100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime
Ride the world’s most storied rail routes—Canada’s Rupert Rocket, Argentina’s Old Patagonian Express, India’s Palace on Wheels—in this coffee-table book resplendent with National Geographic’s signature
photography. Each of Potter’s 100 entries provides distance, trip duration, and cost, rounded out by excursion suggestions and fun facts (“Restaurant Bollywood boasts glacier views and celebrates the more than 200 Bollywood films shot in the Swiss Alps since 1964”).
Comfort in the Wild
Travelers more inclined toward glamping than gorp-ing will luxuriate in this showcase of design-conscious nature resorts, treehouses, and expedition cruises in sometimes unexpected places. For instance, Hope Glen Farm in Cottage Grove, Minn., boasts a seven-room cottage built in the branches of a 150-year-old white burr oak, while the Nayara Tented Camp in Costa Rica offers canopied beds and private plunge pools in a lush jungle with views of the Arenal volcano.
Moon USA National Parks Hiking
Food and travel writer Frye outlines 100 hikes across 40 national parks in this thick paperback, encouraging readers to explore, protect, and cherish the wild places that define our national heritage. Chapters highlight top experiences (chase waterfalls on the Haleakalā’s Pipiwai Trail or watch dawn break from Bryce Canyon’s Rim Trail); list the best hikes for kids or wildlife watching; and offer a grid organizer that sorts hikes by distance, difficulty, and duration.
Vanishing Places
More inspirational than aspirational, this colorful pictorial focuses on fragile places and cultures that are at risk of disappearing, such as Bolivia’s salt flats, Cairo’s forgotten necropolis, and the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a somber reflection on war, climate change, and overtourism. Though many of the locations remain accessible, the author advises that, “a handful are best avoided for now... all the more reason not to look away.”
Wild Earth
Visit 170 of the globe’s national parks and protected areas with this large format hardcover, such as Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park, home to more than 90 waterfalls set amid vertiginous cliffs, and Brazil’s Chapada dos Veadeiros, habitat for the endangered pampas deer. Short text entries provide overviews of the remote locations, while vivid photography inspires readers to learn more.
