Where do you go after you’ve visited somewhere new and feel compelled to shower it with praise? Or when you’ve left a place bitterly disappointed and need to warn others against going themselves? Why, TripAdvisor of course. Since the website launched 25 years ago, thousands upon thousands of people have left reviews lauding or lambasting tourist attractions around the world. Now, TripAdvisor has revealed which UK attractions are the highest rated for 2025.
In TripAdvisor’s 2025 Travellers’ Choice Awards, the Royal Yacht Britannia – the royal family’s former floating palace – emerged as the UK’s number one visitor attraction
After four decades of service, during which it stopped by more than 600 ports across 135 countries, Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 and opened as a visitor attraction in Leith, Edinburgh a year later. It’s been one of the city’s most popular attractions ever since. Of around 24,500 TripAdvisor reviews, just over 18,000 gave the Royal Yacht Britannia a perfect five out of five bubbles (the site’s version of stars).
Royalist or not, the yacht is worth checking out. You can nose about the glitzy state apartments, get a taste of staff life in the crew quarters and see the ins and outs of how it all works in the engine room. Visitors can also stop by the ship’s tearoom for a spot of cream tea or signature Scottish dishes like cullen skink (a traditional smoked haddock soup with potato and leeks).
One recent TripAdvisor review hailed the Britannia experience as ‘one of the most professional and impressive tours we have ever enjoyed’ and another said ‘the attention to detail in the restoration is impressive, and it’s easy to imagine the yacht in its heyday’. Another commented that ‘the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly, the onboard restaurant was excellent and reasonably priced, and the ship itself was fascinating’.
Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, a glorious bit of architecture that you may recognise from films like ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ or ‘The Golden Compass’, was the UK’s second highest rated attraction on Trip Advisor. Nearly 80 percent of its reviews are five out of five bubbles.
In third place was Highgate Cemetery in London, which TripAdvisor says has some of the ‘finest funerary architecture in the country’. Besides being the final resting place of historical figures like Christina Rosetti, Sir Lawrence Weaver and, most famously, Karl Marx, it’s also home to thriving wildlife and is actually considered a nature reserve.
The top 10 attractions in the UK, according to TripAdvisor
- Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh
- Bodleian Library, Oxford
- Highgate Cemetery, London
- The British Museum, London
- Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh
- Tower Bridge, London
- The Roman Baths, Bath
- National Maritime Museum, London
- Natural History Museum, London
- National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
ICYMI: Four British beaches have been named in the 50 best in the world.
Plus: An interactive map has just launched of historic seaside attractions in England.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country