LAURENCE MACKINreviews The Road Less Travelled: 1,000 Amazing Places off the Tourist Trail and the Lonely Planet guide to Puerto Vallarta Pacific Mexico
The Road Less Travelled: 1,000 Amazing Places off the Tourist Trail
DK, £25
This is a beautifully simple idea executed with no small degree of elegance. The book takes more than 100 of the world’s tourist hot spots (think the pyramids at Giza; Uluru, in Australia; and the TT races on the Isle of Man) and suggests alternatives that will deliver just as much wonder with a fraction of the crowds and, maybe, the cost (think the pyramids of Meroë, in Sudan; Devils Tower, in Wyoming; and the Tandragee 100, in Northern Ireland). Each destination gets a full colour spread, with practical information and enticing articles on each suggestion. For those who can’t leave those must-see spots alone, there are tips for how to make the best of the most intensely visited places on earth. This is a terrifically handsome book, with swathes of DK’s trademark gorgeous photography, and although a slew of similar large-format travel books is out there, this one contains a store of genuinely useful, original and informative suggestions on how to take your trip away from the madding crowds.
Puerto Vallarta Pacific Mexico
Lonely Planet, £14.99
This is a mixed bag of holiday favourites and alternative destinations on the spectacular Pacific coast of Mexico. Puerto Vallarta and Oaxaca take pride of place. At about 320 pages, this guide might strike some as a little light on detail, but there are good sections on turtle watching, active sports and diversions away from the sandy beaches, such as the El Salto Falls and Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve.