TWO Scottish destinations have been named among the World’s Greatest Places to Visit by TIME magazine.
From the US to India the team at the New York-based news mag has selected remarkable places and thrilling new experiences around the globe.
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Now in its seventh year, TIME’s list is split between places to stay and places to visit and covers everything from resorts to restaurants and a wine spa to the Nintendo Museum in Japan.
TIME editors said: “For our annual list of the World’s Greatest Places, TIME sought out one-of-a-kind spots and experiences around the globe.”
And Port Ellen distillery on the ‘Whisky Island’ of Islay on Scotland’s west coast and the hidden gem that is The Flow Country in Caithness were only two places in Britain to make the prestigious list.
Port Ellen’s “Ghost” whisky distillery was reopened last year after being closed for more than four decades. It now offers a high-end visitor experience, with elegant teas, served alongside delicious drams.
TIME said: “ After four decades of silence—and a roughly $23 million refurbishment—the legendary malt maker has roared back to life, ushering in a new era of luxury tourism on the remote Hebridean isle.
“These peat-bogged slopes host 10 distilleries, 3,000 locals, and an estimated 50,000 visitors each summer. The reincarnated Port Ellen raises the bar for all three.
“Guests are welcomed with a tea ceremony in a vaulted bay room suspended above the sea, featuring the island’s first Sky-Frame doorway. For £250 you can drink in the sights—along with a precious pour, hand-drawn from a 46-year-old slumbering cask.”
It’s a great feat for the ghost distillery which only reopened last year.
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The Flow Country is one of Scotland’s most unique landscapes, a vast expanse of bogs with an interlinked pool systems, making it rife with native creatures and plantlife.
It is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site, alongside the likes of the Grand Canyon and The Great Barrier Reef.
It’s home to diverse wildlife and is a beautiful place to walk or cycle between viewpoints as well as being home to museums and visitor centres.
TIME’s editors said: “Thoughts of a bog might conjure sodden plains. But in the far north of Scotland known as The Flow Country, fans celebrate the bog as a tapestry of 9,000 years of accumulated flora and reflective pools that support herds of red deer, attract migrating birds, and sequester carbon.”
Also making the grade was Nintendo’s first ever museum, which opened last October in the Japanese company’s former factory complex in Uji, about an hour south of the city of Kyoto.
TIME said: “You don’t need to know a Shino from a Mario from a Zelda to appreciate the Nintendo Museum, but anyone who spent their childhood (…) glued to their Nintendo Switch or vintage Game Boy may find themselves transported.”
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Over in Paris, the newly restored Notre Dame cathedral gets a shout out. TIME said: “When it finally reopened at the twilight of 2024, it stood as a marvel of dutiful, worshipful authenticity.”
Denmark is represented by the newly opened Tiny Seaside resorts of Loddenhøj and Skarrev in South Jutland and the iconic 94-year-old Waldorf Astoria in New York was chosen, alongside the newest Sandals resort in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Explaining how they came to pick the 100 top places to stay and visit in the world, TIME’s team of editors said: “For our annual list of the World’s Greatest Places, TIME sought out one-of-a-kind spots and experiences around the globe.”
