale in Arizona (tenth, £486 per group).

As well as recognising experiences, Tripadvisor also awards the best-rated attractions around the world and in the UK – ‘those must-see points of interest for travellers exploring the world and their own country’.

The number one attraction for 2022 is Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, while in the UK, it is The Roman Baths in Bath that takes the top spot. In the U.S, New York’s Empire State Building reigns supreme. 

Speaking about the awards, Kate Urquhart, General Manager of Experiences at Tripadvisor, says: ‘From a luxurious food-filled evening to a long-haul trek, there is something for every traveller on this list. 

‘Tripadvisor offers an unparalleled platform to find and book things to do, so check out this year’s winners to discover the tours and activities travellers say you can’t miss.’

For more information, visit www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-ThingsToDo.