Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet’s staff, authors, and online community, it presents a year’s worth of inspiration to take travelers out of the ordinary and into the unforgettable – and firmly sets the travel agenda for 2018. As self-confessed travel geeks, the staff collectively rack up hundreds of thousands of miles each year, exploring almost every destination on the planet. Every year, they ask themselves: Where are the best places in the world to visit right now? It’s a very hotly contested topic at Lonely Planet and dominates more discussion than any other. Best in Travel 2018 is the definitive answer. Inside, you’ll discover the:

• Top ten countries, regions and cities
• Best value destinations
• Best culture trips for families
• Best new openings and experiences
• Best new places to stay
• Top destination races, from walks and marathons to cycles and swims
• Top vegetarian and vegan destinations
• Top small-ship expedition cruises
• Best places for cross-generational family trips
• Best private islands that everyone can use

Lonely Planet’s Travel with Dogs is packed full of advice and tips on traveling the world with your pet dog. The nine chapters cover the essentials of taking your dog on vacation or holiday by car, train, boat or plane, and how to find somewhere suitable to stay. The handy pocket-sized book starts with giving the reasons why readers will enjoy taking their dog on their travels and how to decide what your dog is capable of. The golden rules of dog travel are listed as well as explanations of what type of vaccinations, health certificates, and documents are needed for travel around America, Europe, and Australia with a dog.

Discover the freedom of open roads with Lonely Planet New England’s Best Trips, your passport to uniquely encountering New England by car. Featuring 32 amazing road trips, plus up-to-date advice on the destinations you’ll visit along the way, you can enjoy the soaking peaks and lush valleys of the White Mountains or explore maritime history on a tour through Maine, all with your trusted travel companion. Get to New England, rent a car, and hit the road!

• Lavish colour & gorgeous photography throughout
• Itineraries & planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests
• Get around easily – easy-to-read, full-colour route maps, detailed directions
• Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road – local driving rules, parking, toll roads
• Essential info at your fingertips – hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets – eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Useful features – including Detours, Walking Tours and Link Your Trip
• Covers: Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Coastal New England, Boston, Plymouth, White Mountains, Newport and more

Lonely Planet selected 33 amazing road trips through California, from two-day escapes to 15-day adventures, and packed them full of expert advice and inspirational suggestions. Whether you want to visit fabulous winery estates and celebrity chef restaurants or be awed by giant sequoias and sky-scraping peaks, they’ve got the trip for you.

• Lavish color and gorgeous photography throughout
• Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests
• Get around easily – 80 easy-to-read, full-color route maps, detailed directions
• Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots, and be safe on the road, e.g. local driving rules, parking, toll roads
• Essential info at your fingertips: hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets: eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Useful features, including Stretch Your Legs, Detours, Link Your Trip
• Covers: Napa Valley, Death Valley, Disneyland, Orange County Beaches, and more

For everyone who loves travel and trying the local delicacies, this beautifully illustrated hardback is the must-have handbook to a year’s worth of perfect weekends around the world for food lovers.

Featured trails include the an homage to Buenos Aires steak, cozy wintertime French Canadian cuisine, Puglia’s distinctive dishes, and Parisian patisserie. Each trail is an itinerary, detailing when and where to indulge in the local specialties. There are 52 trails, each with gorgeous photography, a bespoke map, expert writing and practical details of how to get there and where to stay. This is the second in Lonely Planet’s Perfect Weekends series, following the critically acclaimed Wine Trails.

Each itinerary features about a dozen stops, including food markets, must-visit restaurants and shops or opportunities to meet food makers or providers. Each is reviewed by Lonely Planet’s authors who have visited the place. Practical details are provided so readers can make bookings and tailor their own trips. A section at the end of each itinerary suggests places to stay and lists events that take place during the year. Great photography adds visual appeal to every itinerary, each of which has an illustrated map, showing the route hungry travellers should take.

For foodies looking for inspiration for their next weekend away, and ideas for new cuisines to taste and share, Food Trails will be the source of many happy faces and full stomachs!

Lonely Planet’s Wine Trails, the first book in Lonely Planet’s “Perfect Weekends” series, introduces the secret gems in well-known regions such as Napa and Sonoma, Tuscany, Burgundy and Rioja, and also explores off-the-beaten-path regions in Georgia, Greece, and beyond. Detailed itineraries recommending the most interesting wineries and the best places to stay and eat in 52 wine regions near major cities make this perfect for travel enthusiasts who enjoy wine. Winemakers offer personal insights into what wines to taste and why they’re special and help you to understand a place, its people, and their traditions through the wine that is made there. Gorgeous photography, maps, and in-the-know authors complete the package.

Get the best travel secrets and advice from the experts! Packed with trade secrets, Lonely Planet’s Best Ever Travel Tips will help you have a better, safer, cheaper trip. And with its cheeky illustrations, it might even make you smile along the way. They’ve spoken to several dozen seriously clued-up travel experts about everything from technology to adventure, and urban exploration to connecting with local people and other travellers. The aim with Best Ever Travel Tips is to pass on universal advice that you can take with you wherever in the world you go, on whatever budget you travel at.

• Find the best value deals
• Score that elusive upgrade
• Stay safe on the road

The fifth edition of Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography shows readers how to develop their photographic skills and avoid common mistakes. This ultimate step-by-step guide to taking better travel photographs is full of practical exercises and tips to hone technique. It is comprehensively illustrated with stunning and inspiring travel photographs, all with how-to explanations. Readers are guaranteed to produce cover photo quality images after following Richard I’Anson’s instructions.

Whether it’s euphoria or serenity, awe or enlightenment, this beautiful book presents hundreds of places around the world to experience a particular emotion. Each of the 12 chapters in Lonely Planet’s The Place to Be explores a single feeling, with destinations ranging from wild and natural spaces, to modern and ancient cities. Plus, the travel writers explain when to go and how to get there. With 20 places and experiences for each emotion and state of mind, The Place to Be features 240 travel destinations around the world. Stand in awe and marvel at enormous natural phenomena; give yourself a joyful boost with cat cafes and chocolate indulgences; seek serenity on beautiful remote islands; find calm oases in the heart of bustling cities; and join the path to enlightenment with Renaissance paintings and religious pilgrimages. Inside, they’ll tell you where to go to feel:

• Adventurous / Brave
• Alone / Solitary
• Amused
• Awe / Wonder
• Fulfilled
• Enlightened
• Ecstatic / Enlightened / Exhilarated
• Inspired
• Joy
• Reflective / Thoughtful
• Serene
• Passion

Lonely Planet’s The Best Things in Life are Free is packed full of money-saving tips, tricks, and recommendations for the best-value sights and experiences around the world. From parks, museums and exercise classes that are free, to insider ideas on food and experiences offered at great value, this book features over 60 major cities around the world and promises to help any traveller on a budget make the most of their trip. Includes parks and gardens, street markets and food trucks, viewing points, museums and galleries, free experiences, spectator sports, city beaches, and much more.

Take a journey through every country in the world. 850 images. 230 countries. One complete picture. With details of every United Nations-approved country in the world, and a few more principalities and dependencies besides, Lonely Planet’s Travel Book is the ultimate introduction to a world of travel and the essential travel reference book for every household! Each country is profiled by Lonely Planet’s expert authors and features details of when to visit, what to see and do, and how to learn more about the country’s culture from its film, music, food, and drink. Every entry has a map and statistics about the country. All brand new, incredible photography illustrates each country, depicting what life is like in each nation from photographic portraits of people, beautiful landscape photographs, and vibrant street photography.

Lonely Planet’s Where to go When, the ultimate trip planner for every month of the year, is a beautifully illustrated book that is both practical and inspiring. For every month of the year, it presents 30 recommendations of destinations that are at their best during each month, whether due to their climate, or value or because there’s a lot going on. The suggestions feature every flavour of travel experience from culture-rich city breaks and tropical beach holidays to adventurous road trips and wildlife-watching expeditions. Every corner of the planet is covered so you’ll find out when the best time to see mountain gorillas is or to go shopping in Paris. The book is organised by month. At the start of each chapter a flowchart guides you through the options so readers can filter the recommendations according to their interests. Whether you’re into beaches, trying the local specialities or backpacking off the beaten path, there will suggestions for you. Diagrams also depict the climate, value for money, and family friendliness of each suggestion in the month.

Explore the vibrant world of craft beer with Lonely Planet’s ale experts. They’ve selected the finest tap rooms, bars, and breweries that thirsty travellers can visit in 30 countries around the world. Discover where they are, which beers to sample, and learn about local places of interest to create complete itineraries. Each country is introduced by a beer expert and includes notes on regional beverages that shouldn’t be missed. The craft beer revolution has seen waves of breweries open up to the public, not just in the United States, the UK, and Australia, where the trend is well established, but all over the world. Visit European beer capitals in Belgium, Italy, and Germany, and sample local favourites in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In Asia, explore hotspots in Japan, Vietnam, and China, then venture to South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Each brewery profile is accompanied by a selection of sightseeing ideas and activities, from local museums and galleries, to great hikes or bike rides to combine your beer pilgrimage with must-see local highlights. The book also features fun sections on beer trails, hangover cures, and the world’s wildest beers. There’s also practical advice like how to ask for a beer in the local language and the ideal snacks to accompany your drink.

Discover the wide world of spice. One word, a million different thrills. Lonely Planet Food, the world’s leading travel publisher’s new food imprint, delivers the world’s most tastebud-tingling flavours direct to your kitchen. Travel can transform your cooking, exposing you to new mouth-zinging ingredients that you may not have even heard of before. But, when there is so much world to explore in terms of food, The World’s Best Spicy Food comes in with a hand-selected collection of the world’s most sensorially thrilling culinary experiences to try at home. Explore the cultures behind the planet’s spiciest dishes, from Thai som tom, Indian dahl, and Korean kimchi, to Peruvian ceviche, Caribbean curries, and Nashville hot chicken. And it doesn’t stop with chilies—there are pungent, nose-clearing recipes with wasabi, mustard, horseradish, cinnamon, paprika, mace, piccalilli, and black, white, pink, and Sichuan pepper. These are dishes to make your tongue punch the air with elation, loaded with flavours that kick-start the palate and infuse every sense with joy. Each of the 100 recipes includes easy-to-use instructions and mouth-watering photography, plus an ‘origins’ section detailing how the dish has evolved. There are also tasting notes that explain how best to sample each dish – whether that’s in a hawker market in Singapore or at a Louisiana picnic spread – to truly give you a flavour of the place. This book is a celebration of spice in every form: ingredients that turn the bland to brilliant, the dreary into divine. And, as with all food, it’s the finest way to experience any foreign culture. This is real food, pulsing with vibrancy and delight, bringing a truly happy tear to one’s eye.

Travel the world from the comfort of your kitchen! From taco carts and noodle stalls to hawker markets and gelaterias, it’s on the street that you’ll find the heart of a cuisine and its culture. From the people who have been delivering trustworthy guidebooks to every destination in the world for 40 years, Lonely Planet’s World’s Best Street Food is your passport to the planet’s freshest, tastiest street-food flavours. Each of the 100 recipes includes easy-to-use instructions, ingredients and mouth-watering photography plus an ‘origins’ section detailing how the dish has evolved. There are also tasting notes that explain how best to sample each dish – whether that’s in a beachside lobster shack in Maine, a hawker market in Singapore or standing at the bar in a Sicilian café – to truly give you a flavour of the place.

Japan is truly timeless, a place where ancient traditions are fused with modern life as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Lonely Planet will get you to the heart of Japan, with amazing travel experiences and the best planning advice. Lonely Planet Japan is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore a bamboo grove in Arashiyama, marvel at Shinto and Buddhist architecture in Kyoto, or relax in the hot springs of Noboribetsu Onsen; all with your trusted travel companion.

• Colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests
• Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips – hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets – eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience – history, festivals, hiking, onsen, cuisine, architecture, sport, traditional accommodation, geisha, visual arts, performing arts, literature, music, environment, cinema

Hitting headlines, topping bucket lists, wooing nature lovers, and dazzling increasing numbers of visitors – there seems no end to the talents of this breathtaking northern destination. Lonely Planet will get you to the heart of Iceland, with amazing travel experiences and the best planning advice.

• Inspirational images and recommendations from our expert authors
• Planning features and top itineraries to help you plan the perfect trip
• Local secrets and hidden travel gems that will make your trip unique
• Plus Northern Lights Feature, wildlife watching guide, Ring Road planner, and hot-pot planning itinerary
• Coverage Includes: Planning chapters, Reykjavík, Southwest Iceland, the Golden Circle, West Iceland, The Westfjords, North Iceland, East Iceland, Southeast Iceland, The Highlands, Understand and Survival chapters

Palm-fringed beaches, chili-spiced cuisine; steamy jungles, teeming cities; fiesta fireworks, Frida’s angst: Mexico conjures up diverse, vivid dreams. And the reality lives up to the imagining. Lonely Planet will get you to the heart of Mexico, with amazing travel experiences and the best planning advice:

• Inspirational images, guide to ancient ruins & Mexican food recommendations from our expert authors
• Planning features and top itineraries to help you plan the perfect trip
• Local secrets and hidden travel gems that will make your trip unique
• Landscape and wildlife feature
• Coverage Includes: Planning chapters, Mexico City, Around Mexico City, Veracruz, Yucatán Peninsula, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Central Pacific Coast, Western Central Highlands, Northern Central Highlands, Baja California, Copper Canyon, Northern Mexico, Understand & Survival Guide chapters

Don’t let the idea of travelling alone stop you from living out your dreams. Packed with tips and advice for before and during your travels, The Solo Travel Handbook gives you the confidence and know-how to explore the world on your own, whether you’re planning a once-in-a-lifetime adventure or short city break. Developed with Lonely Planet’s expert travel writers, it explains how and why individual travel is such a valuable and rewarding experience.

• Confront and overcome any travel worries
• Decide where to go and plan your itinerary
• Set a budget strategy and organize money
• Find deals on flights and accommodations
• Choose the right luggage and pack like a pro
• Meet fellow travellers and befriend locals
• Ensure you stay safe, happy and healthy

Whether exploring your own backyard or somewhere new, discover the freedom of the open road with Lonely Planet’s USA’s Best Trips. Featuring 52 amazing road trips, from 2-day escapes to 2-week adventures, you can cruise the cliffs along California’s Big Sur coast or roll alongside Appalachian hills, all with your trusted travel companion. Jump in the car, turn up the tunes, and hit the road!

• Lavish color and gorgeous photography throughout
• Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests
• Get around easily – 120 easy-to-read, full-color route maps, detailed directions
• Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road – local driving rules, parking, toll roads
• Essential info at your fingertips – hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets – eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Useful features – including Stretch Your Legs, Detours, Link Your Trip
• Coverage includes: New York & the Mid-Atlantic, New England, Florida & the South, Great Lakes, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, the Southwest, California, Pacific Northwest and more

Revised and updated in this new edition, this book is a must for anyone who yearns to write about travel – whether they aspire to make their living from it or simply enjoy jotting in a journal for posterity. You don’t have to make money to profit from travel writing; sometimes the richest rewards are in the currency of experience. That’s where the journey begins – where it takes you is up to you. Let legendary travel writer Don George show you the way with his invaluable tips on:

• The secrets of crafting a great travel story
• How to conduct pre-trip and on-the-road research
• Effective interviewing techniques
• How to get your name in print (and money in your bank account)
• Quirks of writing for newspapers, magazines, online and books
• Extensive listings of writers’ resources and industry organizations
• Interviews with established writers, editors and agents

In an age of plastic knives on planes, Tony Wheeler can make the extraordinary claim of having visited all the rogue countries currently on newsreaders’ lips. Bad Lands is a witty first-hand account of his travels through places often perceived as having some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Taking into account each country’s attitude to human rights, terrorism, and foreign policy, he asks ‘what makes a country truly evil?’ and ‘how bad is really bad?’ – all the while engaging with a colourful cast of locals and hapless tour guides, ruminating on history and debunking popular myths. Written by the founder of Lonely Planet, this fascinating account of life in these closed-off countries will appeal to anyone with an interest in the state of the world today. With additional excursions to places that are slightly misguided, midly malevolent, seriously off course, extraordinarily reclusive. and much misunderstood, the second version of this popular title is well worth a read!

Packed with over 150 amazing coffee experiences in 37 countries, from its birthplace in East Africa, to modern-day Cuba, the United States, Australia, and the UK, this follow-up to the hugely popular Global Beer Tour features legendary espresso bars, plantation tours, urban roasteries, and must-visit cafes. Inside this definitive guide to coffee tasting around the world, you’ll discover exactly where to go and what to try, plus illustrated spreads on roasting coffee, cocktails, brewing techniques, and more.

• The places you’ll learn about in Lonely Planet’s Global Coffee Tour and visit aren’t just cafes – they’re meccas for coffee lovers, offering insight into the local culture and the history, personalities, passion and creativity behind each coffee.
• Discover each country’s top five, must-drink coffees
• Learn how to order a coffee in the local language
• Explore each area with our itinerary of local things to do
• Find coffee classes and learn about roasting and brewing
• Packed with photos of coffee houses the world over

Ice trekking in Argentina. Salsa dancing in Cuba. Road-tripping the USA. This book presents 60 of the most exciting travel experiences across North, Central, and South America, from adrenaline-pumping thrills and breathtaking natural wonders to cultural icons, wildlife watching, and romantic getaways. With Lonely Planet’s Explore the Americas, you’ll discover great escapes, thrilling adventures, voyages of discovery, and man-made and natural wonders stretching all the way from Canada to Argentina. Let Lonely Planet be your guide for exploring this beautiful and vibrant part of the world – and be inspired to plan your next or first adventure to the Americas.