Which country has the hottest men in the world?

Tom Hewitson, Destinations Editor at lonelyplanet.com, took charge of the poll (phnarr) and sizes up the results…

Ah, the holiday romance. Is there a single gay man alive that doesn’t silently pray as he taxis for take-off that this may be the time it finally happens? Sultry, passionate and enigmatic; the object of your affection should be the stuff of fantasy, someone you’ll dream about for years to come.

But how do you find this guy? If we knew we’d be sipping our complimentary in-flight G&T already, but seeing as we don’t you’ll have to work the odds by choosing a country that’s easy on the eye. To help we’ve asked hundreds of guys from around the UK which country has the best-looking men and here, in reverse order, are the Top 5.

5. ITALY (10.3%) While it should be no surprise that the land of Michelangelo and da Vinci should know a thing or two about beauty, Italian men have suffered a bit of an image problem in recent years thanks to a ‘still living at home with mum after the age of 30’ reputation. That and Berlusconi. But don’t forget this is also the country that gave us Gianluigi Buffon and Antonio Sabato Jr, and that Italian men are famously feisty in the sack.

4. INDIA (12.4%) As the second largest country in the world, with a whopping 1.24 billion citizens, India surely has something for everyone. While it may not be the first place you think of as a gay-friendly destination, there is a young, urban class that is far more socially liberal than India’s outdated colonial-era laws suggest. Saying that, the High Court has recently re-criminalised gay sex so you might want to give this one a miss until they sort their act out.

3. FRANCE (12.4%) Sacrebleu! As much as we love to hate our neighbours to the south, it appears we’ve secretly got the hots for them. Maybe it’s the twinkling lights of Paris or maybe it’s the two bottles of Château Latour we had over dinner but right now we’re dreaming of sweet nothings whispered to us in the ‘language of love’. Regardless, any country that can produce something with as many jaw-droppingly beautiful men as the Dieux du Stade calendar year after year easily deserves its place in this list.

2. USA (18.6%) As inevitable as George Bush failing to complete a Sudoku, our cousins in the United States of America were bound to make the top 5. The endless list of attractive Hollywood actors, musicians and A&F models provide all the proof you need that a one-way trip across the Atlantic is great for totty-spotting. Best of all, with their bizarre attraction to our plummy accent you may actually be in with a chance! Just don’t go to the south. Or the centre. Or anywhere that votes Republican.

1. The UK (61.2%) Yep, that’s right,  more than half of you prefer a home-grown hunk. To be fair, when they do these surveys in other countries British men always seem to do very well and with a list of global sex symbols including David Beckham and Prince Harry you can’t blame guys from the UK for picking their own. Just don’t complain when you can’t find a guy you like down the local.

Follow the lovely Tom Hewitson on Twitter @tomhewitson