Review: Ultimate Travel List by the Lonely Planet

Many of us have been working on personal projects during 2020, and it turns out the Lonely Planet team are no different. We were rather excited to learn that their travel experts have been busy updating their best-selling book the Ultimate Travel List.

The first edition of the Ultimate Travel List was printed in 2015, and that was a sizeable hardback book.

The 2^nd edition ranks the top 500 places to see across the world. It has 200 different places from the first edition that was published in 2015, which means there’s plenty of inspiration and lots of new places to add to your travel bucket list.

How did the Lonely Planet rank the top 500 places?

According to the Lonely Planet, they ranked the 500 best places in order of their brilliance. But what does that actually mean and how did they do it?

The Lonely Planet consulted their contributing authors and asked their community to vote for their favourites. Then they took into consideration important factors like reducing mass tourism and favoured places that promote and support sustainability to help them make their final decisions.

How many have you visited in the Ultimate Travel List?

At the front of the book, there are several maps which help you find the best places listed on each continent. After this, locations are listed in order with information about why it was selected, tips on how to get there along with some stunning photographs of the best 500 places in the world.

We were excited and surprised to discover where ranked number one. It wouldn’t be our first choice, but it’s not somewhere we have visited yet.

However, Regan was pleased to see that Angkor Wat, a personal favourite, held a strong position in the top 10.  

Some of our favourites from the top 500:

Finding these places in the Ultimate Travel List sparked some very fond memories from our travels.

How many UK places are on the list?

Thanks to the awe-inspiring photographs that the UKPOTD community share on a daily basis, we know there’s an abundance of fantastic places to visit throughout the UK.

But how many of them made the Ultimate Travel List? 34 places across the UK. Can you guess where they might be or where ranked the highest? Would you like a clue? Do you know where the deepest lake in England is?

We are very fortunate to have so many beautiful locations in the UK. There is plenty to explore, enabling us to provide support to local Travel and Tourism organisations throughout the UK during these difficult and challenging times.

Where will you add to your travel bucket list?

Regan likes to have a few ideas on her travel wish list, but she tends to prefer to be pretty flexible and likes to keep her options open. She’s not keen on over-planning, preferring to go with the flow. Brett is the one who likes to be organised, research in detail, over-pack and book super in advance. Thankfully, we both enjoy slow travelling, seeking out interesting photo opportunities, and exploring lesser-known locations together, such as our holiday in Messina in Greece.

We found it refreshing to discover that the Lonely Planet hasn’t listed all of the obvious choices. They have also championed places that support and promote sustainable travel. In the 2nd edition, you will find that there are a lot more open spaces and cultural experiences. This seems to fit into the current climate where people are still rebuilding their confidence and continuing to adapt to how they live, travel, work, and spend their leisure time during the pandemic.

Our favourite things about the Ultimate Travel List:

• Reading the Ultimate Travel list triggered so many great memories. We couldn’t wait to find out how many places we have visited were the top 500, and we really enjoyed reliving these experiences as we searched through some of our old photos for this review.

• There are lots of local cultural & nature-themed experiences in the book. We felt these focused on slower & more meaningful travel experiences rather than a checklist of the top places to tick off in three days.

• We loved diving into this book to escape from the current pandemic. It was so nice to have a distraction from the current digital overload and felt really good to read a hardback book, rather than stare at another screen.

• We think this is an awesome source of inspiration for planning your future travels. Definitely an ideal gift for the travel lovers amongst your family and friends.

Would you like to win your own copy of the book?

UKPOTD  have teamed up with the Lonely Planet to give one of their UK based followers the chance to win a copy of the Ultimate Travel List.

Terms & Conditions: 

• The Ultimate Travel List Giveaway is only open to UK residents.
• Follow @UKPOTD and the @lonelyplanet on Instagram.
• Tell us your number 1 travel experience in the comments on the Ultimate Travel List Giveaway post on UKPOTD.
• Share this giveaway in your Instagram stories to alert your fellow travel lovers and tag UKPOTD.
• The closing time & date for entries is 12 pm (GMT) on Saturday 14 November 2020.
• UKPOTD team will randomly select one winner from the comments. The winner will be announced shortly after the closing date.
• Our decision in determining the winner is final. No correspondence will be entered into regarding this decision.
• If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, we reserve the right to randomly select another winner from the competition entries.
• The winner will need to provide UKPOTD with their UK postal address, and the Lonely Planet will then send a copy of the book directly to them.
• No purchase is necessary. This prize is non-refundable or transferable.
• This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram.

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If you would like to buy a copy of the Ultimate Travel List, you can purchase it directly from the Lonely Planet website, or *Our Amazon shop.

* As an Amazon Associate, we will receive a small commission on any purchases you make through our affiliate links to Amazon.