San Juan Islands #4 in Travel + Leisure Poll!
Travel + Leisure Names San Juan Islands #4 for Top Islands of Continental U.S. and Canada
Travel + Leisure has announced its 2011 World’s Best Awards, ranking the San Juan Islands #4 on its list of Top Islands in the Continental U.S. and Canada. http://bit.ly/puk2sE
The rankings (in order) are: Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia; Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Nantucket, Massachusetts; San Juan Islands, Washington and Mackinac Island, Michigan. The magazine’s readers also ranked the San Juans in the #4 position in 2010, which was a move up from #5 on the 2009 list.
Three of these top five islands are on the East Coast of North America, with the two Salish Sea neighbors, Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands, in the first and second-ranked positions for the West Coast. A narrow international waterway, Haro Strait, with a width of just six miles in places, separates these two highly-desired destinations. In addition, two cities named to the 2011 Top Cities list for the U.S. and Canada – Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. – are just short flights or scenic ferry rides and drives from the San Juan Islands.
World’s Best rankings are the outcome of Travel + Leisure’s 16th annual survey of readers’ favorites and described as “an essential index of the places you want to go.” The magazine’s website presents the annual survey online at http://bit.ly/pJbAeU. The World’s Best Awards list is the cover story of the magazine’s August issue, available on newsstands July 22.
Criteria for judging islands included natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, and value. To see specifically what the San Juan Islands offer in these categories and to get helpful travel tips and good deals on lodging and activities from the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, go online at www.VisitSanJuans.com. The San Juan Islands and their surrounding waterways comprise Washington’s newest Scenic Byway, a byway which traces Native canoe routes now cruised by Washington State ferries. The byway also includes rural roads on Orcas Island and San Juan Island.
Travel + Leisure has the world’s largest audience of any travel magazine. It has an eye for authentic, quality experiences and explores the places, ideas, and trends that define modern global culture of interest to the discerning traveler.
The San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau is a non-profit, economic development agency contracted for responsible tourism management and competitive marketing of the San Juan Islands as a year-round travel destination. Visitor spending directly benefits community theaters, historical museums, county parks and local businesses.
Robin Jacobson, Public Relations Manager
Media, Film, Stewardship
San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau
Lopez, Orcas & San Juan Islands, Washington
Real Islands. Real Close.
- #2 on the New York Times’ world list: “41Places To Go In 2011”
- #3 on National Geographic Traveler’s world list: “10 Best Summer Trips of 2011”
- #4 on Travel + Leisure’s “World’s Best List 2011” for Islands of Continental U.S. and Canada
360.378.6822 ext. 6
PO Box 1330, 640 Mullis St. #210, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Economic Development & Stewardship Education Through Tourism
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