World beating multi-award winning Tasmania could just about be the best damn spot in the known universe.

Glowingly acknowledged in the global media, your island state reigns as the best temperate island in the world.

It has held the title for two years, voted by the 770,000 global readership of premier travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller - but that's just the beginning.

Tasmania has picked up enough awards, accolades and achievements in the past year to have your average mainlander (you know.... from the northern island) choke on his foot.

North America's top selling travel magazine, Travel and Leisure rates a Tasmanian tour in the top 100 great trips for the 21st century.

It recommends a 13 day multi-sport adventure taking in Cradle Mountain, a bike tour of the East Coast and rafting on the Huon River.

And what better time to do this than summer, with Travel and Leisure naming Tasmania as one of the world's top 10 places to spend Christmas.

It rates Tassie eight; behind Rome, Africa's Victoria Falls, Aspen in the USA, Stockholm, Zihuatanejo in Mexico, Santa Fe in the US and Goa on the west coast of Africa.

On the east coast, Wineglass Bay was named one of five Australian Beaches in the World's Top 50 Beaches, compiled by British broadsheet The Independent. Outside magazine went one better, Naming the Freycinet National Park coastal strip in the World's Top 10 Beaches.

The state was also chosen to host the world's first tow-in surfing contest, with big-wave aficionados from across the globe flocking to Tassie's little Hawaii - King Island - in search of rumoured 12 metre waves.

Organiser Chris Mater said: "There are amazing waves down here- there's so much potential."

The island's unique lifestyle will be showcased in surf documentaries for national and international distribution.

King Island's cheeses already draw international acclaim, its Roaring Forties Blue judged best of 300 in New York in July 2000.

One of North America's biggest-selling newspapers, the Chicago Tribune, named the west coast's Strahan the best little town in the world.

Hobart was rated in the world's top three most photogenic cities (behind Yacigen in Myanmar and Edinburgh, Scotland) by readers of travel guide series Lonely Planet.

The state's capital city also has the country's best BYO restaurant, with North Hobart restaurant Mr Zitrone claiming the national title in October.

And Launceston's Fee and Me won the American Express Best Restaurant in Australia Award in August 2000.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Hobart's beer, vegetables and steak are the cheapest in the country.