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Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2009 – the best places to go and things to do all around the world right now! Drawing on the knowledge, passion and miles traveled by Lonely Planet’s staff and authors, you’ve got a year’s worth of travel inspiration to take you out of the ordinary and into some unforgettable experiences.
Highlights
•Lonely Planet’s cofounder, Tony Wheeler, shares his top travel picks for the year.
•Explore 30 must-go destinations – Lonely Planet presents the top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2009.
•Contains 850 travel experiences, from stargazing in the Caribbean to finding the perfect midlife crisis getaway.
•Complete world-view: an annual rundown of every country in the world.
•2009 travel planner – 50 adventures mapped out month-by-month.
•Immerse yourself in water! A special feature showcasing 70 journeys and experiences on, in, through and over water.
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Warning! Wanderlust incitement ahead
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009 (General Reference)
850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys & Experiences for the Year Ahead-that’s how Lonely Planet describes their newest “wish” book. Picking the brains of their best authors, Lonely Planet has put together a book for the travel-minded person who wants a creative mix of what’s best. This is a book to charge the senses about possible travel tours and to facilitate formulating plans before you get to the ticket purchasing stage. Open a random page and begin reading the eclectic topics offered. The book is divided into a collection of Top Tens: Countries, Regions, Cities, a large section on Water: the Ultimate Traveller and Top Travel Lists. Facts and trivia abound in this exciting addition to the Lonely Planet guides.
Top Ten Countries: (Not those you might think.) Here’s an opportunity to read what’s best about Kyrgyzstan (“the country your inner nomad has secretly been dreaming about all these years”) and Oman (“the real deal”). Paragraphs on the defining experience, hot topic of the day, festivals and events and life-changing experiences will pique your interest to learn more about these unusual, off-the-beaten-track places on the globe.
Top Ten Regions: A few better known regions add to the mix of the unusual here. Learn a bit about France’s Languedoc, Svarlbard, Norway, France and Spain’s Basque Country (home to some of Europe’s best walking.)
Check out The World of Water for the best sparkle, the best partying, the best place to drop anchor and much more. Go on a water safari, drink in an igloo, take a husky ride are just some of the experiences detailed in this fascinating chapter. Also, don’t miss fabulous ferries and water worship (Do you know the six places for the best liquid blessings?).
Lonely Planet’s Top Travel Lists contains a potpourri of exciting tidbits such as the top ten places to steal a kiss (no surprise that Paris is number one), the flashiest lighthouses, the best places to have a midlife crisis (bet you can’t wait for THAT one or the next!-best places for deadly sins).
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009 is fantastic even if you’re not planning a trip. It’s great to educate yourself about places you may not have heard, about customs you may not know exist and otherwise to learn more about our fantastic, wonderful, diverse planet. This is a book to inform, to entertain and to get the creative juices charged up to learn more. Beautiful photos highlight nearly every page. The layout is hip, the text easy to read. Each topic covers a paragraph to a couple of pages of fascinating reading to incite wanderlust in the most dedicated armchair enthusiast.
Don’t know what I was expecting
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I ordered Best in Travel 2009. I had high expectations since it is a Lonely Planet publication and I have to say I’m a little let down by the book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very interesting but only as a light-hearted “skim the surface” type read. The book is attractive and larger than other LP guides. It’s ideal for leaving on your coffee table and thumbing through and reading tid-bits. It reminds me more of a magazine the way the info is displayed in short paragraphs and offers no substance for any of the “850 trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the year ahead” — but I guess with 850 items, how detailed can you get in 240 page book?!?
Note: for some reason I can’t edit my star rating, which should be a 3 instead of a 4.
Beautiful book, but not very useful
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I don’t make a habit of reading travel books, but this one caight my eye. Best in Travel 2009 is a beautiful book with many vivid color pictures of the different locations it advertises. Different locations are grouped together thematically.
I had never heard of many of the locations discussed in this book. It was inetresting to read the little tidbits of info that was provided for these exotic locations and events.
While the book has high entertainment value it is not very informational. If you ever wanted to travel to any of these places it would require a lot of effort on your part to research and plan the rip.
Vintage Lonely Planet
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This was a hugely enjoyable book that gave me a number of ideas of potential dream vacations, and good travel suggestions to friends who were traveling to some of the areas covered by this book.
That said, it perfectly reflected why I liked Lonely Planet guides when I was younger and why I tend to follow other travel books now. The places they recommend are frequently REALLY off the beaten track… “real” travel destinations that you can brag about and are full of interesting experiences that set you apart from other travelers. That’s not what I’m necessarily looking for in my travel now. I tend to want to visit places with rich traditions of interesting food and extensive restaurant recommendations. I want great local reads and try to visit places with rich literary culture. And while I don’t want an all-inclusive, I do want a nice bed with a shower to unwind.
Still, as I mentioned, great ideas and a perfect companion to planning fantasy trip, often to places you might not have considered previously.
A good, at times, perhaps, very good . . .
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
. . . but not great worldwide travel guide.
What I liked:
* Lavish photos make for a beautiful eye-catching book.
* Every nation/region in the world is covered providing a sense of thoroughness.
* General advice is of some value.
* Many of the “Top Ten” features were entertaining.
What I didn’t care for quite so much:
* The book tried to do too much. It’s not really a “true” travel guide. Travelers would, in most cases, need the country/region specific book to successfully plan a trip.
* While some of the world’s most dangerous places to travel were noted as such, others were eagerly recommended. Political and social crises are not, I felt, always given the attention they deserve. The wise traveler should take note.
* While, as noted above, some of the “Top Ten” features were entertaining, others were odd, and a few were downright silly.
In short, while this book is (correctly) listed as “General Reference”, I was expecting (and hoping) for a little more depth. Perhaps I was expecting too much.
Recommended — as general reference, but not as a travel guide. It’s more suited to “coffee table” status.
“850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys and Experiences”
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The subheading says a lot and the first 3/4s of “Best in Travel” does this very well–with great annotated lists of “bests” travel places and some excellent photography. It’s a fun read, and–for those with the money to travel right now–would be irresistable.
For those of us who are “armchair travelers” at the moment…well, this is a book that reminds us we can dream (and learn some fun facts about the world in the process).
The last 1/4 of the book, for me, was the most useful since I often meet people from other countries at my work. It lists every country and a paragraph about each of them. “What could be in a paragraph?” Well, not much about the history, culture, customs, etc. But…a LITTLE about the location, plus enough tidbits about the above to whet your interest in finding out more.
A great book for skimming…for dreaming…and for learning a bit about the vastness of the cultures and experiences of people all over the world.
All in all, definitely a book that makes it impossible not to learn something new and worthwhile every time you open it.
Not your typical travel book
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009 is not your typical travel book. My best friend and I own several, but this one stands out. It features 850 trends, destinations, journeys, and experiences for the year ahead. Most travel books start off with the assumption that you know where you want to go – like Sweden or Oregon. However, this tome gives 850 tantalizing suggestions based on fun things like “Saltiest Sites of the World”, “Best Things to Throw Yourself Off”, and “Weirdest Plants & Where to See Them”. Those are only a few of the fabulous suggestions that you’ll find in this excellent book, that just caters to your tastes and offers up places that match your interests. Maybe you’re into amazing deserts and you never knew that Siwa Oasis in Egypt is one of the most culturally rich desert locations. Now you know, and you can start your research and travel plans.
That brings me to the one drawback of this book- it doesn’t often tell you the best restaurant, the best hotels, or how much this dream trip might cost you. But it does offer hundreds of beautiful full color pictures, lots of excellent ideas, and enough daydreams to make your day job a breeze.
Overall, if you or a loved one likes traveling, and you’ve run out of destinations, or you just want a beautiful book to dream on, this is an excellent purchase!
Great layout for browsing travel ideas
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My favorite part about this book is the Top Travel Lists. Many diverse interests are featured with several options for the best ways/places to see and do that particular interest. Examples of the Top Travel Lists:
Best Places for Rest
Best Places for Deadly Sins
Best Big Trips
Lost Cities of the World
Most Extreme Ancient Sites
Best Cycling Adventures
Top 10 Places to Steal a Kiss
Best Ecotrips
Weirdest Plants and Where to See Them
In total there are 30 of these lists as well as the Top 10 Countries, Regions and Cities. The info on each topic is not overly in-depth but it will certainly whet your appetite to find out more. Also there are nice color photos of many of the places and/or their peoples.
Something else that is quite helpful is a section toward the back called World Profiles. There is a paragraph about each country in the world that lists the capital, population, area, languages and then explains the current travel climate and the attractions the country has to offer. Although the blurbs are short, the info is to the point and covers the main topics well.
Overall this is a really neat travel book – like a catalog of places you can choose to go. I recommend it to discover travels/places you weren’t familiar with – and then from there a specific book for that destination would be needed.
The roads less traveled
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Looking to expand my to-travel-to destinations I figured this book would give me some helpful insight. It is pretty informative and I would venture to say entertaining, however it seemed to only scratch the surface in some instances. If I were to plan a trip to any of the 10 countries I would certainly invest in a more specific guide but as a broad overview it succeeds on that level.
The pictures are magnificent and even if you never make it to any of these places to experience them in person, it serves as a nice book of scenic photography. Eye candy aside, you’re in for a treat if you’re an avid traveler looking for a new destination you never would have thought of or unlikely to be recommended to you. Even if I never get to experience it for myself, I enjoyed reading up on the different cultures and insights on a completely alien world to me. There’s a lot to be learned in this book that I’m sure even the most travel weary person could get something out of.
You could do better with the Rick Steves guide books which is more in depth, however I don’t think Rick Steves generally covers some of the more obscure locations covered in Lonely Planet and that’s the point. I will say that it serves better as a coffee table book than a serious travel guide but that doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable. Check it out if you’re an avid traveler or as a gift for anyone who is.
Always Innovative, Exotic and Tempting….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I don’t think I have ever read a Loney Planet Book that didn’t make want to drop everything and travel immediately to that area…this book ignited a major case of wanderlust!!!!
Always Innovative, Exotic and Tempting…how they do it I will never know! To publish a World Travel Guide with the politics and religious turmoil in the world today is a gutsy move. But as always this latest edition from Loney Planet is right on target!
They still feature interesting and exotic locales with “850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys and Experiences for the year ahead”.
Innovative and Exotic? in their top 10 Oman, Krgyzstan, Greenland or Algeria!!
Specialized Travel? How about the Saltiest Sites,Top 10 Places to Steal a Kiss, Most Extreme Ancient Sites, Best Ecotrips – the book features 30 Different Top Travel Lists!
The Ultimate Water Traveler is over 50 pages of oceans, rivers, water festivals, polar ice – what more could you want?
Great Gift Idea for the Traveler you know – or the traveler in you!
Great travel planning/dreaming book …
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is best viewed as an “armchair” travel book. It is not intended to provide detailed itineraries for specific vacations. Instead, it’s an “idea book,” and a very good one at that.
Tired of the “same old, same old”? Need some new ideas for places to visit? You’ll find a wealth of info here. Yeah, sure, a lot of it is “pie in the sky” type stuff: Beirut? Iraq? While attractive in many respects, these are not places most Americans will be able to visit, not for awhile at least. But maybe someday, it will be possible to vacation there.
The photos in this book are stunning and plentiful. The “Lists” are a nice touch: Best Places for Deadly Sins, Best Ecotrips, Weirdest Plants and Where to See Them — some are fun, some more serious, and all give you some interesting ideas and perspective.
I’m at an age and a life philosophy where I prefer to travel in a more luxurious style than when I was younger (my idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service), so many of the destinations probably wouldn’t work for me. But there were enough that would work, and I now have a few more “possible destinations” on my list of places I want to visit before I die.
Running Out of Places To Visit? Not For Long….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Travelers unite! Running out of places to go? Need some new ideas for your next cross-country, cross-continent, out-of-body experience? Lonely Planet has their newest guide to the best travel for the new year. Eight hundred and fifty places to go and things to do, organized in categories ranging from the top ten countries, regions and cities, to Fabulous Ferries, Sky Watching, Ancient Sites, and Great Turning Points in History. In addition, Lonely Planet cofounder Tony Wheeler gives his top picks for travel in 2009, and there is a 50 page country-by-country guide that looks at just how fun, safe, or dangerous it may be to visit each nation. /Best in Travel 2009/ is a great way to start planning your next trip, whether you plan on staying with the United States or getting your passport stamped on your way into another country.
Lonely Planet General Reference
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’m not very impressed with this book. Many areas of the world mentioned would be great to go and visit, but so many are currently going through very negative political situations that make it impossibly dangerous (imho) for anyone, especially Americans to visit.
I assume that Tony Wheeler is a male between the ages of 20-50, in excellent condition. I also assume that he was accompanied by many others in his entourage and had access to help and facilities that us typical travelers would not have. He probably had interpreters, a camera crew, guides, and many others to help him on his journeys especially in the 3rd world countries, plus an open expense account to pay for everything.
I am a 50 year-old, white American female and I know I would have a very hard time visiting places like Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, (and other areas I have not bothered to mention) due to my ethnic heritage and sex. These places are currently very dangerous if not impossible to visit now, and I would not do well especially seeing the children in Rwanda, for example, who had needless and cruel amputations during the severe political unrest. It would break my heart beyond recovery and I would feel so exasperated and angry that these acts were allowed to occur. Why were these places even mentioned?
The book does talk about a lot of places that would be fun and beautiful to visit, and I liked the section about some very weird plants that you must see. I hope to get to some of these places some day, but if I had bought this book thinking it would really help me decide where and how to travel, I would be somewhat disappointed. It touches upon many places of interest to visit, but does not go into any great detail about any of them, some just getting a short paragraph. I suppose it’s purpose is to get you interested in a particular place, then it’s up to you to do more research, and then organize your visit there. It does a very good job at interest peaking, but is still more of a coffee table type book though it’s not a hardback.
Is Your Suitcase Packed?
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Replacing the former annual “Blue Guide” by Lonely Planet, this book retains much of the same function as the former volume, but expands its vision. This is an annual reference book that is unequaled in the travel guide business. What Lonely Planet does best is understand the heart of a traveler. It understands the overall travel favorites and takes them up a notch, as well as opening the door a little wider on the more obscure, less “well traveled” places too.
The book is both inspirational and fun, educational and off-the-wall, comprehensive and extremely specific. It operates on the macro and the micro. How does it cover all that? Well, by taking a quirky approach to the idea of a reference book. It selects themes, it looks at every country through an annual rundown, it provides a calendar of enticing events, and it focuses in on very specific places with very specific, very helpful tips and insights.
Included in the book are the following:
* Tony Wheeler’s top travel picks for the year (Tony is a co-founder of Lonely Planet)
* 30 featured destinations: the top 10 countries, regions, and cities worth exploring that year
* for 2009, a special focus on water, with 70 water-oriented trips featured
* top travel lists for the year, from “Best Places to Have a Midlife Crisis” to “Best Ecotrips” to “Top 10 Places to Steal a Kiss,” among dozens of others
* an annual rundown of every country on the planet (yes, EVERY)
* yearly travel planner that highlights adventures for each month
For 2009, there is coverage of countries like Canada, but also Bangladesh and Rwanda. There is a focus on cities like Chicago, Antwerp, Beirut, and Shanghai. For regions, there’s the Big Island of Hawaii, but also Nam Ha in Laos. For travelers, it’s as much joy to read about the places you’ve been as the ones you aspire to see.
It’s the sort of book that is very specific to the year covered and yet is likely to maintain a spot on a traveler’s bookshelf for years to come, as one digs it out to have another look at the coverage of Peru or to revisit that list on “The Best Places for Deep Thinking” or “Underground Caverns.”
Its oversized paperback format makes it an affordable purchase, yet sturdy enough to withstand hours of dreamy browsing. Best of all, all the great travel information contained within this wonderful book is accompanied by photographs so stunning that they are an inspiration to embark on a journey in and of themselves.
If this book doesn’t make you want to pack a bag and hit the road, you really don’t like to travel. If so, pass it along to someone who does; that traveler is sure to love it.
Great Vacation Ideas
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Lonely Planet Guides are always a fun, innovative way to inspire your next holiday. I love the photos and statistics that bring each location to life so vividly within the pages of a book. Some of the experiences are not for the faint of heart (Best Things to Throw Yourself Off), and are possibly geared for the wealthy excentric (Best Places for Deadly Sins), but what the heck – it’s all in the name of fun!
What Countries Are you Sending Me To??
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Visually this is a stunning book full of bursts of color and glossy photos that tempt you to find out more- Sao Paulo, I’m looking at you. And the ecological focus on water and both its importance to the way man has always traveled along with the message of needed conservation were extremely valid and topical. It’s where there sending the average reader I have an issue with…
Some of the top countries and cities they claim you should see in 2009: Algeria, Rwanda, Georgia, Sierra Leone, Columbia, Beirut. These are countries where it wasn’t safe to travel to let alone live in five or six years ago and most people would still say your taking your live into your hands traveling to still today. Just a few months ago Georgia and Russia were at each others throats in an international confrontation after all. I looked and looked for some kind of responsible warning about women not traveling alone to many of these areas or mentions that sometimes westerners are targeted for hostage taking but sadly found no warnings of any kind which I found irresponsible of lonely planet. Then I flipped back through and noticed that about 75%-80% of the articles were written by men, so it’s obvious that Lonely Planet knows full well there are some dangers associated with going there.
That said ( well, maybe ranted)The back sections which have profiles on every country and funny things like the best places to find mythical creatures like Bigfoot are pretty good. Go out and see all the fun of the world, just do it with a healthy dollop of common sense.
A Site For My Sore Frozen Eyes….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, wonderful, and it came just in time…loaded with information on all the beautiful locales that you can dream about then plan to see, plus the colorful picture photography is great. Located in the rear is a Best In Travel Planner for 09 with everything from Chicago Blues Fest to Malawi’s Lake of Stars Fest, to Air Games Week in Turkey, to the Exit Festival in Serbia listed….There is no place that you can’t go and have fun with the exception of a very few places, Anarctica.? And like your best geography-encyclopedia it has updated world profiles on many countries. If you want some adventure for the 09 year, the Lonely Planet Experience is a good place to start…
Think of it as a supersized travel magazine
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Lots of articles or lists with moderate information (in the case of the article) or nuggets (in the case of the lists). Good resource to get you intrigued about a possible place to take your next trip, but for almost all of them, if you are obsessive enough to do this sort of reading about travel, you’ll be obsessive enough to want a more specific guide! Great fun as a “bathroom book” for a travel buff, or as a way to energize yourself if you are at a loss for where to take your next trip. Photography in the book is good.
I don’t find it an awesome book, but I do find it a pretty good one. As mentioned in the title, I find it more like a supersized magazine than a travel book.
Pretty to look at but not feasible for ‘normal’ travellers
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2009 is chock full of pictures and interesting facts about all sorts of places in which to travel. There are 30 destinations listed as “must-go” and herein lies the problem.
I didn’t want to go to any of them. Evidently I am a travel snob. I want to vacation with a roof over my head and running water. The harshest weather I want to experience is the coldness of Tennessee. But, in all fairness, these are my preferences and they probably are not the same feelings others who purchase Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel will have.
The book itself is beautifully set up with easy to read lists and guides as well as gorgeous pictures. It has an annual world view report and a 70 page water guide. Stunning stuff.
My biggest problem with this book are the countries in which they suggest travelling to. Most of them are not safe countries in which to visit. Many of the countries are even having wars/skirmishes at this moment so safety should be looked at prior to even thinking about going overseas. Some of the countries listed are very impoverished as well as look to be sanitarily unhealthy.
Then again, like I said, I am a travel wuss.
***Natalie S. for Amazon Vine***
From 850 travel experiences for all ages to a rundown of every country in the world and a 2009 travel planner
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Lonely Planet, a prime publisher of independent travel books, provides a collection of highlights for 2009: the best places to go and things to do all around the world, using knowledge of its staff and authors to provide year’s worth of possible journeys. From 850 travel experiences for all ages to a rundown of every country in the world and a 2009 travel planner with 50 adventures in a monthly calendar, BEST IN TRAVEL 2009 is a pick for any general-interest lending library strong in overseas travel guides.