Pyramids top favourite landmarks list

The Pyramids of Egypt have towered over London’s Big Ben to top a list of most preferred world landmarks by British tourists, an online survey found.

The survey, by Truprint, a digital photo printing service, found one in five respondents prefer the Pyramids of Egypt over seven other iconic historical sights, including India’s Taj Mahal, the Sydney Opera House, and New York’s Statute of Liberty.

London’s Big Ben came a close second, scoring 17 per cent of the vote, followed by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which scored 15 per cent of the vote. Truprint spokeswoman Felicity Hardingham attributed the penchant for the Pyramids over loyalty to London’s Big Ben to their exotic nature.

“It’s a bit boring,” she said of Big Ben.

“People are used to seeing it.”

Colleague Carolyn Dawkins said it was “almost impossible” to take a bad photo of the Pyramids.

“They look breath-taking from sunrise to sunset and so they have a special place in many photo lovers’ hearts,” she said.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, on the west coast of Italy, was rated the least popular landmark, possibly because it can appear to look like a strange hat on the top of someone’s head in a snapshot, the survey found.

Sydney’s prized Opera House was not as popular as landmarks that have been around for centuries, possibly because some people just don’t like modern architecture, Ms Hardingham said.

It was voted the fifth most popular landmark in the survey, behind New York’s Statue of Liberty.