Newcastle named best place to visit in 2018 by Rough Guides

Newcastle Upon Tyne, the city known by many in the North East as simply The Toon, has been named the top place to visit in 2018 by Rough Guides.

It’s the only UK entry this year aside from Wales, beating the likes of Sierra Leone, Cuba, Chile and Malawi to the top spot.

Once an industrial hub and famous around the world as the home of brown ale, the Magpies and its Geordie geniality, in recent decades the city has undergone major regeneration leading it to be coined a “poster child of the new North".

Today, it’s a hub of culture, excellent food and architectural feats.

Restaurants like Jesmond’s Patricia, opened by Nick Grieves who worked at the likes of River Cafe and Simon Rogan’s Fera, as well as Peace and Loaf, which was recently voted one of the top restaurants in the UK, are just two of the places making waves among critics way beyond the North.

The craft-beer scene is also worth mentioning. No longer do you just have the city’s Diamond Strip (where you’re bound to bump into a Geordie Shore cast member) or the students favourite, Osborne Road, where you can get three treble vodkas for a fiver, to choose from when you want to have a serious drink.

Wylam Brewery, housed inside the magnificent Palace of Arts building in Exhibition Park, would easily hold its own amongst other "serious" beer houses around the country.

Next year, the city is set to host the first Great Exhibition of the North. A summer of exhibitions, interactive installations and art - it’s slated to be one of the biggest culture events for England in 2018.

Talking of the selection process, Coralie Modschiedler, Senior Web Editor at Rough Guides, says: “We wanted to include destinations that will be big news next year but also look at places that are underrated, up-and-coming or newly back on the tourist map.”

Do you think they were right to crown Newcastle the number one destination? See the full list of runners up below: