Top 10 destinations on the rise in 2013

Havana beat out 53 other destinations around the world, including La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica and Kathmandu, Nepal, which took second and third place respectively.

According to figures from Cuba’s national statistics office, about 98,000 Americans traveled to the island nation in 2012 — more than double the numbers of 2007 (40,520).

A trade embargo bars US citizens from traveling to the island without government permission. However, Barack Obama loosened travel restrictions in 2011 under a “people-to-people” program that allows Americans to travel to the country with licensed tour companies on cultural, education-based trips.

“Recently…Havana has been experiencing a cultural renaissance, as the city shakes off the cobwebs and pours resources into resorts and hotels,” reads a short synopsis from TripAdvisor.

“Whether you prefer to hot-step it in a salsa club, tour a cigar factory or sip a mojito in one of Hemingway’s haunts, energy buzzes in and around Havana’s historic city center.

Here are the Top 10 destinations on the rise according to TripAdvisor users:

1. Havana, Cuba

2. La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica

3. Kathmandu, Nepal

4. Jerusalem, Israel

5. Cusco, Peru

6. Ambergris Caye, Belize

7. Sapporo, Japan

8. Hanoi, Vietnam

9. Corralejo, Spain

10. Fortaleza, Brazil