WATERFORD HAS BEEN placed number 30 in a New York Times list of ‘52 Places to Go’ this year.

Described as a city that “sparkles with history and natural treasures”, Waterford came ahead of both Vienna which came in at number 38 and the Normandy region of France at 44.

Among the highlights, NYT travel expert AnneLise Sorensen pinpoints the Viking Triangle as well as the “less-ancient attraction” of the Irish Wake Museum, which opened last June and is dedicated to the ritual of funerals.

The Irish Museum of Time along with the newly built Greenway also got a shout-out, with readers advised to “top off your Greenway adventure with afternoon tea” at Mount Congreve Gardens.

Other destinations that made the guide were Paris, which placed second, and twelth-placed Manchester. The Australian island state of Tasmania narrowly beat the Crystal County, coming in at number 29.

Waterford county was also featured by Condé Nast Traveller as one of the best Place’s To Go in the UK and Ireland in 2024.

Irish tourism and travel locations have been making waves internationally in the last few years, with Smithfield being named one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world by Time Out last October, and Phibsborough previously being named as the 27th coolest neighbourhood by the same publication in 2020.

Top of the New York Times list of 52 locations was The Path of Totality. If you haven’t heard the phrase before, it’s a new one on us too: as the article explains, the ‘path’ traces a line across North America which encompasses major cities.

It’s all to do with the solar eclipse: “From the beaches of Mazatlán, Mexico, to the rugged coves of Maberly, Newfoundland, the sky will be the stage on April 8 as a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America. This year, the moon will be near its closest point to Earth, resulting in an unusually wide swath and long-lasting totality.”