An Irish county has topped the National Geographic ‘cool list’ for 2017

Of course it does, it's a class place...

Donegal has been named in first place on National Geographic Traveller's The Cool List: 17 for 2017. In a wonderful lyric about the beautiful county on the north-west of Ireland, National Geographic outlines why the sleepy and often forgotten county is one of the destinations to put in your travel diary in 2017. According to NatGeo, the Cool List reveals "the culture capitals, hipster hotspots, wild escapes and places generally keeping it cool in 2017." The article waxes lyrical about the beauty of the county.

"This is a dreamlike landscape, wild and remote. It's the kind of place where you may spot a golden eagle soaring above Glenveagh National Park, or hear Irish spoken as a native tongue in the Ghaeltacht around Gweedore and Glencolmcille. Driving Donegal's peninsulas, your phone reception flickers in and out of reach, and there's a constant risk of crashing into the scenery. At the end of the Slieve League peninsula, there is a sickle-shaped strand cut into the cliffs at Malin Beg. The roads wind like ribbons and suddenly run out at Silver Strand. No mobile coverage. Often no people. Next parish? Boston.  "

Other places to feature on the list included Santiago, Helsinki, Greenland, Peru and Aarhus. Not bad company for the sleepy Irish county to be keeping and when you see images of Mount Errigal like this one taken by Iain Miller, it's easy to see why Donegal is on the list.