Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2014 - Prime Ten Countries

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2014 - Prime Ten Countries

These ten countries square measures destined for Associate in Nursing epic year, whether or not they’re hosting festivals, cutting the ribbon on new attractions or just raising their game for travelers. Feast your eyes on 2014's most unmissable destinations.

1. Brazil

All eyes on the pitch for 2014’s Football World Cup tournament

As if endless strands of sun-toasted coast, mountains splashed with Crayola-green woodland and a few of the planet’s most stunning colonial villages didn’t already add up to Associate in Nursing unfair share of heaven, Brazil goes and snags 2 of the foremost in demand sporting events within the world, starting with the 2014 FIFA tournament and followed 2 years later by the 2016 Summer athletic contest. Tag on a recession-dodging economy, and boom! Brazil is that the girl of the ball. Is it trekking across lofty inhospitable dunes peppered with cerulean lagoons in Lençóis Maranhenses, exploring gilded colonial churches in frozen-in-time cities like Ouro Preto or swimming in aquarium-like rivers close to Bonito, Brazil’s diversity can leave you slack-jawed.

 

2. Antarctica

The adventure of a lifetime

Tune into your average life program and you can’t fail to be dazzled by Antarctica’s majestic icebergs, parturition glaciers and unknown mountain ranges. Or you’ll watch it native sphenisciform seabird species frolic whereas avoiding fierce leopard seals and roaming pods of killer whales, as voluminous seabirds spiral over the wild Southern Ocean. This year marks the centenary of the beginning of Ernest Shackleton’s disreputable tried Antarctic crossing. Visiting this pristine continent (which doesn’t have an Associate in Nursing native population and isn't really a country) in 2014 could be a likelihood to require life on and follow within the path of alternative bold explorers – however with cushier amenities.

3. Scotland

An eventful year

 To coincide with metropolis hosting the XX Commonwealth Games within the summer of 2014, the town has had a multi-million-pound facelift: new sports venues, improved transport links and a regeneration of metropolis Harbour. It’s conjointly the Year of Homecoming, a government initiative to welcome the Scottish diaspora back to the country by celebrating Scotland’s heritage, food and drink. The phrase ‘there’s one thing for everyone’ applies: Europe’s biggest band competition blasts Perthshire, Associate in Nursing orienteering contest around Scottish castles, the Spirit of Speyside spirits competition in cold... Despite all this, politics can take center stage: to be or to not be freelance, that's the question. Hold onto your hats, Scotland.

 4. Sweden

Food, culture and scary stories

Thanks to the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, the majority has a way of what Sweden’s like, even within the way north – cold, stunning and slightly scary. The kingdom of Sweden is rising with a replacement pop-culture persona. Maybe not coincidentally, northern Sweden’s largest town, Umeå, is that the European Capital of Culture for 2014. Then there’s the food. The capital has long been a classy, top-notch destination for serious gourmands and with boldness experimental chefs, however latterly the name and influence of the Swedish change of state have unfold on the far side the country’s borders. Considering that Swedish preparation is therefore powerfully tied to domestically sourced ingredients (be it food, game, berries, herbs or regional cheeses), it makes good sense to travel with the supply of all this fine food.

5. Malawi

The Big 5 and beach life, whereas not the crowds

Picture this: mere hours once touching down in Malawi’s second-largest city, Blantyre, you check superluxe digs (or pitch your tent) at the Majete life Reserve, that entire 10 years past lay decimated by cookery, but last year gained a vast five standing owing to a life relocation project. You get on my feet close to a similar elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo whereas not the plaguy four wheel drive start thus common in Africa’s illustrious parks. Then perhaps it’s off to Lake African nation for a spot of high-visibility snorkelling, or Mt Mulanje for a hike over hazy peaks in Associate within the nursing transcendental moonscape. And there’s invariably the Viphya highland, a looking wild on grasslands and Whaleback hills that feels downright prehistoric.

6. Mexico

The sleeping giant is waking

Sun-baking on a Caribbean beach when partying all night in Cancun; buying bright colored handicrafts or gorging on seven sorts of mole (chili sauce) in Oaxaca; stepping back in time at a Mayan temple – it’s simple to feel optimistic once you’re kicking back in Mexico. And it’s not simply the holiday-maker - several Mexicans square measure happier regarding living in Mexico currently than most will ever bear in mind. Exciting developments on the travel scene have continued, from major new Maya museums in Cancun and Mérida to the installation of Latin America’s longest zip lines on the rim of the awing Copper Canyon. Currently Mexico’s image is on the cusp of modification – it’s time to dirt off your Mexican dream once more and revel in it to the goop before those costs return up and therefore the crowds extremely begin rolling in.

 7. Seychelles

Paradise within reach

These a hundred and fifteen divine islands strewn across the chromatic ocean have all the key ingredients for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, however their name as a millionaire’s playground could have unbroken you away. Sensible news: on prime of exclusive island hideaways and chic eco-villas, you'll like the wallet-friendlier B&Bs, picturesque Creole guesthouses and self-catering flats that have sprung up over the past decade. And if expensive air tickets deterred you from visiting, rejoice! Multiplied competition has dramatically modified true over the past few years. And there’s far more to try to than sipping cocktails on the beach. Hiking, diving, snorkelling, boat tours and alternative journey choices square measure all promptly offered, with the accessories charm of grandiose scenery. Life lovers can get a buzz too – the Seychelles isn't dubbed ‘The Galápagos of the Indian Ocean’ for nothing.

8. Belgium

High emotions in Europe's underrated gem

Belgium has picturesque cities – urban center, Antwerp, port – and in the capital of Belgium a working capital with nice museums. The food and drink could be a sense impression blast (think the world’s best brewed, chocolate and chips), the rural area flat and placid, the sea-coast amazingly stylish, whereas cultural treasures vary from medieval masters to Tintin. However the words ‘Belgium’ and ‘holiday’ don’t sometimes combine. For 2014, a large inflow of holiday makers is predicted thanks to the one hundredth day of the happening of WWI – a competition of remembrance lasting till 2018 – which can modification preconceptions. Belgo-newbies can notice medieval cities wherever culture and gastronomy meet, with Gothic buildings, paintings by Breugel, Eyck and painter, canals and funky outlets. And they’ll discover mellow meadows, wherever cows moo beside monuments, and battlefields and cemeteries that testify to the horrors of a war currently shifting from living memory.

9. Macedonia

Back in the long run, Balkan-style

The year 2014 marks the completion of the government’s love-it-or-hate-it makeover of the capital, Skopje. The Macedonian capital has at the identical time quietly become a further visitor-friendly, with a bevy of cool new hostels, upmarket  wine bars and bistros, and one in each of southeastern Europe’s best club scenes. On the way facet work-in-progress urban center and thus they more experienced holiday-maker cities like Lake Ohrid, Mavrovo ski area and ancient Stobi, new things area unit happening elsewhere. Quiet Berovo, on the border with Balkan country, is Associate in nursing industrious challenger on the spa-hotel scene. Together with Macedonia’s idyllic Japanese Zero. 5, sturdy previous Kratovo – with Ottoman-era stone bridges and set lanes – is reviving previously derelict Turkish mansions, attesting the bygone wealth of this previous mining town. And at intervals the arid central farm region of Tikveš, new quality wineries is a unified line of labor for thirsty guests.

10. Malaysia

A revived Malaysia goes back to business

With its sights attack twenty eight million guests in the country, Asian country is rolling out Associate in a nursing array of recent attractions. The headline-grabbers unit of measurement the foremost vital bird park in the geographic area in Melaka (with 6000 birds that features four hundred species), and the Legoland Asian country and salutation Kitty Land in Nusajaya, that unit of measurement packing in every locals and Singaporeans flocking across the causeway. The new second terminal at national capital International landing field (KLIA2), line of labor within the main to the booming budget airline sector, is another major think about attracting further guests. Competitive fares offered by Asian country Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly and new operator Malindo Air produce getting around this wide spread-out country a cinch. Any abroad, weekly direct links unit of measurement presently scheduled to destinations as various as Stamboul and urban center. Tremendous experiences expect in Malaysian Kalimantan, from exploring off-the-beaten- track Kudat to gratify at the luxurious Gaya Island Resort on Pulau Gaya. And active travelers can discover the country on a pair of wheels as cycle business enterprise flies with guided tours in the territory, a proposal to make a bike path around the coast of Penang, and a community project to map cycle routes around the national capital.