Newcastle named top place to visit in 2018 by Rough Guides

The Rough Guide 2018 crowned the UK city its must-visit destination for next year

Newcastle's Millennium Bridge (iStockphoto)

In a surprise move, the Rough Guide to 2018 has announced the UK city of Newcastle as the number one place that should be on travellers’ radars.

It beat out stiff competition, including Maltese capital Valletta, which is the 2018 European Capital of Culture.

Rough Guides says 2018 is “Newcastle’s time to shine.”

The entry continues: “Next summer the city – along with neighbouring Gateshead – will host the Great Exhibition of the North, a two-month jamboree that will tell the story of Northern England and how its artists and innovators have helped shape the world we live in. Expect live music, performance art and insightful exhibitions at some wonderful venues.”

It also commends Geordies’ friendliness and compliments the city’s lively nightlife, burgeoning restaurant scene, quality of museums and its architectural highlights, such as the Tyne Bridge.

Finally, Rough Guides recommends Newcastle for being “friendly on the wallet”.

While outsiders might raise an eyebrow at the choice for number one, locals aren’t surprised by their city’s inclusion.

Born and bred Geordie Holly Baxter tells The Independent: “I'm not surprised it's been recognised – when I was younger the quayside was a grim undeveloped place, and now it's a centre of arts and culture with The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

“It's very safe as a city, which is one of the reasons people like it – it's a cliché but everyone genuinely is friendly and it has a totally different atmosphere to, say, London on a night out.”

She adds: “You can walk round the whole city centre in about half an hour and most residential areas are an hour or less walk into the centre of town so everything is well-connected, plus there’s the Metro which takes you literally everywhere including Sunderland and (crucially) the coast so you can hop on a train to the seaside in Northumberland whenever you like.

“Plus the Edinburgh Festival is an hour and 30-minute train ride away in August which is always nice.”

The list of 18 destinations released by Rough Guides is a mix of specific attractions, cities and whole countries.

In second position is the new civil rights trail in the US, which highlights 80 sites important in the civil rights movement. These include Martin Luther King Jr’s birthplace in Atlanta, Georgia, his first church posting in Montgomery, Alabama, and the 16th Street Baptist Church, further north in Birmingham, where in September 1963 four young girls were killed by a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members.

This is followed by Malawi, thanks to its growing reputation as a top safari destination, Valletta, which is putting on hundreds of events celebrating the city’s rich cultural history to mark its stint as European Capital of Culture, and Wales, lauded for its impressive array of hiking and biking trails and its allure as an adventure sports destination.

Rough Guides’ top 18 destinations for 2018

1. Newcastle, UK

2. Civil Rights Trail, USA

3. Malawi

4. Valletta, Malta

5. Wales

6. Cuba

7. Russia

8. New Orleans, USA

9. Chile

10. Sierra Leone

11. South Korea

12. Jordan

13. Tbilisi, Georgia

14. South Africa

15. Palermo, Sicily

16. Togian Islands, Indonesia

17. Tunisia

18. Belize