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Lonely Planet Best Trips Guide

Lonely Planet USA's Best Trips 3

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Lonely The world's leading travel guide publisher Whether exploring your own backyard or somewhere new, discover the freedom of the open road with Lonely Planet's USA's Best Trips. Featuring 51 amazing road trips, from 2-day escapes to 2-week adventures, you can cruise the cliffs along California's Big Sur coast or roll alongside Appalachian hills, all with your trusted travel companion. Jump in the car, turn up the tunes, and hit the road! Inside Lonely Planet's USA 's Best The Perfect Lonely Planet's USA's Best Trips is perfect for exploring the USA in the classic American way - by road trip! About Lonely 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 traveler community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travelers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves.

672 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

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Simon Richmond

169 books1 follower

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5 stars
39 (35%)
4 stars
47 (42%)
3 stars
20 (18%)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Andrew Smith.
1,283 reviews1,021 followers
February 15, 2019
What I really like about this guide is how interactive it is. I downloaded a Kindle copy to my iPad and it’s a revelation. I’m done with paper guide books now, this one allows me to jump around at will and best of all it has useful hyperlinks to sites offering more in-depth information on a whole ream of places, activities etc. Ok, I’m not sure how up to date the embedded information on places to eat and sleep is, but that’s a minor quibble.

My primary aim here was to use the information I gathered to help plan a road trip to America’s Deep South next year. There’s a limited number of routes included but then this is a publication that takes on a much wider remit, so I can forgive it that. The routes that are suggested are useful and include maps and distances between suggested stop points. My only moan is that the the routes do lack in-depth exploration of the suggested path – for instance, in the Cajun Country route (230 miles from Thibodaux, Louisiana to Lafayette) there are only six suggested highlights, and they include the start and end points.

In summary, I think this is a very useful guide to kick off your planning but you’re going to need to do a good deal more research and seek out a guide more specifically focused on your chosen area before you embark on the trip itself.
Profile Image for JMarryott23.
317 reviews7 followers
December 13, 2021
Excellent for ideas on road trips and for providing the best things to see and do on your travels. This could be used as a main source on an itinerary. However, I mostly skipped the food and lodging sections. I don’t have an eminent trip planned. Also, the book is three years old and that information could be outdated in many ways. Then in addition you have COVID happening during that time to really alter those two industries further.

This book really highlights how unique and great so much of the United States is, so if you are interested in travel and adventure then it is highly recommended.
Profile Image for Valeria.
236 reviews229 followers
October 9, 2019
This book is good. The routes suggested are great and it is a good starting point to start planning a trip.

It provides the stops, detours and the estimated time. Also it tells you the best time to go and what that particular route is best for.

However, that's it. It does not tell you what to do in each place once you get there, which is why I feel it si somewhat lacking or incomplete. You should complement it with your own research or another book to really be able to plan a trip.
Profile Image for Leeann.
332 reviews
June 11, 2020
What a great collection of road trips! A few I have already done, but the recommendations and photos inspire me to “hit the road” in those areas again. Full of great recommendations on food, Lodi g, and activities. I also like the “stretch your legs” recommendations and traveling tips. Four stars because the ebook version is hard to read.
Profile Image for Patricia.
1,729 reviews8 followers
April 7, 2021
This book has some good ideas, but feels incomplete, in that the descriptions of each trip can be quite vague. You would need supplemental materials to actually plan a trip, and I don't think there were enough hotel/food options.
Profile Image for Trisha .
747 reviews16 followers
December 17, 2023
These are 51 amazing road trips. I borrowed this mainly for the southwest areas of the USA. The fact that Julian or Borrego Springs isn't included in the San Diego sections is an oversight. The beach won the spotlight for that city.

(978-1-83869-194-3 5th edition)
Profile Image for Sophie Crane.
5,424 reviews185 followers
March 13, 2025
As always the Lonely planet books are great guides to plan trips with and this one is no exception.
Lots of great road trip ideas in here.
Definitely worth purchasing if you are planning a road trip in USA
Profile Image for Mary.
1,823 reviews2 followers
January 11, 2020
A great place to start planning a road trip. Divided geographically, includes the recommended number of days for each trip. Classic trips, highlights and side trips.
47 reviews1 follower
February 5, 2021
Great USA Travel book

Can't wait to use the recs from this book when we head to the west and SW US later this year! Great resource and ideas.
645 reviews
August 10, 2021
Enough detail that will be good to get out to travel the east coast of the US someday. Great pictures
Profile Image for Gabby.
68 reviews3 followers
December 22, 2020
Used this book as I traveled across the country. I have done several of the road trips in New England and Route 66 and have found it a trusty guide on all my adventures.
Profile Image for Carmen.
175 reviews21 followers
March 29, 2026
Should be bought as paperback!

I'm not sure how to rate this book as it's simply one of those books that doesn't translate well for kindle reading. First of all, you had to read in landscape mode. It's then full of pop ups in order to read the text. You couldn't or I couldn't figure out how to take notes or highlight. It simply was just not easy to read on my Kindle fire .
The book does seem full of full colored pictures and lots of info. I think I might pop in to a bookstore and check this out in person. I really do think it's probably an awesome book. Just not for kindle.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 15 reviews