Lifestyle Newcastle Travel

My Most Viewed and Favourite Blogs of 2017

Happy New Year! I’ve spent the past couple of days recovering from New Year’s Eve, going back to work, and trying to figure out what to do for my first post of 2018. I’m all for looking forward not backward, but I didn’t want to launch straight into some of the posts I’ve got lined up. I mean we all need a breather before I start hurling more food and exhausting city break itineraries at you again don’t we. Then I saw the fabulous New Girl in Toon’s post on her top ten blogs of 2017 and I love the idea. After my first full calendar year of blogging I had a pretty good idea which posts would feature, there’s a couple that I get constant views on every single day (thank you Pinterest), but there’s a few surprises in there too. So thank you Chloe for the inspiration, and here’s my ten most viewed blogs of 2017.

 

There’s everything from travel, life at 30, personal posts, restaurant reviews and festival fails in here. In the online world not all bloggers are blaggers, not all reviews are fake, not all vloggers are complete IDIOTS, and not all Instagram shares are for the likes. Some of us just love doing it.

 

Newcastle Instagram Accounts to Follow

 

22 Things To Do in the Lake District that Aren’t Hiking

This was my top performing post, and got so many readers through the summer. When I originally wrote it, it wasn’t sponsored. I think the Lakes is often thought of as somewhere for mountain climbing and country walks, which of course it is, but there’s a lot more you can get up to. I’ve been going multiple times a year since I was a kid, and whenever I’m asked by foreigners where they should go outside of London, it’s always somewhere I suggest.

 

Keswick, Lake District

 

6 Things You HAVE To Do in Cologne

This post gets visitors every day thanks to Pinterest, but it went crazy through December. Lots of people obviously visit Cologne at Christmas for the market, but when I went it was in April. It was a city I didn’t know much about, and I had to research it quite a bit both before I went and when I was there to know what to see and do. I wrote this post to pull it all into one place. I find that most people who read it are actually in Cologne, and must be doing what I did when I was there and searching what to get up to.

 

Coloured Houses, Cologne

 

3 Days in Cologne Itinerary

For the same reasons as above this longer post, covering a full itinerary of Cologne attracted a high number of visitors. Cologne was a really cool city to visit, especially the local bier haus’ serving traditional Kolsch.

 

Bierhaus in der Salzgasse, Cologne

 

How to Spend 3 Days in Paris

I didn’t visit Paris in 2017, but I did go at the end of 2016 and after spending many a long weekend there over the years I put together this 3 day itinerary in January. The post links off to other posts that focus on each area in more detail, but overall this post aims to give you a full itinerary for seeing central Paris and the tourist spots, as well as restaurant recommendations and where to stay.

 

Notre Dame street art

 

Life at 30

This is my biggest surprise, and a post that I was really nervous to share! I write so much on travel, restaurants and bars but every now and then I get a sudden burst of inspiration, or nagging thoughts that I throw together in a more personal post. They always make me worry before I share them, and nine times out of ten I get one of my friends to read it first before I share it. This one was a collection of all the things I realised about life after turning 30. It was pretty lighthearted and I received soooo many messages from people afterwards saying how much they could relate.

 

Thirty at 30

 

15 Essentials to Pack for Tulum

I went to Tulum in September 2016 but didn’t write it up until last year, and again when I originally wrote it, it wasn’t sponsored. Until I booked Tulum I had never heard of it before, and over the last year it’s definitely increased in popularity which is why I think this post did so well. That and it’s just beautiful.

 

Tulum colours

 

3 Day Amsterdam Itinerary

You can tell people like a good city break itinerary, and for cities like Paris and Amsterdam that are so big I can understand why. This is in the exact same format as my other itineraries, and pulls together as much of central Amsterdam, tourist spots and where to stay recommendations as possible.

 

Amsterdam itinerary

 

20 Things to Tick off Your Tulum Bucket List

When searching for holidays to Mexico from the UK you can often get sucked into booking an all inclusive resort and never leaving it. We booked all inclusive, but still managed to explore the area a bit too. For some suggestions of what not to miss I put together this Tulum bucket list.

 

Akumal Beach, Tulum

 

A Day at Xel Ha

This was a more in depth post on Xel Ha in Tulum, an eco friendly park with incredible scenery, safe wildlife encounters, cenotes, zip lining and a water jungle gym. It was paradise and some of my photos from here are my favourites ever.

 

Xel ha

 

Love Lock Bridges Worldwide

This post was a collection of love lock bridges around the world for Valentine’s Day. It was purely a bit of fun, and I shared photos from other travel bloggers and Instagrammers as part of it. A cute tradition.

 

 

So that’s my top ten viewed posts! A lot of the views from these come from google searches and Pinterest, which is why they’re on the list even if I didn’t write them or go to these places in 2017. They increase in views every day. Because of that I want to mention a few others that just missed out on the top ten. These give a much better reflection of my 2017 blogging:

 

Walwick Hall Spa Getaway – I visit this beautiful new spa near Hexham and put together this review of our experience.

 

Walwick Hall

 

The Harrisons – a family wedding in Belfast last May, this is mainly a photo post of what was an amazing weekend.

Newcastle Instagrammers to follow – because I love following these local followers and it’s nice to share the love isn’t it.

A Guide to Newcastle Quayside – my favorite views, restaurants and bars along Newcastle’s quayside.

 

Newcastle Quayside

 

Restaurant reviews for Aveika, The Grand, Flottes Paris and Ralph’s Paris. (Side note: some restaurant reviews were complimentary but I always state these in the post itself).

Do’s & Don’t of Visiting The Botanist – this was one of the last posts I wrote in 2017, but I think due to the number of people wanting to visit The Botanist at Christmas it performed really well.

 

And these were my personal favorites that I just enjoyed writing:

20 Instagram photos of Tulum – I did a fair few insta photo posts over the year but this one was my favourite, mainly because Tulum was paradise.

Forget-me-not – a personal post and a hard one to write when my little nana passed away. This wasn’t for anyone but me.

Newcastle in the Sky – because this was such an amazing experience and I felt so lucky to be invited. That view of the toon too – melts my heart.

 

Newcastle in the Sky 2017 with Artisan

 

The Beverly Hills Hotel – a hotel that is on my bucket list to one day stay at, we went for lunch and it was so pretty.

Colourful London Houses that could be mistaken for Easter treats – I sometimes wonder if I was drunk when I wrote this but it was just a bit of fun. And they really do look like cakes.

Festival Mistakes from a First Timer – this one I remember laughing out loud to myself when writing it, because my first festival was nothing short of hilarious.

 

Festival mistakes from a first timer

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading – which posts were your favourites? What would you like to see in 2018?

  1. Katie Jane

    4th January 2018 at 3:53 pm

    Some great posts featured! Also a lot I haven’t read so I’m going to take a look now, especially Paris as I’m visiting there in the Summer and haven’t been for years! Katie x

Comments are closed.