The London Eye is UK's most popular paid tourist attraction

The London Eye has been voted the fourth most picturesque viewpoint in the world, with around 3.5 million posts on Instagram. A study, conducted by ParkSleepFly, looked at stunning hotspots across the globe and measured their popularity by analysing Instagram hashtag data for the viewpoints.

Coming in at number one was the Eiffel Tower in Paris with a whopping 7,016,648 posts on Instagram. In second place was Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world which stands at an imposing 830m in Dubai, which had a total of around 6 million.

Next up was the Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of the world, on 4,134265 tagged posts. And not far behind was the London Eye on 3,403710.

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Built in 1999 to celebrate the Millennium, the 443ft Eye is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe. It used to be the tallest in the world, but over the years it has slipped to fourth place, being surpassed by the 520ft Star of Nachang in 2006, the 541ft Singapore Flyer in 2008, and Las Vegas’ 550ft High Roller in 2014.

It also used to be London’s highest public viewing point. The 804ft high observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard stole this accolade in 2013. With more than 3.75 million visitors every year, the London Eye is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK.

The wheel was constructed in the Netherlands from UK steel, with cables from Italy, bearings from Germany and the iron spindle and hub were cast in the Skoda Factory in the Czech Republic. It has 32 capsules, said to represent London’s 32 boroughs, and they are each numbered 1 to 12 and 14 to 33, missing out the unlucky 13.

Like the Eiffel Tower, the London Eye was originally planned to be just a temporary structure, built to stand on the Lambeth Council’s grounds on the banks of the Thames for around five years. But in July 2002, Lambeth Council granted the Eye permanent licence.

Other viewpoints to make the world’s top 10 included Golden Gate Bridge; the Empire State Building; Big Sur; Table Mountain; Top of the Rock and Charles Bridge.

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