Blarney Castle in Co Cork.Tourism Ireland
From kissing a stone to rubbing a lucky statue, travellers have been chasing good fortune around the world, following age-old rituals and traditions at famous landmarks in the hope of bringing an extra dose of luck back home.
So which destinations are truly the ‘luckiest’ places to visit?
To find out, luck experts at Casino Khajana analysed some of the world’s most famous attractions associated with luck, scraping more than 16,000 TripAdvisor reviews to uncover where travellers most often mentioned luck, fortune, wealth or blessings.
The study also examined search volumes, Instagram hashtag counts and TripAdvisor ratings, combining popularity metrics to reveal the ‘luckiest’ destinations around the world.
Would you kiss a stone for good luck?
Blarney Castle in Co Cork earned a spot among the world's top ten luckiest destinations, with a remarkable final luck score of 7.61/10. With 319 luck-related reviews on TripAdvisor, the medieval fortress continues to attract visitors who lean backwards over the castle battlements to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone. This is believed to bring good luck and give you a 'gift of the gab', giving you the skills to speak with eloquence and wit.
Welcoming more than 400,000 visitors each year, Blarney Castle draws around 28,400 average monthly searches and over 190,000 Instagram hashtags, landing eighth on the list for travellers looking for an extra dose of good fortune.
Blarney Castle. (ICP)
Taking the title of the world’s luckiest destination is the breathtaking Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, with an impressive luck score of 9.29/10. Revered as the holiest shrine in Sikhism, the landmark attracted 753 luck-related reviews, while its stunning gold-plated exterior has garnered a whopping 2,700,000 Instagram hashtags to date and a near-perfect 4.9/5 TripAdvisor rating.
Trevi Fountain in Rome claims second place as the world's luckiest destination (9.05/10), with visitors throwing over €1 million worth of coins into its waters each year. The legendary Baroque masterpiece amassed the highest number of luck-related TripAdvisor reviews (1,314) while its timeless charm continues to capture global attention with over 1.2 million Instagram hashtagsand 293,000 average monthly global searches.
Charles Bridge in Prague ranks third among unmissable ‘lucky’ spots for good fortune, with a final luck score of 8.84/10. This iconic 14th-century bridge spanning the Vltava River recorded the second highest number of luck-related TripAdvisor reviews (877). Charles Bridge continues to enchant travellers worldwide, capturing 789,000 Instagram hashtags and earning an impressive 4.6/5 TripAdvisor rating.
Rounding off the top five luckiest destinations are two of Japan's most enchanting landmarks. Famous for its thousands of striking red torii gates, Fushimi Inari Taisha (8.57/10) has become one of Japan's most photographed sights, attracting a staggering 1.1 million Instagram hashtags to date - almost double the number of Senso-ji Temple (596,000 hashtags). Meanwhile, Senso-ji Temple claimed a higher number of luck-related TripAdvisor reviews with 735 mentions compared to Fushimi Inari's 606.
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Need a little luck? Here are the top 10 luckiest destinations to add to your bucket list:
- Golden Temple, India
- Trevi Fountain, Italy
- Charles Bridge, Czechia
- Fushimi Inari Taisha, Japan
- Senso-ji Temple, Japan
- Hagia Sophia, Turkey
- Stonehenge, England
- Blarney Castle, Ireland
- Lincoln Tomb, US
- Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's House), Italy