Australia 'world's number one holiday spot'

Readers of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine have named Australia their top world holiday destination.

The land down under took the top award ahead of the USA, with New Zealand, Thailand and the Maldives rounding off the top five.

Readers of the Sunday Times magazine said that Australia was about "sport, sunsets and super-happy people", while America proved popular for its parks, its open roads and its dynamism.

New Zealand won its place in the top five owing to its picturesque surroundings and relaxed pace of life, while the Maldives was described as a "stress-busting, sea-and-sand idyll".

Italy was voted the number one country in Europe, followed by Greece, France, Spain and Switzerland.

New York was the overall winner in the world cities section of the awards, with Sydney, San Francisco, Cape Town and Bangkok rounding off the top five.

The top destinations for people searching for city breaks in Europe, according to Sunday Times readers, are London, Edinburgh, Paris, Barcelona and Rome.

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