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Our 2007 awards received a huge response from readers - 13,500 completed questionnaires, which were either filled in online, or cut out from the coupon printed in The Observer and the Guardian. An independent company recorded the data and the responses were collated into the following tables. The scoring is straightforward, with readers being asked to rate the quality of their holiday experience by ticking four boxes: excellent, good, fair or poor. Each company, country or city's results were translated into a percentage, thus allowing us to compare small companies with larger rivals. Last year's rankings are given in brackets. There are also three awards - best website, brochure and ethical travel award - which are judged by an expert panel. A full list of results is at observer.co.uk.
FAVOURITE EUROPEAN COUNTRY
A slight shift in the top five sees Switzerland take the first prize, while Norway takes the second prize, pushing last year's winner down to number three.
RANKING
1 Switzerland (4)
2 Norway (3)
3 Sweden (1)
4 Austria (5)
5 Italy & Sardinia (2) 1,504 92.32
6 Germany (10)
7 Turkey (15)
8 Greece (9)
9 Netherlands (16)
10 Republic of Ireland (12)
FAVOURITE LONG-HAUL COUNTRY
Comparatively few readers visited Cambodia but those who did fell in love with its exotic charms: the incredible ruins, unspoilt beaches and fantastic food. They scored it so highly it jumped up from eighth to take the top slot, while neighbouring Vietnam comes in second, up from number 11.
RANKING
1 Cambodia (8)
2 Vietnam (11)
3 Japan (2)
4 Argentina (12)
5 New Zealand (1)
6 Peru (6)
7 Australia (4)
8 Malaysia (5)
9 Thailand (-)
10 Tanzania (-)
FAVOURITE UK CITY
The winning combination of elegant streets, stylish hotels, great restaurants and world class galleries and museums has kept Edinburgh in the top position for an incredible eight years. Rival city Glasgow was knocked off the number two slot by Belfast, which moves up 11 places, proof that this lively, welcoming city is starting to get the recognition it deserves.
RANKING
1 Edinburgh (1)
2 Belfast (13)
3 Bath (3)
4 Newcastle upon Tyne (4)
5 York (5)
6 Glasgow (2)
7 Cambridge (6)
8 Cardiff (9)
9 Chester (8)
10 Brighton & Hove (7)
FAVOURITE OVERSEAS CITY
Hong Kong hangs on to the top prize by the slimmest of margins while Berlin moves up the ranking taking over from Seville as the favourite European city.
RANKING
1 Hong Kong (1)
2 Sydney (2)
3 Cape Town (4)
4 Berlin (8)
5 Buenos Aires (7)
6 Istanbul (-)
7 Vancouver (-)
8 New York (9)
9 Seville (5)
10 Krakow (-)
BEST TRAVEL AGENT
For the second year running Travel Counsellors, an independent travel company, which employs more than 800 agents who work from home, takes the top spot.
RANKING
1 Travel Counsellors (1)
2 Travelbag (12)
3 Austravel (-)
4 Co-Op Travel (4)
5 Bath Travel (-)
BEST ONLINE BOOKING SERVICE
i-escape.com did not even appear in the top 20 last year; this year it's leapt to the number one position. Set up six years ago, it now features 700 stylish places to stay around the world, from a new collection of affordable boutique hotels in Argentina to barefoot luxury in Zanzibar. Every single property on the site has been visited by the i-escape team and features a review and a list of highs and lows, making it one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly accommodation sites on the web.
RANKING
1 i-escape.com (-)
2 explore.co.uk (2)
3 jet2.com (4)
4 exodus.co.uk (3)
5 mytravel.com (-)
BEST TOUR OPERATOR
This year we've split this category into two: large operators (those that carry more than 50,000 passengers a year), and small operators (less than 50,000). As this is a different methodology to last year a direct comparison to previous ranking is not possible.
Best large operator goes to Trailfinders which sends more than 600,000 people (worldwide) away every year, while Original Travel pipped Audley to the post to pick up the award for best small operator.
LARGE OPERATOR
RANKING
1 Trailfinders
2 Saga Holidays
3 Kuoni
4 Voyages Jules Verne
5 Virgin Holidays
SMALL OPERATORS
RANKING
1 Original Travel
2 Audley Travel
3 Transindus
4 Rainbow Tours
5 The Discovery Collection
BEST SHORT BREAK COMPANY
Again we are using two categories, large and small, split in the same way as the tour operator category (by number of passengers) and likewise a direct comparison with last year's results is not possible. Virgin Holidays is the best of the large operators while Inntravel which last year won best specialist operator is best small operator.
LARGER OPERATOR
RANKING
1 Virgin Holidays
2 Voyages Jules Verne
3 The Airmiles Travel Company
4 Center Parcs
5 British Airways Holidays
SMALL OPERATORS
RANKING
1 Inntravel
2 VFB Holidays
3 SuperBreak
4 Cresta Holidays
5 Short Breaks
BEST SKI COMPANY
Once again it's the niche ski operators, and their loyal repeat clientele, who take the top places. Waymark, a specialist in cross-country skiing trips to the Alps and Scandinavia, wins for the fourth time. Inntravel, in second place, offers cross-country and downhill skiing, but specialises in small, quiet villages rather than the big mega-resorts, a clever way to stand out in a crowded market. We're delighted to see Le Ski take third. 25 years since it started, its success lies with the quality of the chalets and the friendliness of staff.
RANKING
1 Waymark Holidays (1)
2 Inntravel (-)
3 Le Ski (-)
4 Neilson (7)
5 Mark Warner (8)
BEST CRUISE LINE
Swan Hellenic sails the seas in style. Small, elegant ships, on-board lecturers and fantastic food and service - not to mention some of the world's most pristine and spectacular destinations - have helped push the cruise line up the list from 13th to the number one spot.
RANKING
1 Swan Hellenic (13)
2 Island Cruises (-)
3 Hurtigruten (8)
4 Celebrity Cruises (6)
5 Princess Cruises (5)
BEST SHORT-HAUL AIRLINE
After another year of growth which saw the introduction of new routes to the Canary Islands and Chambery, Jet2.com now flies to 39 destinations from six UK airports. The airline just pipped KLM to the post to take the top prize a second year running.
RANKING
1 Jet2.com (1)
2 KLM (7)
3 BMI (5)
4 Aer Lingus (2)
5 British Airways (4)
BEST LONG-HAUL AIRLINE
Long-standing favourite Singapore Airlines remains in the top position, with Air New Zealand and Emirates taking second and third place respectively.
RANKING
1 Singapore Airlines (1)
2 Air New Zealand (4)
3 Emirates (2)
4 Qatar Airways (-)
5 Virgin (3)
BEST BUSINESS AIRLINE
This year's ranking is almost identical to last year's with Emirates coming out on top; the only difference is that Easyjet and Flybe have swapped places, with Flybe moving up to 8th.
RANKING
1 Emirates (1)
2 Virgin (2)
3 Lufthansa (3)
4 British Airways (4)
5 BMI (5)
BEST FERRY COMPANY
Once again the tightest of margins between the top three with Speed Ferries managing to hang on to first place and Norfolk Line jumping from seventh place to second.
RANKING
1 Speed Ferries (1)
2 Norfolk Lines (7)
3 North Sea Ferries (3)
4 Caledonian Macbrayne (4)
5 Brittany Ferries (5)
BEST TRAIN COMPANY
A big year for Eurostar with the launch of a fantastic new terminal at St Pancras and new high-speed trains but it drops down to second place to make way for Eurotunnel, albeit with the tightest of margins.
RANKING
1 Eurotunnel (2)
2 Eurostar (1)
3 Chiltern Railways (3)
4 Midland Mainline (5)
5 GNER (4)
BEST CAR HIRE
Low cost online rental company CarJet scoops the top prize for the second year running. Its flexibility, transparent pricing and fair cancellation fees have helped this relative unknown build up a loyal clientele in a sector dominated by more established companies.
RANKING
1 CarJet (1)
2 Dollar Rent A Car (3)
3 Alamo Rent A Car (4)
4 Euro Cars (-)
5 Enterprise Rent-A-Car (2)
BEST UK HOTEL
Hotel du Vin continues to grow with three new hotels added this year (Cheltenham, Cambridge and One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow) - and our readers are as impressed with the service, food and style as ever. It wins for the fourth year running.
RANKING
1 Hotel Du Vin & Bistro (1)
2 The Bath Spa Hotel (-)
3 Malmaison (4)
4 Radisson Hotels & Restaurants (3)
5 YHA (7)
BEST OVERSEAS HOTEL
Luxury Asian hotel group Mandarin Oriental opened its first hotel in Hong Kong in 1963 and now operates 20 around the world. Its most recent opening is the Mandarin Oriental Prague, which is housed in a 14th century monastery. The group did not even appear in the ranking last year; this year it's on top, with Taj Hotels a close second.
RANKING
1 Mandarin Oriental (-)
2 Taj Hotels (-)
3 Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts (2)
4 Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (1)
5 Paradors of Spain (3)
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