National Geographic, the global media and scientific institution, has tipped Barra in its “5 alternative European islands to explore this summer”.

According to their list of “undiscovered isles”, arriving in Barra is its own adventure, the airport runway being the “stretch of white-shell sand on Traigh Mhòr beach.”

Writer Emma Al-Mousawi tells the influential publication’s international readership: “Its turquoise shores are often compared with tropical climes, but the brisk breeze rushing off the Atlantic will quickly remind you of your Outer Hebridean location. The weather doesn’t put the wildlife off, with the Gaelic-speaking isle among the best places in the UK to spot marine mammals and seabirds.”

She waxes lyrical about Barra’s “crofting villages and heather-dashed moorland” and the abundance of wildlife that can be found on Barra and Eriskay, part of the Outer Hebrides Birds of Prey Trail.

Beyond the birds of prey, she was impressed by the resident pod of bottlenose dolphins, harbour seals, puffins and minke whales.

The other ‘off-the-radar isles’ highlighted by National Geographic were Pantelleria, which sits between Sicily and Tunisia; the Greek island of Serifos; El Hierro, the second smallest of the Canary Islands; and Finland’s Fasta Åland in the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Bothnia.

Meanwhile, in further international exposure, Barra’s world-famous beach landing strip is also being spotlighted this week by NDTV, India’s most widely reached news brand across both television and digital platforms.