Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel Destinations for 2018 Revealed

Lonely Planet has revealed its much-anticipated collection of the world's hottest destinations, called "Best in Travel 2018".

(FOR RELEASE OCT 24, 2017) — Today, Lonely Planet announces Best in Travel 2018, the highly anticipated collection of the world’s hottest destinations that should be on every traveler’s wish list in the year ahead. The travel media authority revealed its selections of the top 10 countries, cities, regions and best value destinations that Lonely Planet’s experts recommend travelers experience in 2018.

Chile takes the coveted top spot of the best country for travelers in 2018. Seville receives the accolade of number one city in the world to visit next year. Hot on the Spanish city’s heels is the American comeback city Detroit and Australia’s oft-overlooked capital Canberra.

San Juan was also named in the 10 best cities list for its timeless and dynamic atmosphere. Lonely Planet’s Central America and Caribbean destination editor Bailey Freeman said, “While Puerto Rico’s capital was hit hard by the hurricane last month, we believe San Juan will be back on its feet for travelers in 2018.”

The region which Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2018 declares the number one must-see in the coming year is Belfast and the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland, with Alaska in second place. Tallinn, Estonia has been crowned Lonely Planet’s best value destination of 2018, closely followed by Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and Arizona in the USA.

Deciding what destinations to include in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel annual selection is a considered process involving Lonely Planet’s most experienced travelers providing hundreds of recommendations of places not to be missed. These places are then shortlisted by a panel of in-house travel experts who consider criteria such as topicality, novelty and wow-factor to decide what to include in the inspirational travel yearbook – available in hardback for the first time this year.

The destinations selected for Best in Travel must meet specific criteria; it could be that something special is going on in the year ahead, that it offers travelers new things to see or do, or that Lonely Planet’s team of experts consider it overlooked and underrated, and recommend travelers visit before the crowds do.

In addition to the top four lists, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2018 features trends and experiences to prepare for in the year ahead. Top trends include destination races, vegetarian and vegan travel, and exploratory cruises. Lonely Planet’s experts also rank the top 10 best New Openings, Places to Stay and Culture Trips for Families.

The landing page features all of the Best in Travel 2018 destinations and more advice on visiting them. Four videos accompany each of the number one destinations to reveal why they were selected the top spots for travel in 2018, all captured using GoPro equipment by Lonely Planet’s experts on the road. Travelers can enter a My Best in Travel video competition to win round-trip flights for two to the number one country Chile and a GoPro HERO6 Black provided by this year’s sponsor, GoPro. Best in Travel 2018 is also the cover story in the upcoming issue of Lonely Planet magazine, on newsstands November 7.

Top 10 Countries

  1. Chile
  2. South Korea
  3. Portugal
  4. Djibouti
  5. New Zealand
  6. Malta
  7. Georgia
  8. Mauritius
  9. China
  10. South Africa

Top 10 Cities

  1. Seville, Spain
  2. Detroit, USA
  3. Canberra, Australia
  4. Hamburg, Germany
  5. Kaohsiung, Taiwan
  6. Antwerp, Belgium
  7. Matera, Italy
  8. San Juan, Puerto Rico
  9. Guanajuato, Mexico
  10. Oslo, Norway

Best Value Destinations

  1. Tallinn, Estonia
  2. Lanzarote, Canary Islands
  3. Arizona, USA
  4. La Paz, Bolivia
  5. Poland
  6. Essaouira, Morocco
  7. United Kingdom
  8. Baja California, Mexico
  9. Jacksonville, Florida, USA
  10. Hunan, China

Notes to Editors:

  • Further information available at lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel from 9am EST Oct. 24, 2017
  • Lonely Planet spokespeople available in Nashville, New York, London and Melbourne
  • Excerpts available for syndication from book and lonelyplanet.com by arrangement
  • Images for Top 40 destinations and other select images available
  • Review copies of Best in Travel 2018 and US magazine available by request
  • This year’s global sponsor for Best in Travel 2018 is GoPro
  • Hashtag is #BestinTravel

Best in Travel 2018
By Lonely Planet
October 24, 2017 | $17.99 | 13th Edition
5.7” by 7.1” | 208 pages | Full-Color
Hardback | ISBN-13: 978-1786579690

About Lonely Planet:

Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. Lonely Planet can be found on lonelyplanet.com, mobile, video and in 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks and more. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and join our 13.5 million followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@lonely.planet).

Visit Detroit is a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to market and sell the metropolitan Detroit area on a worldwide basis as a destination for leisure and business travel including conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, tours and incentive travel to maximize additional visitors, visitor expenditures, state and local tax revenues and job opportunities.

More than 700 businesses are represented in Visit Detroit’s membership. Visit Detroit was founded in 1896 as the world’s first convention and visitors bureau. visitdetroit.com