--- title: Instagram's 10 Most Popular Travel Destinations description: If emerging destinations can be identified by their social media popularity, can photo-sharing trends reveal the next great place to go? canonical: https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-27T15:44:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:57.095Z og:title: 10 Popular Destinations That Are Popping Up on Your Instagram Feed og:description: Most of these places don't even need a filter og:url: https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97beda785e353e82/6988df99fb4eacce2c893e55/instagram-travel-destinations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6016 og:image:height: 3384 og:image:alt: Pura Ulun Danu Bratan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Popular Destinations That Are Popping Up on Your Instagram Feed twitter:description: Most of these places don't even need a filter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97beda785e353e82/6988df99fb4eacce2c893e55/instagram-travel-destinations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 10 Popular Travel Destinations That Are Popping Up on Your Instagram Feed > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Jesse Ashlock / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Jesse Ashlock / Travel + Leisure Sep 27, 2017 3:44 PM UTC  Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, or Pura Bratan, is a major Shivaite and water temple on Bali, Indonesia. Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, or Pura Bratan, is a major Shivaite and water temple on Bali, Indonesia. Getty Images by [Jesse Ashlock / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Jesse Ashlock / Travel + Leisure Sep 27, 2017 3:44 PM UTC Not so long ago, most travel ideas came from literature and film: _On the Road_. _Out of Africa_. _The Lord of the Rings_, which brought Tolkien tourism to New Zealand. _Roman Holiday_ — and just about every other movie Audrey Hepburn appeared in. It’s not that people no longer book trips inspired by what they watch and read — after all, Naples and Ischia are trending thanks to Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, and _Game of Thrones_ has driven viewers to Northern Ireland and [Croatia](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-beaches-in-croatia). But since the rise of [Instagram](http://www.travelandleisure.com/photography/best-instagram-accounts), the app and its like have surpassed books and movies and TV and even the globe-trotting exploits of Jay-Z and Beyoncé as a primary source of travel inspiration. Here’s a roll call of destinations that have enjoyed runs of popularity since Instagram launched: Bhutan, [Iceland](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-guide/iceland), the Greek islands (especially Santorini), Myanmar, Cuba, and [Portugal](http://www.travelandleisure.com/photography/beautiful-portugal-photos). There are political, economic, and cultural explanations for each, but what all have in common is a striking, immediate beauty that anyone with a smartphone camera can capture. As a result, the multiplier effect of social media has raised all of their profiles dramatically. Perhaps you still remember the first time you saw a shot of Iceland’s pristine [Seljalandsfoss waterfall](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/video-iceland-waterfalls) in your feed, or the moment you stopped mid-scroll to gaze at Bhutan’s fabled Taktsang “Tiger’s Nest” monastery, [clinging to a cliff high above the Paro Valley](http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/travel-bucket-list-2016#11). Such images feel as if they’ve been pinched from a fairy tale — but they also convey the idea that you could be in that same fairy tale taking that same picture. If emerging destinations can be identified by their social media popularity, can photo-sharing trends reveal the next great place to go? We asked our friends at Instagram to run some numbers. Indonesia, they told us, was the country with the greatest increase in the number of people tagging it during the first half of 2017\. At first, we were surprised, but maybe we shouldn’t have been. From the gibbons of the Bornean lowland rain forest and the mystical temples of Bali to the unspoiled beaches of the [Nihi Sumba Island resort](http://www.travelandleisure.com/hotels-resorts/worlds-best-nihi-sumba-indonesia), the sights of Indonesia are as photogenic as those of any other fashionable vacation spot. Check your feed. Is someone you know there right now? Will you be next? _According to the researchers at Instagram, these were the 10 destinations with the greatest increase in user tags in the first half of 2017._ ## Indonesia ## United Kingdom ## Italy ## Spain ## Germany ## Brazil ## Hong Kong ## United States ## Switzerland ## Singapore _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/photography/instagram-top-destinations) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://www.travelandleisure.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/"},"headline":"10 Popular Travel Destinations That Are Popping Up on Your Instagram Feed","datePublished":"2017-09-27T15:44:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:57.095Z","description":"Most of these places don't even need a filter","url":"https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/","keywords":["Living","Travel","onetime","onetimetravel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97beda785e353e82/6988df99fb4eacce2c893e55/instagram-travel-destinations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Ashlock / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97beda785e353e82/6988df99fb4eacce2c893e55/instagram-travel-destinations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pura Ulun Danu Bratan","caption":"Pura Ulun Danu Bratan","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4959191/instagram-data-travel-destinations/","name":"10 Popular Travel Destinations That Are Popping Up on Your Instagram Feed"}}]}] ```