Nature can be the best classroom and the Galápagos archipelago has much to teach us. In a land of ancient tortoises and equatorial penguins, I fell for the humble mockingbird. About nine inches tall and with plumage that spans a dull spectrum of grays and browns, the Galápagos mockingbird seems like the kind of mundane…
Sausages with sauerkraut. Dumplings as big as snowballs. Schnitzels the size of boots. Pretzels bigger than your head. And foaming tankards of bier – glorious bier! German food brings a blizzard of clichés. Some are warranted, some not. Yes, this country does still have a taste for piggy parts, potatoes and liter mugs of foaming…
After 15 years living in Yellowstone County, Montana, and authoring four editions of Lonely Planet’s guidebook to Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks, I’ve learned a trick or two about visiting Yellowstone. From avoiding the summer crowds to staying safe in grizzly country, here’s what I wish I had known on my first visit to…
Amy Lynch, a commissioning editor at Lonely Planet, shares a snapshot of a recent cozy getaway to Durham in northern England. I just returned from three days in County Durham in northern England. Having never ventured further north than London, I was eager to see more of the country that I’ve read, heard, and watched…
A dramatic area crammed with goose-bump-inducing vistas, shimmering lakes, towering waterfalls, soaring striped granite boulders, and vast emerald-green forests, Yosemite National Park is a beacon for the world’s hiking community – some 4 million people come to explore its 750 miles of trails each year. The best way to experience it all is to lace up…
With each season, you’ll experience a new and magical side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Whether popping with wildflowers in the springtime or exuding the most vivid shades of oranges and reds in September and October, you can embark on the same hike(s) year-round and always be left mesmerized by a different perspective. The…
As Everglades National Park primarily consists of an intricate network of wetlands and canals, roads within and leading to the Florida preserve are few and far between. In fact, amid its mammoth 1.5 million acres of swampy terrain, there are only four total entrances and two principal roads serving motor vehicles. So beyond cruising on the…
Humans have marked the spring equinox for millennia. A time of symbolic rebirth, its arrival in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20 signifies warmer days and the start of crop preparation, as well as holding religious significance for many. This equinox is one of only two days a year when the sun crosses the celestial…
Renowned landscape photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams introduced the world to Yosemite’s grandiose beauty starting in the 1930s, and the magic he saw is now captured by upwards of 4 million visitors, who flock here each season. From the moment you arrive, Yosemite dazzles with its natural good looks. One of America’s most iconic national…
Sustainability has become the heart and soul of the hospitality industry and travel trade, especially with travellers being more concerned of the environment, climate change and well-being of local communities.…