Gift Guide: Five great new travel books


Looking for a gift for your travel-loving friends? A beautiful or useful travel book will always be well-received. Here are a few of our favorite new titles this year:

FOR THE ROAD-TRIPPER:
New York Times, 36 Hours: 150 Weekends in the USA and Canada,
$39.95
Publisher TASCHEN pairs one of the newspaper’s most popular columns with a beautiful coffee table book about 150 different locations. Enjoy recommendations for 600 restaurants and 450 hotels and nearly 1,000 photos. All of the stories were updated for this volume by a Times travel editor, so the information is even current.

FOR THOSE WITH WANDERLUST:
Great Escapes around the World, Vol. II, $29.95
Enjoy inspiring getaways from California to Zanzibar in this round-up of the world’s most exceptional hotels and retreats.

FOR THE LUXE LOVER:
The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
, $250
Luxe publisher Assouline’s books are instant classics, beautifully bound and presented in such a way that they’ll be kept for years to come. Their latest travel title captures the beauty of the grand Istandbul bazaar in nearly 300 pages.

FOR THE CITY DWELLER:
New York Rooftop Gardens
, 59.95

Publisher teNeues offers up a number of great titles each year (including new ones on Kenya, India and Iconic New York) but we can’t help but love this hardback photo book featuring some of New York City’s most beautiful rooftop gardens.

FOR THE FOOD LOVER:
Lonely Planet: A Moveable Feast
, $14.99
Written by Gadling’s own features editor Don George, this award-winning book takes us on life-changing foodie adventures around the world.

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One for the Road: Globetrotter’s Logbook

Last time I mentioned the Globetrotter’s Logbook series, I focused on their newest guide, a niche book devoted to six Flemish cities. But now that I’ve had a chance to personally use their flagship product, Counties of the World, I wanted to be sure to pay special tribute to this unique mini-book, which might just be the perfect holiday gift for that special traveler in your life. The best part about giving (or receiving) one of there tiny travel gems is the smart and crafty packaging. I opened an airmail envelope (from Belgium, where this book is published) to reveal crisp brown parcel packaging, tied in natural cord with vintage stamps, postmarks and my name personally scripted in heavy ink. Unwrapping the classy packaging reveals a stylish moleskine-type book enclosed in its own little box, perfect for protecting it from the harsh elements of constant world-travel.

This precious little travel journal is a must-have for explorers. The bulk of the book contains quarter-page listings for every country of the world, complete with important stats and mini-flag pictures for each. There are several ways to keep track of which countries have been visited, as well as registers for tracking vaccinations and 100 flights. Look closely and you’ll find other treasures hidden within the pages of this slim logbook – facts, figures and inspiring quotes decorate the pages, and there are blank spots too, for scribbles about the details of very special journeys.