Travel

Discover Laos with the most incisive and entertaining guidebook on the market. Rough Guides' expert authors have done all the hard (read more)

Discover Laos with the most incisive and entertaining guidebook on the market. Rough Guides' expert authors have done all the hard work for you: seeking out the best guesthouses, sampling sizzling street food and trekking to remote hill villages, then writing it all up with our trademark blend of humour, insight and practical advice. Whether you plan to lounge on laidback islands in the Mekong river, explore ancient Khmer temples or tour the Bolaven Plateau's coffee plantations, this new edition of The Rough Guide to Laos will show you ideal places to sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way, with options to suit every budget.
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Rough Guide to Nepal is the most passionate and knowledgeable guide to this inspiring country. Discover Nepal's highlights with stunning (read more)

Rough Guide to Nepal is the most passionate and knowledgeable guide to this inspiring country. Discover Nepal's highlights with stunning photography, itineraries and colour-coded maps, and detailed, up-to-date descriptions of the country's best restaurants, lodges, shops and hotels, for all budgets. There's solid practical advice on what to see and do, from rooftop bars in Kathmandu to meditation retreats in Boudha, and from riverside adventure resorts on the Bhote Koshi to tiger-spotting safaris in Chitwan and Bardia national parks.

All the finest Himalayan treks are covered in detail, from the Annapurna Sanctuary and Everest Base Camp treks to the less-trodden trails of the Upper Mustang. Dedicated chapters are devoted to mountain biking and whitewater rafting, and there is unrivalled detail on Buddhism, Hinduism and the many ethnic groups that make Nepal a unique destination. (hide)

The Rough Guide to Turkey is a must for all discerning travellers heading to this fascinating country that straddles Europe and Asia. (read more)

The Rough Guide to Turkey is a must for all discerning travellers heading to this fascinating country that straddles Europe and Asia. This is the most comprehensive and informed travel guide on the market, offering insightful coverage taking readers from the stunning trails of the Lycian Way on the Turquoise coast to the iconic dome of Aya Sofia, and from legendary sites such as Troy and Ephesus to the fairytale landscapes of Cappadocia. Packed with practical advice on everything from how to buy the finest kilims (rugs) to details on catching dolmuses, The Rough Guide to Turkey has all you need to find the best places to stay and eat, with trusted reviews you can rely on and options to suit all budgets.

Complete with stunning photography, itineraries to help plan your trip and detailed maps to navigate your way through even the most maze-like towns, it's easy to see why The Rough Guide to Turkey is such an invaluable addition to your suitcase. (hide)

I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitchhike round the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge, (read more)

I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitchhike round the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge, within one calendar month'. A foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet led to Tony Hawks having one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty travelling-companion-cum-domestic-appliance, he found himself in the midst of a remarkable, inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure.

In their month of madness, Tony and his fridge surfed together; entered a batchelor festival; and one of them had sex without the other knowing. The fridge got christened, and they even met the poorest king on Earth. An absurd story of an extraordinary adventure, Round Ireland with a Fridge follows the fearless pair as they battle towards Dublin and a breathtaking finale that is moving, uplifting, and a fitting conclusion to the whole ridiculous affair. (hide)

'During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed...I (read more)

'During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed...I think all of our lives have been terribly shaped by what went on before us.' Twenty-five years after leaving his native Sri Lanka for the cool winters of Ontario, a chaotic dream of tropical heat and barking dogs pushes Michael Ondaatje to travel back home and revisit a childhood and a family he never fully understood. Along with his siblings and children, Ondaatje gathers rumours, anecdotes, poems, records and memories to piece together this fragmented portrayal of his family's past, his father's destructive alcoholism and the colourful stories and secrets of ancestors both disgraced and adored throughout centuries of Sri Lankan society. In an exotic, evocative portrait of the heat, wildlife, sounds and silences of the Sri Lankan landscape, Ondaatje combines vivid recreations of a privileged, eccentric older generation with a deeply personal reconciliatory journey in which he explores his own ghosts, and how his family's extraordinary history continues to influence his life. (hide)

Fully revised and updated, this is the only book with detailed information and maps on every Scottish island. With the author's own (read more)

Fully revised and updated, this is the only book with detailed information and maps on every Scottish island. With the author's own paintings liberally illustrating it, this beautiful guide will take you everywhere, whether by armchair or yacht. From the abandoned crofts of Mingulay and the standing stones of Orkney to the white beaches of Colonsay and the spectacular Cuillins of Skye, this is the first complete gazetteer to cover all of Scotland's many hundreds of islands, including those which are uninhabited and those which are notoriously difficult to reach.

Packed with information on access, anchorages, points of historical or natural interest and things to do and see, this fascinating compendium provides indispensable information for touring, for browsing, for reference, and for all of those travellers who wish to experience some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. No other book begins to emulate the range and depth of the information contained in The Scottish Islands. Illustrated with full-colour illustrations and relief maps of all the main islands, this is both an impressive work of reference and a fascinating personal view of Scotland's distant outposts. (hide)

Travelling along the British coastline, Sea Charts of the British Isles showcases a beautiful collection of charts containing a wealth (read more)

Travelling along the British coastline, Sea Charts of the British Isles showcases a beautiful collection of charts containing a wealth of information about Britain's maritime history and the story of charting and surveying itself. The great names in British chart-making are all included, such as Captain Greenvile Collins, Professor Murdoch Mackenzie and his nephew of the same name, Graeme Spence and William Bligh who between them created the first structured attempts to survey and chart particular areas of the coast of mainland Britain as well as the more remote islands. (hide)

Three years after his return from the Alaskan wilderness, Guy Grieve was living on the Isle of Mull in Scotland with his wife Juliet (read more)

Three years after his return from the Alaskan wilderness, Guy Grieve was living on the Isle of Mull in Scotland with his wife Juliet and their two young sons. Sick of the weather, perennial colds and their increasingly routine lifestyle, they'd all been getting restless. Finally, Guy and Juliet broke in spectacular style - they re-mortgaged their house and bought a yacht.

Her name was Forever. The plan? To pick up Forever from her mooring in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and sail around the West Indies before crossing the Atlantic back to Scotland. This was despite the fact that Guy, skipper of the expedition, had almost no sailing experience.

Travelling around the lush tropical islands of the Caribbean and up the waterways of America, the family had countless sublime moments as they discovered the freedoms of sailing - anchoring in deserted bays, night passages under star-studded skies, and entering New York by water, greeted by the Statue of Liberty. But there were also testing times as they grappled with seasickness and bad weather, coping with young children at sea and learning to run a large, complex boat. Far from being the idyllic escape they'd envisaged, the journey forced Guy and Juliet to draw on reserves of courage and endurance they never knew they had. (hide)

Have lunch with the inmates of a high security prison, stroll through a sex shop into a Mexican restaurant, sing your heart out in (read more)

Have lunch with the inmates of a high security prison, stroll through a sex shop into a Mexican restaurant, sing your heart out in a clandestine Korean karaoke club, tap your toes in a gypsy swing club, get pickled in a marooned Irish pub, join the sixties club that's still swinging, drink cappuccinos made by murderous bikers, play petanque in a central London cellar, tap an oak-tree trunk for whisky... (hide)

Think back to when you first flew. When you first left the Earth, and travelled high and fast above its turning arc. When you looked (read more)

Think back to when you first flew.

When you first left the Earth, and travelled high and fast above its turning arc. When you looked down on a new world, captured simply and perfectly through a window fringed with ice. When you descended towards a city, and arrived from the sky as effortlessly as daybreak.

Published on 07/07/2016 (hide)