In 2016, Croatia celebrated 25 years of independence and in the recent years has seen a major rise in tourism. Thanks, Game of Thrones. The show’s famous battles take place against the backdrop of a beautiful back drop of the city Dubrovnik. On Instgram alone, #dubrovnik appeared on more that 1 million posts! But cities like Split and Hvar are gems in their own rights.

Croatia’s coast has it all: islands, turquoise waters, mountainous hikes, wine, fresh seafood, and some of Europe’s hottest summer parties! No wonder Brad Pitt is soon opening up a luxury resort in one of the small towns along the coast. Croatia is also close to an Italian city, Trieste and only a bus ride away from another popular destination, Slovenia’s beautiful capital, Ljubljana.

If you are planning to visit Croatia, plan your visit soon before it becomes over crowded with tourists trying to recreate pictures from The Game of Thrones.

Or if you enjoy capital cities, plan your visit to Zagreb, Croatia’s inland capital. This year we spent a week around New Years in Zagreb and had an amazing time. It has one of the largest Christmas Markets in Europe!

Many blog posts have been written about Croatia in the last year so you will see a lot more mentions of it in social media.

The year 2016 brought a lot of changes to the travel industry. For the first time after half of a century, Americans started leisurely visiting Cuba. The hashtag #cuba was used on Instagram a whooping 4 million times! And as more people visit this destination, they begin to explore smaller cities outside of Havana.

While as an American, you still need a visa to visit Cuba, it’s becoming more and more accessible to visit this beautiful and vibrant destination. If you’re looking for great deals to make you trip happen, make sure to check out my post on the Best Websites to Find Cheap Flights!

Portugal has seen a fair share of exposure in social media in 2017 on blogs and personal accounts. In total, #portugal appears on Instagram 14 million times! Not all of the posts are by tourists but this paints a pretty good picture that Portugal is becoming the next “it” destination on social media.

I had a chance to visit Portugal this year in January and spent some time in Porto and beautiful capital, Lisbon. One of my favorite memories was visiting Cabo da Roca, the most western point in continental Europe. As I looked out at the Atlantic, New York City was straight across.

Porto is another gem, the homeland of Port, the popular fortified wine drink. You can stay in the historic district and then cross The Dom Luís I Bridge into Vila Nova de Gaia and visit Port houses, taste the wine, and eat amazing food.

What destinations have you seen trending in social media in 2017? Leave thoughts in the comments below.