Well, during this almost global lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, all type of travels are suspended. Instagrammers who are used to post daily for their accounts are either digging photos from past travels or posting ‘stay safe’ messages. Until when the travels resume, that’s what they have to be content with. Afterall, what’s Instagram without daily dose of photographs from exotic locations around the world! So, while we wait anxiously to travel again, let’s look on some other interesting details about posts on Instagram.

Do you know, the tags on Instagram posts speak a lot about popularity of places and inclination of posts. Since these tags make your Insta posts searchable on Google, they also gives researchers some very interesting insights. For example, have you ever asked Google for a “spiritual awakening? If you have, you’re not alone. Every month over 20,000 people in the UK (20,870 to be exact) do exactly that. In fact, through keyword analysis and online research, PsychicWorld.com discovered not only do these 20,870 people a month search the term “spiritual awakening”, they also try a multitude of things to achieve it.

There’s decluttering (soothing for the home and the mind), taking time to examine beliefs, learning to let go and practising wellness – whatever that means to you; the list is endless! But quite possibly the best thing to do is… travel! Whether it’s traveling to the village next door, or traveling to far flung corners of the Earth, taking a trip broadens the mind unlike anything else. With this in mind, PsychicWorld.com sought to uncover the most photogenic spiritual travel destinations the world has to offer. From Turkey’s Istanbul, to Monserrat in Spain, no stone was left unturned.

Tags were scanned and results were analysed, giving us some very interesting findings. Particularly, most photogenic spiritual destinations in the world were being searched. And that’s what we got-
- Istanbul is the most photogenic spiritual destination in the world, with 92,468,514 tags
- Spain’s Montserrat is the least photogenic among top 20, with 791,947 tags
- The total number of hashtags featured in the list is 164,594,628
- India is the most popular destination; home to four of the top 20 destinations. Spain has three and Indonesia two in the list.
- The UK’s Stonehenge narrowly missed out on a place in the top twenty, at 706,780

At the time of data collation, Istanbul had over 90 million hashtags on Instagram(92,468,514 tags.) Known as a major religious center for both Greek Orthodox and Islamic faith, this is perhaps unsurprising. Istanbul is home to one of the world’s most important cultural heritages. Spiritual highlights in Istanbul include Suleymaniye Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum / Church and the Blue Mosque.

In second place was Ibiza, proving it’s not just a party haven. In fact, many people around the world regard Ibiza as a place of great healing. At the time of data collation, Ibiza had over 16 million hashtags on Instagram (16,262,531 tags). Spiritual highlights here include Es Vedra, a mysterious rock island off the western coast, otherwise known as the third most magnetic place in the world.

Rounding off the top three highlights was Japan’s iconic Kyoto. While Japan is known as one of the most technologically advanced locations in the world, it’s important not to overlook its powerful connection to ancient heritage and deep spiritual traditions – and Kyoto is the finest example. At the time of data collation, Kyoto had over 15 million hashtags on Instagram (15,417,174 tags.) Spiritual highlights at Kyoto include Nanzen-ji, and Ginkaku-ji. Not to mention the infamous Kiyomizu-dera temple.

These are the top 20 spiritual travel destinations as per research-
Destination | Country | Tags |
Istanbul | Turkey | 9,24,68,514 |
Ibiza | Spain | 1,62,62,531 |
Kiyomizu-dera Temple,Kyoto | Japan | 1,54,17,174 |
Goa | India | 78,11,479 |
Tulum | Mexico | 54,68,291 |
Ubud, Bali | Indonesia | 46,32,544 |
Santa Fe | New Mexico | 28,02,200 |
Amritsar | India | 26,95,261 |
Byron Bay | Australia | 26,69,304 |
Machu Picchu | Peru | 17,13,269 |
Cathedral Rock Sedona | Arizona | 16,29,553 |
Camino de Santiago | Spain | 15,63,600 |
Angkor Wat | Cambodia | 14,99,676 |
Mecca | Saudi Arabia | 14,42,744 |
Borobudu Temple | Indonesia | 12,74,255 |
Mashhad | Iran | 12,22,658 |
Manitou Lake, Sakatchewan | Canada | 12,14,264 |
Varanasi | India | 11,25,775 |
Rishikesh | India | 8,89,589 |
Montserrat | Spain | 7,91,947 |

Goa in India was fourth with 7.8 million tags. Among other Indian entries in the top 20 were Amritsar in Punjab with 2.69 million tags at 8th position, Varanasi on 18th position with 1.12 million tags and Rishikesh on 19th position with 8.89 lakh tags. Goa is also one of the most popular beach and party destinations in India, while home to Golden Temple Amritsar and two towns on the banks of holy Ganges- Varanasi and Rishikesh have always been considered among the most popular religious destinations in India.
Does spirituality has a connection to natural beauty? What do you think? Share your views with us in the comments section below.
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Corona and lockdown has given us an opportunity to understand that science cannot supercede spirituality, nor the vice- versa. Particularly the new generation, which accepts everthing of science as true, without applying their own mind and conscience. The fail to understand that science is the subservient to wisdom, as it has emerged out of the latter. We are now seeing that where science failed to curb the spread of corona while our Sanatana dharma has confered on us a very high level of immunity to fight such epidemics.
Thanks a lot Sandeep, for dropping by!
Thank you sir
I have just started blogging on this type of fundamental ideas and thoughts. Plz, take a look at my blog if u have some time.