Whether you dream of lazing on golden Mediterranean beaches, exploring centuries-old Bavarian streets or nursing a pint in a snug Irish pub, Western Europe always inspires with its variety and volume of iconic attractions. With so much to choose from, this insightful and comprehensive guide enables you to find your perfect multi-country trip. 
• BE IN THE KNOW - incisive history, arts and culture coverage takes you from ancient Greece and Rome to London's Tate Modern 
• FIND YOUR WAY - inspiring highlights and itineraries, practical directories and grid-referenced maps help you plan your own Grand Tour 
• DINE OUT - whether you crave fish &amp; chips, perfect pasta or award-winning haute cuisine, our extended listings take you to the very best places to eat 
• REST YOUR HEAD - handpicked sleeping options for every budget, including comfy cottage guesthouses, stylish modern hostels and elegant Georgian hotels

Lonely Planet Western Europe (Travel Guides)

Travel

Adams, Fiona

Chilcoat, Loretta

Acciano, Reuben

Europe

Lonely Planet

Misty mountains, verdant forests, spring wildflowers and fiery autumn foliage - the parks of the southern Appalachians reveal spectacular displays of nature around every corner. Hike the Appalachian Trail, swim crystal-clear lakes and enjoy live bluegrass music. Our handy guide helps you discover the best of Great Smoky and Shenandoah, plus the dramatic Blue Ridge Parkway. Play Outdoors - ride horses through leafy woods, raft down rushing rivers or hang glide over soaring peaks Experience History - visit a replica of a Cherokee village, tour the log cabins of early settlers and view demonstrations of traditional mountain crafts Bring The Kids - tips on the best sights and activities for families, plus child-friendly hotels and restaurants Explore Further - sample the fudge in Gatlinburg, ride rollercoasters in Dollywood and stroll the cosmopolitan boulevards of Asheville Sleep Tight - from shady campgrounds to historic inns and luxury resorts, top lodging choices for all budgets

Lonely Planet Great Smoky Mountains & Shenandoah National Parks

Lukas, David

Read, Michael

Canada

Grab your flip-flops, sunscreen and mouse ears, sunny Florida awaits. Idyllic beaches and palm trees border America’s subtropical paradise, where alligators, art deco, classic kitsch and theme parks create a subculture that surprises and delights. Our detailed guide goes beyond the usual to illuminate what’s great in the Sunshine State. Kick Back with the trip of your choice, be it poolside in Miami, fishing the Florida Keys, paddling the Everglades or chasing Mickey at Walt Disney World Have Fun at South Beach clubs, Sea World Orlando, Kennedy Space Center, Daytona International Speedway Lose The Crowds – in Amelia Island, Bahia Honda, Ocala National Park, Tampa-St Pete – our authors go where tourists don’t to reveal a timeless, untapped Florida Hit The Road – handy maps detail antebellum Tallahassee, Spanish-colonial St Augustine, festive Fort Lauderdale and fun, funky Key West

Lonely Planet Florida

Le Nevez, Catherine

Grant, Kim

Greenfield, Beth

United States

INTRODUCTION Miami is a gorgeous, gaudy city, resting on the edge of the Caribbean like a tropical paradise, at least climate-wise. The people on the beach are as tan and toned as they are on TV, and the weather rarely dips below balmy; there are lazy palm trees everywhere, and wide, golden beaches spacious enough to seem empty even on a sweltering Sunday in high season. And, for a place built on holidays and hype, Miami lives up to, and revels in, every cliché: sleek Art Deco hotels; pumping, hedonistic nightlife; cafés full of aspiring models – you’ll likely see all these things even during a brief stay. Miami’s not all beaches and beautiful people, though; what few visitors expect is the city’s diversity, exhibited in its glorious tropical gardens and excellent modern art museums, plus vibrant Cuban and Haitian immigrant communities. Founded little more than a century ago, Miami has grown up fast from its beginning as a humble trading post, first losing its backwater feel with the extension of Henry Flagler’s railroad in 1896. In the 1920s, local businessmen aggressively seized the chance to capitalize on the new vogue for vacations in the sun, and a hotel building boom in Miami Beach ensued, producing some of the greatest Art Deco masterpieces in the country. Aside from a brief period during World War II, Miami remained a prime vacation destination until the early 1960s, when the first wave of Cuban refugees arrived, fleeing a newly installed Fidel Castro and his communist regime. This set the stage for a further flood of immigrants from Cuba and other Latin American countries; indeed, more than half of Miami-Dade County’s current population was born overseas. Because of this, to many further north, Miami is seen as barely part of the US, a place that’s tropically lawless and suspiciously bilingual.Yet at the heart of the city is a glorious contradiction: to Venezuelans, Peruvians and other new Latin arrivals, it’s a quintessentially American town, ordered, safe and filled with opportunity. In some ways, both sides are right. In addition to dealing with its transformation into a multi-ethnic metropolis over the course of a few furious decades, Miami endured violent, headline-grabbing race riots, an alarming murder rate that was at one point the nation’s highest, and a role as a prominent port-of-entry for the drug trade. However, by the 1990s the situation was improving, thanks to a stronger local economy and a number of city revitalization projects. Miami’s makeover as a hip, hot city was cemented when South Beach was "discovered" by fashion photographers, bringing swarms of beautiful people, both models and visitors, in their wake. Some of that glamorous sheen has already, perhaps inevitably, worn off, but so have some of the more damaging parts of the city’s reputation – making for a constant and welcome defying of expectations for the casual visitor.

The Rough Guide to Miami

Rough Guides

INTRODUCTION The cut-rate package trips and photos of tanning flesh and Mickey Mouse that fill the pages of glossy holiday brochures ensure that everyone has an image of Florida – but seldom one that’s either accurate or complete. Pulling in nearly sixty million visitors each year to its beaches and theme parks, the aptly nicknamed "Sunshine State" is devoted to the tourist trade, yet it’s also among the least-understood parts of the US, with a history, character and diversity of landscape unmatched by any other region. Beyond the palm-fringed sands, hiking and canoeing trails wind through little-known forests and rivers, and the famed beaches themselves can vary wildly over a short distance – hordes of copper-toned revelers are often just a Frisbee’s throw from a deserted, pristine strand coveted by wildlife-watchers. Variations continue inland, where busy, modern cities are rarely more than a few miles away from steamy, primeval swamps. 
In many respects, Florida is still evolving. Socially and politically, it hasn’t stayed still since the earliest days of US settlement: stimulating growth has always been the paramount concern, and with an average of a thousand people a day moving to the booming state, it’s currently the fourth most populous place in the nation. The changing demographics have helped overturn the common notion that Florida is dominated by retirees (though, coincidentally, the state song is a venerable spiritual entitled "Old Folks at Home"), or is part of the conservative Deep South, even if elements certainly do remain. The new Floridians tend to be a younger breed, taking advantage of the economic development along the Highway 4 corridor in the center of the state – and Florida’s lack of a state income tax. Immigration from outside the country is also on the increase, with Spanish- and French-Creole-speaking enclaves providing a reminder of geographic and economic ties to Latin America and the Caribbean. These links have proven almost as influential in raising the state’s material wealth over the past decade as the arrival of huge domestic businesses, including sections of the film industry that have opted for central Florida in preference to Hollywood. 
Not all is rosy: in the past decade, Florida vigorously fought a reputation for violent crime against tourists; you’re highly unlikely to encounter any trouble, but the perception still lingers on a bit. The state also served as a major political battleground for the contested presidential election in 2000, rarely putting its best face forward as legal eagles and demonstrative protesters descended here en masse for the messy proceedings. A bit more behind the scenes, Florida is engaged in a struggle to provide enough houses, schools and roads for its growing population; levels of poverty in the rural areas can be severe; and in an increasingly multiethnic society, racial tensions frequently surface. Expanding towns without jeopardizing the environment is another hot issue; large amounts of land are under state or federal protection, and there are signs that the conservation lobby is gaining the upper hand. Nevertheless, uncontrolled development is posing serious ecological problems – not least to the Everglades.

The Rough Guide to Florida (5th Edition)

Sinclair, Mick

Gindin, Rona

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