New travel books: 100, 300, 500 and 1000 ideas

New travel books: 100, 300, 500 and 1000 ideas

NEW YORK — Looking for inspiration for your next trip?

Five new travel books offer ideas in multiples of 100.

The 2010 edition of Travel + Leisure’s “100 Greatest Trips” shows the upscale magazine’s editors suggesting some surprisingly down-to-earth destinations, such as the Jersey Shore, Niagara Falls, and Milford, Pa., mixed in with more exotic locales like the Brazilian beach town of Trancoso, and Langkawi, a cluster of 99 islands off Malaysia’s northwest coast.

If the idea of voluntourism is appealing to you, check out Frommer’s “500 Places Where You Can Make A Difference.” Listings include an animal shelter in Vieques, Puerto Rico; orphanages in Bulgaria and Cambodia; and 10 places where you can learn a language while teaching English as a volunteer, including La Ceiba, Honduras, and Wuhu, China.

Also new from Frommer’s is “300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World,” from the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas, starting late September, to the rose festival held in Morocco’s Dades Valley mid to late May, when millions of rose petals are crushed to make rosewater and rose oil. Other phenomena and events include the flamingo migration March-June, in Botswana; the summer solstice at Stonehenge; Hemingway Days in Key West, Fla., in late July, and the Buenos Aires Tango Festival, held in August.

From Lonely Planet comes “1000 Ultimate Experiences,” organized into categories like “Top 10 places to go skinny-dipping” (including Formentera, Spain); “Dreamiest fairy-tale destinations” (Germany’s Black Forest), “Ultimate party cities” (bet you hadn’t heard the buzz about Baku, Azerbaijan), and “Essential experiences to make time stand still” (Petra, Jordan).

And from National Geographic comes “Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe,” including the Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand, held each fall; the oldest street market in Rome, Campo dei Fiori; the bourbon distilleries of Kentucky; and La Rioja, Spain, recommended for its fall wine harvest. The listings are divided into sections such as markets, seasonal items, street food and desserts, and the book also includes top 10 lists. The list of places that offer best dining with views of the water includes The Boathouse at Breach Inlet, Isle of Palms, S.C., and top old-fashioned candy stores includes Economy Candy on New York’s Lower East Side.