We know Australia’s great, and we’re happy to hear more than 20,000 travellers agree. In the latest Telegraph Traveller Awards, we were voted among the ten best countries on Earth for 2025 – but a few countries dared to outrank us. Here’s the list…
Only five countries have ever been crowned the 'world’s best' since the awards launched in 1998, with New Zealand reclaiming the top spot this year. Our friends across the ditch have held the number one position for the past decade, except when they were briefly dethroned by South Africa in the last readers' poll in 2023.
This year, Australia was voted the sixth-best country on Earth, which is a slight dip from our previous fifth-place finish. However, The Telegraph describes Australia as “a picture of reliability when it comes to the Travel Awards,” having consistently ranked either fifth (twice), eighth (twice) or sixth (three times) in the past 11 years.
So, who outranked us in 2025? Japan, India, South Africa and Greece made up the top five – all destinations Aussies are obsessed with too.
Another coveted category in The Telegraph Traveller Awards is the 'best cities on Earth', with Sydney making a huge leap from eighth place in 2023 to third in 2025. Our Emerald City has held a firm spot in the global top ten every year since 2014 – now only trailing Seville and Cape Town in the race for number one.
These are the 10 best countries on Earth, according to The Telegraph
- New Zealand
- Japan
- India
- South Africa
- Greece
- Australia
- Peru
- The Maldives
- Costa Rica
- Botswana