One of the best things about the advent of the aircraft has been the opportunities it is has given people to travel around the world in just a matter of hours.

       As technology has developed, it has also given people more opportunities to assess which country is the most aesthetically pleasing and why.

       However, deciding which can be a contentious issue as each nation will have its own design merits and each one will have certain styles that appeal to others.

       Despite the bevvy of variabilities, Rough Guides has attempted to decide which country is the most beautiful by casting a vote among its readers.

       The result is a list of the 20 most beautiful countries in the world, a list in which the UK is only beaten by five others as it breaks into the top six and beats the likes of Norway, India, the USA and Greece.