Once upon a time, visiting a brewery or distillery on vacation was something you did on the side. It was a fun, hip break from the traditional tourism stops you’d find on your city map, or that you’d read about online. Now, breweries have broken through into the mainstream, with some even distinguishing themselves as major tourism destinations in their city. Case in point: the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
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A Brewery Was Just Named Europe’s Best Tourism Attraction
That’s right, the Eiffel Tower and Colosseum have some foamy competition. The World Travel Awards is an annual gala celebrating the best of travel, tourism, and hospitality, recognizing industry leaders doing special things in travel. This year, the Guinness Storehouse was named the best tourist attraction in Europe. Coming in closely behind were Buckingham Palace, Sagrada Familia, and the Acropolis, though since those places don’t get you drunk, they really didn’t stand a chance.
So what’s all the fuss about? The Storehouse is more than just a typical brewery. The home of Guinness for over 250 years, it’s one of the oldest continuously operating breweries in the world, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at what, exactly, goes into crafting and pouring this famous beer. There’s even a movie theater dedicated to screening vintage Guinness commercials, and a Gravity Bar with stunning views of Dublin.
This isn’t Guinness’ first award, either. It was also named number one back in 2015, and regularly ranks as Ireland’s best overall tourist attraction.
These are the other nominees Guinness beat out to claim the top spot:
- Batumi Boulevard, Georgia
- Buckingham Palace, England
- Castle In Love with the Wind, Bulgaria
- Dark Sky Alqueva, Portugal
- EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Ireland
- Game of Thrones Studio Tour, Northern Ireland
- Passadiços do Paiva (Arouca UNESCO Global Geopark), Portugal
- Sagrada Família, Spain
- Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal
- The Acropolis of Athens, Greece
- The Eiffel Tower, France
- The Roman Colosseum, Italy
