Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travel: Our List of the 500 Best Places to See... Ranked

by Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet, the world's leading travel guide publisher, brings you the world...ranked. What will be number 1, you ask? We have the answer. This compilation of the 500 most unmissable sights and attractions in the world has been ranked by Lonely Planet's global community of travel experts, so big name mega-sights such as the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal battle it out with lesser-known hidden gems for a prized place in the top 10, making this the only bucket list you'll ever need. This definitive wish list of the best places to visit on earth is packed with insightful write-ups and inspiring photography to get you motivated to start ticking off your travel list. What's your number 1? Authors: Lonely Planet About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Ebooks, Geography

328 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2015

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Kami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh, why can't I be a billionaire and live my life traveling the world?

Regarding the book, I wish they would have included photos for every location listed. And I wish it started at #500 and worked its way up to the #1 spot. Build some anticipation, you know? But it's a beautiful book, and a quick read as each location just has approx. a one paragraph description. I'm inspired to go pack my bags. But, alas, I cannot afford to go trekking around the globe. So I'll just settle for the book. I borrowed it from the library but it's so pretty that I'm thinking it's one to purchase for my home library.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voor het geval je niet goed weet wat je nu écht moet gaan op je volgende vakantie, heeft Lonely Planet het onmogelijke gepresteerd en jouw dilemma's letterlijk op een rijtje gezet. Dit boek verzamelt, en dat op volgorde(!), de 500 beste plekken ter wereld die je moet gezien hebben volgens alle medewerkers van het bedrijf.
Je bent er dus een paar jaartjes mee zoet. Veel namen zullen je bekend in de oren klinken, andere zullen nieuw zijn. Mijn lijstje is ook weer wat langer geworden. (Feitelijk kan je dit soort boeken beter niet kopen en/of lezen, je krijgt alleen maar een steeds gedesillusioneerder beeld van je portefeuille en de tijd die je nog rest... want je zal er nooit genoeg hebben.)
In dit boek zijn het de tekst én beelden die spreken. Elke plaats wordt maar heel kort besproken, meestal in een regel of zeven, tien. Voor meer info verwijzen de makers je naar hun gespecialiseerde reisgidsen: dit boek geeft je gewoon heel kort de hoofdredenen waarom je ergens naartoe moet. De foto's zijn meestal groot, en altijd knap. Jammer dat er niet van alle plaatsen een foto in staat, maar ja, het boek moet nog behapbaar blijven natuurlijk. Hoe dan ook, je krijgt er (reis)honger van, je zit erbij te kwijlen.
Zo'n beetje het enige waar ik me vragen bij stel, is de reden waarom ze van 1 naar 500 tellen. Ik zou denken dat het logischer, toffer en spannender zou zijn om af te tellen van 500 naar 1. Maar dat is ook maar een detail, natuurlijk.
Op het einde van dit boek, blijven er maar vier vragen over, eigenlijk. Ik zal ze hier even zetten, en ze meteen voor mij beantwoorden:
1) Wat is de hoogste notering die je tot nu toe hebt bezocht? Voor mij is dat #7 (nee, ik ga niet zeggen wat dat is).
2) Hoeveel nummers heb je al bezocht? Ik klok af op 49 - eentje meer had wel gemogen.
3) Wat is nu jouw persoonlijke nummer 1? Die staat voor mij op 26: de Piazza San Marco, in Venetië.
4) Hoeveel van die 500 plaatsen wil je toch minstens bezoeken in je leven? Als ik dan nu op 49 zit, moet dat toch opgetrokken kunnen worden naar 100, denk ik? Met een beetje geluk zit ik over een paar weken over de 50. To be continued...

In elk geval, of je hier nu weinig of veel van gezien hebt, laat je verleiden.
9,4/10

[Florence · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief experience in the index will convince you this book is worth checking out and will help you with that bucket list! The lonely Planet does a great job again. You will find short descriptions and great photographs!

[Vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much myself that I had to buy more copies as presents. Everyone who received it agreed that it was a beautiful collection of photos and a great motivator to inspire the next adventurous holiday. If you're looking for a gift for a travel junkie, this book should be your number one go- to.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

25 out of 500... I've got some traveling to do!

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun travel book with incredible photos. I know I'll be referencing this again and again.

I've been to 40 of the 500 places - three more after our trip to Thailand in October!

[AnnaG · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book that highlighted lots of amazing places to travel that I hope to see in the future. Sadly not all of the places have a picture with them, but those that do look stunning.

[Ronald Schoedel III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Added a couple hundred destinations to my list of “must-see” sites. And it was humbling to see how many of the very best sights and sites in the world I’ve already had the privilege to take in. We live in a truly amazing and diverse world. Lonely Planet did a great job representing this entire world among these 500 sites. I’ve learnt about places I never knew existed but now am determined to see.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gift from a friend. A friend who is young, single, no kids, and works for a few months so that he can go travel for a few months. Maybe someday....

[Kyle McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets a good review for being gutsy enough to rank the best places to see on Earth, loses a star for not providing a picture for each location. Like…?

[Anneke Visser-van Dijken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bij het zien van de schitterende cover van Ultieme bestemmingen van Lonely Planet krijg je al een idee wat voor soort boek je gaat bekijken en lezen. De titel en subtitel spreken voor zichzelf, je weet meteen waar het boek over gaat. Stiekem hoop je dat jouw favoriete plaats(en) ook genoemd zullen worden, dat ze er niet alleen met tekst in staan, maar ook met een mooie foto. Het boek is zo mooi vormgegeven, dat het zonde is om het boek in de boekenkast te zetten of je moet de voorkant in de boekenkast zien, maar anders verdient dit boek zeker een plaats op de salon- of bijzettafel zodat jij en eenieder die het boek ziet liggen er altijd even door kan bladeren, even genieten van de schitterende foto's.
In Ultieme bestemmingen van Lonely Planet hebben de experts van Lonely Planet 500 in hun ogen de beste plekken op aarde gekozen. Niet alleen de experts van Lonely Planet hebben hun favoriete plaatsen gekozen, ook een paar gasten zoals bijvoorbeeld Hanli Prinsloo en Pip Stewart hebben hun top 5 van in hun ogen beste plekken op aarde gedeeld. Door de schitterende foto's wil je er zelf heen om de sfeer te proeven, te genieten van de omgeving.

Lees verder op https://surfingann.blogspot.com/2021/... .

[Maureen Forys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty standard coffee table travel book but like..... why don't all the destinations have pictures ??

[Rubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's probably just me but I found this book extremely dull. It wasn't the places though, it was the format. Some of these places were obvious, like "duh" any traveler knows the Pyramids of Giza and The Great Wall are MUST SEEs! I was expecting something ....a lil more surprising, something I wouldn't have thought of. Alas, it IS a compilation of top destinations so I should have expected it.
Bur for a travel book MANY of the places mentioned barely got a description and no pictures at all. I found myself using Google to look these places up to get a real sense of why they made the list. Took a lot of time off actually getting through the book. So yeah, some descriptions weren't enough. Others were a bit boring I found myself wanting to skip the place, which doesn't due it justice.
I don't know, maybe this kind of book just isn't for me.
Dont get me wrong though, lots of the places mentioned look BEAUTIFUL! Looking forward to doing more research on them and maybe visiting a few hehe

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely EXCELLENT read!

And I do mean that -- it is excellent as a READ. Most of these books I get purely for their photographic content, but this book was truly a pleasure to read as well. It captured the fancy of the reader quite easily, with tantalizing snippets and enchanting glimpses into each listed place that practically made the mouth water and CERTAINLY kicked the wanderlust gland into seriously high gear! It takes talent to capture the essence of a far-off wonder in so few words, and yet each one managed to inspire, to insistently tug at the imagination, and to make anyone with a yen for travel want to pack their bags and head off to EVERY destination on this list!

What a wonderful world we do live in. This books reminds us of all the wonder we should be experiencing. World trip, anyone?

[Susie VB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good coffee table book with beautiful photography, and while I understand lists are subjective, I took issue with the order. How Auschwitz-Birkenau would not crack the top 100 is mind-boggling to me (It’s 50 spots lower than the Sydney Opera House... really?!). There weren’t even photos included with every entry. For a book of that size and length, there should at least be thumbnails. Finally, some of the entries felt less like a description of the actual site and more of the author trying to appear highbrow and worldly. Enough with the flowery language and more explanation of why this is so amazing, please.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this is a coffee-table book there's no plot to comment on, and I wish there had been more pictures (and sometimes the picture they included seemed like an odd choice, it didn't represent the site very well), but having said that this is an enjoyable book: well-organized, each blurb contained enough info to get you interested without overburdening. I most liked the variety: this book really does cover sites spread throughout pretty much the entire world and tackles historical, cultural, religious, and natural sites. It introduced me to lots of new places to look into and daydream about visiting, and that's all I wanted from it.

[Nikki Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have some criticisms of this book I also enjoyed reading it quite a bit. First I wish there were some lists included that categorized the sites, like a like of castles, a list of mountains, a list of holy sites, etc. Secondly I am not sure if the thumbnail descriptions were always right… I know that some of the places are have been to I was surprised by what they said and more surprised by what they didn’t say. Finally I wish all listings had a photo even though some of the photos did not seem the best representation of the place either.

[Brit McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been wandering my way through this collection over the last two weeks or so, much like I used to wander through the world! It makes my heart ache to be on the move again, knowing there is still so much to see and we're so grounded at the moment, and for who knows how long.

Everyone's going to disagree on where favourite locations are ranked - I didn't really worry about that too much. I just enjoyed the photography and the descriptions in a sentence or two.

[Mr. Steven Thomson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay for a free read. Interesting to see places I hadn't known anything about. I didn't do a precise count of places but it would seem England has about 14, Scotland 12, while China and Italy have around 15. USA has around 14 and Iran only 3...really? I have only been to around 40 of these places, so who am I to judge? I will now try to visit the rest, but I'll keep the ones for scuba divers until last as I can't swim...

[Hasini Garikapati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started the year with this book to take some travel time inspiration for next holiday... I wouldn't call this a top 500 list as a top list always is a subjective thing.. Although there are few places in that list that are overrated (again subjective), in a nutshell, it definitely runs through some of the must visit places... Browse through it for some travel inspiration!

[Anna Im Wunderland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a gorgeous book filled with stunning pictures and important information — the perfect gift for any wanderer. Not just a coffeetable book, but a perfect companion to fill your bucketlist and get you curious for this amazing world we live in. The only downside: Wanderlust whenever you open it up...

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures and glad to have discovered some more underdog places to go! Though I disliked the fact that not every place had a picture and I really had to look up a lot of places to really understand what they were referring to. Also some places were joined by a picture that didn't really match.

[Sarah Paps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed discovering new places I would not have thought of before. I love traveling so these types of books mesmerize me. A lot of places I was surprised to see on the list and other places I wished were on it. I also would have liked at least one picture for each place, but the pictures that were there were super cool. It's a fun read and it had some interesting facts!

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love travel books, but I think I'm going to stop reading this sort...after all, this doesn't really have a lot of information in it. By its very nature, covering 500 different sites around the world, its going to have to be a very surface look at each of them. The pictures are pretty, but there's not much else here to recommend.

[JMarryott23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely should have listed the rankings from 500 to 1 instead of 1 to 500. Always save the best for last to build towards something! Instead, it felt like the best stuff was first. Regardless, the overall list is pretty good. I’m not sure what they missed, but it felt like a pretty comprehensive list of things and places to see. Worth reading imo.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant travel summary, everybody who has been to see us has ended up engrossed in it. Pics and description are amazing, so easy to read but still informative. You can't help but count how many you've visited. 51 out of 500, need to get travelling.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a listing of the popular sights as chosen by Lonely Planet. I think it's inspiration enough for a writer if you are looking for exotic locales to place your story or get inspired by but outside of that, not much else.

[Sebastian Sanio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A summary of 500 interesting places to see around the world.
As a frequent traveler, this book gave a lot of ideas for future trips.
I don't give it 5 stars because around half of the places don't have photos, I think it would be a huge improvement to have them.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that focus on the incredible places to visit around the world. You can read a brief description and see a great photos of 500 places that are recommended to visit.
On 26th May 2022, I ticked 63/500 places from this book <3

[Laura K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a nice gift!