World's Best Travel Experiences 400 Extraordinary Places

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781426209598
• ISBN10: 1426209592
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-30
• Publisher: National Geographic

Summary

Drawn from the life lists of National Geographic's expert travel writers and photographers, Best of the Worldtakes you on an inspiring tour of the world's most appealing and transformative locales, both natural and man-made. Best of the Worlddirects readers to hidden mountaintop communities; medieval alleyways in thousand-year-old cities; scenic tropical atolls; spectacular national parks; ancient wonders; buzzing metropolises; remote corners of the globe, tropical rain forests; the heartland of America; and hundreds of other unique places. The sites are organized in themed chapters titled Country Unbound, Wild Places, Urban Spaces, Paradise Found, and World Wonders. Some places are small and distinct enough to be life-changing just from their unique nature. For larger locations, such as major cities and regions, Best of the Worldwill point readers to the specific experiences that will make their trip stand apart from the everyday and the ordinary. Both inspirational and practical, Best of the Worldcaptures the imagination while also giving readers the tools they need to plan their dream trips. Each chapter features stunning photographs, full-color maps, evocative text, and useful information--including how to get there, when to visit, and insider tips on how to make the most of the journey--all packaged in a luxurious, oversized volume to treasure and peruse for many years to come. Sidebars include "My Best Place" (more than forty literary expressions exploring a destination's intrigue by luminaries such as Andrew McCarthy, Jan Morris, and Rudy Maxa; "Best of the Best," which provides expanded details on one particular feature of the destination; "In the Know," which offers background on an ancillary or secondary facet or theme of the place; and "Transformative Moments," first-person subjective accounts by Travelermagazine and Travelerguidebook writers of personal and life-changing travel experiences. Each chapter contains two to five separate "Best of the World" lists, which feature shorter entries on a wide variety of themed categories, from "Best Uninhabited Islands" to "Best Transporting Works of Art" to "Best Ancient Roman Ruins Outside of Italy."

Author Biography

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, KEITH BELLOWS has launched 30 magazines, television, and radio properties and has lectured around the world. He is editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler and project leader of Learning2Go, an innovative program he developed to bring children and parents together around travel as a learning tool. A graduate of Gordonstoun School in Scotland and Dartmouth College, Bellows has appeared regularly on The Today Show and Good Morning America.

Excerpts

The best place in the world? It’s a big, brash, bold question. And the answer is easy—there are lots of them. For me, it’s the crowded and chaotic suq in Marrakech, and that remote beach on the tiny atoll of Fakarava in the South Pacific. The rocky Burren in the rural west of Ireland, with the late day sun lingering over the Aran Islands, is the best place in the world. And so is my own backyard—New York City’s Central Park.
 
What my best have in common is the ability to excite, to arouse big passions that allow—that demand—bold declarations: This is the best. My best is different from yours. Mine is different today than it was last year, and I bet it will be different next year. It’s as subjective as a sunset, but we all know the feeling when a place, or a moment, takes our breath away and fills us with that feeling of connection, or that sense of discovery, or rediscovery; feelings of being lost, and then found—these are the experiences I search out while on the road.
 
Flipping the pages of this book I can’t help but feel that excitement, that hope and sense of renewal. It makes me want to say, Yes—yes to possibility and adventure. Yes to places I’ve been, and to those I’m yearning to see—the pyramids of Egypt, the Galápagos, Petra, Nepal.
 
The best is a movable feast—the sweeping vistas of Patagonia to the back alleys of Barcelona; Costa Rica’s wild Osa Peninsula to the canals of Venice; Vancouver’s glass- and mountain- filled skyline to the gardens of Versailles. And the best is in the details—where to learn acupuncture in Beijing, or kayak the Cook Islands, or track down the best macarons in Paris. They’re all here. From the Amazon to Zanzibar, the world’s best have been assembled.
 
With some of the premier voices in writing—Mark Twain and Goethe, Paul Theroux and Jan Morris, Bill Bryson and Gore Vidal—and tapping into the finest of the National Geographic Society’s legendary photography, the World’s Best Travel Experiences are at your fingertips.
 
Sayyes.
 
--Andrew McCarthy,National Geographic Travelermagazine Editor at Large