The most beautiful places on Earth
As Lonely Planet turns 40 this year, the publisher has picked the most magnificent sights across the globe to be included in a new book entitled Beautiful World, which contains more than 200 images and aims to inspire readers to see the world as they have never seen it before.
Rice terraces – Longsheng, China Terraced paddy fields wind up from the riverside to the mountaintop in a feat of farm engineering that allows the communities of Longsheng to harvest rice in a mountainous area
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Lantern festival – Chiang Mai, Thailand Yi Peng, Chiang Mai’s version of the Thai festival Loi Krathong, takes place during a full moon in November and sees many hundreds of lanterns launched into the night sky
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Lyth Valley in the Lake District – Cumbria, England The unspoilt Lyth Valley is tucked in a hidden corner of Cumbria, where trees are laden with fruit and rolling hills are the most magnificent green
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Li river – Guangxi Zhuang, China The Li river area is renowned for classic images of mossy-green jagged limestone peaks, bubbling streams, wallowing water buffalo and cormorant fishing
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The sardine run – Eastern Cape, South Africa During the annual migration of sardines, millions of the fish head north along the coast of South Africa, creating a feeding frenzy along the way. The migration occurs from May to July
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Rufous hummingbird – California, US Rufous hummingbirds – here seen feeding on nectar at Huntington Beach, California – are just 8cm long but the hyperactive birds migrate across North America, following the blooming of wild flowers
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The Dolomites – South Tyrol, Italy Millions of years ago the pale peaks and pinnacles of the Dolomites lay on the seabed; now they are among the world’s most distinctive mountainscapes
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Bryce Canyon national park – Utah, US The Wall Street Trail of Bryce Canyon has its own skyscrapers: ponderosa pines. Chasms in the rock are formed when water freezes and expands, creating alleys up to 60 metres deep
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Monument Valley Tribal Park – Arizona, Utah, US The sandstone spires of Monument Valley, part of the Colorado Plateau, are the result of millions of years of erosion. Iron oxide gives the rock its reddish tone
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The aurora borealis – Kiruna, Sweden When charged particles, which flow from the sun at 1.4m kph, hit the Earth’s magnetic field at the planet’s poles, they create curtains of light. Solar storms heighten the effect
(인용: The Guardian)