Irish island comes in second place only to Machu Picchu at World Travel Awards

The Cork island boasts the same name as a 2012 British comedy film, directed by Mat Whitecross and written by Chris Coghill.

Spike Island in Cork has been awarded second place at the World Travel Awards held in Vietnam this weekend. Second only to Machu Picchu in the ‘World’s Leading Tourist Attraction’ category, the island, situated 15.4km from Cork city centre, finished ahead of Mount Kilimanjaro, The Great Wall of China and the Las Vegas strip who were among the nine shortlisted finalists. Last year, the Titanic in Belfast, Antrim claimed the top spot in the same category.   In a statement, Fortress Spike Island Cork said of the award: "We are so proud and want to thank all our amazing staff and volunteers for their hard work. Our thanks also to all our visitors for choosing to come to us, and to Cork County Council and Failte Ireland for your support. And of course thanks to all in Cobh for helping us to get this far, we will endeavour to recognise individual involvement now that the journey is complete." https://twitter.com/SpikeIslandCork/status/939991908553764864 Spike Island is an island of 103 acres (42 ha) in Cork Harbour. Originally the site of a monastic settlement, the island is dominated by an 18th-century star fort named Fort Mitchel. It was once the largest prison in the world, holding over 2,300 inmates.