Travel Guides 2012

Lonely Planet hosts a weekly travel photography competition on our Flickr page. The themes can be anything from great hats you’ve seen on your travels to moments of adventure.
How it works: Each week we accept entries for a new challenge and vote on last week’s entries. You don’t need to enter a photo to vote (just be a member of the Flickr group), so come along and vote for your five favourites. The first-placed winner, selected by popular vote, gets a guidebook of their choice.
This week’s competition theme: Dance. Last entries accepted on Monday 17th July.
Previous winners:
Check out all the photos in the Hectic challenge

Check out all the photos in the Clothing challenge

Check out all the photos in the Exploring challenge

Check out all the photos in the Neon challenge

Check out all the photos in the Freedom challenge

Travel Guides 2012

Decoding Italy’s menu mysteries

 Decoding Italy’s menu mysteries

The search for common ground between food lovers and weight-watchers, bargain-seekers and luxury-lovers ends in the most unlikely place: Italy. The country has reached the end of the reign of culinary extremists like chef Elena Fabrizi, whose restaurant sign on Rome‘s Isola Tiberina commanded non solo primi (no first courses only) as mercilessly as any emperor’s edict at an ancient Roman bacchanal. Tourist menus may still try to convince novices that pasta, mains and dessert are essential to the Italian restaurant experience, but Italians are no longer buying the three-course mandate.

Italy’s modern meal plan

Never fear, Italy has not gone on a diet – che orrore! the horror! – only become a bit more practical over the past decade. In Italy’s urban centres, tighter budgets have made ordering ample first courses such as pasta or risotto a decadent yet sensible choice. Many modern Italian workplaces are following Milan‘s trend-setting example of reducing the traditional three-hour pausa (break) between noon and three to a more literal lunch hour (well… hour and a half). This abbreviated lunchtime is good for shopping, and bad for sobriety. Beware Milan’s stylish Quadrilatero d’Oro, where Franciacorta and espresso imbibed in rapid succession with a light pasta can induce a woozy, giddy state that make psychedelic Pucci-print halters seem like must-haves with Missoni zig-zag tuxedo pants.

New tour of historic sites in Thang Long-Hanoi

 New tour of historic sites in Thang Long-Hanoi

Domestic and foreign visitors will soon have the chance to learn more about Hanoi and its history by taking a “Thang Long-Hanoi city tour – a journey through history” specially designed to celebrate of the capital’s forthcoming millennium anniversary.

The tour will take visitors to destinations in Hanoi that have made a significant cultural, humanitarian, architectural or social contribution to the city during the country’s history.

Exploring the mysteries of Sicily

Sicily, the Mediterranean’s largest island, has a culture entirely of its own and harbours a sinister history. Lift the lid on Italy’s volcanic island with Lonely Planet Magazine’s guide.

Diverse Sicily: Palermo

Sicily’s indefinable qualities are apparent in the island’s food. A fantastic dish like pasta con le sarde – pasta with sardines and raisins – has its roots in the Arab invasion, with a sweet and sour taste that you will find nowhere else in Italy.
Sicily’s capital Palermo is a layer cake, each tier representing a different outside influence. Walking its streets is like travelling through time. The Cappella Palatina, or Palatine Chapel, is an extraordinary blend of Norman, Byzantine and Arab art, and a few streets away is the castle of La Zisa, built for a Norman king by Arab craftsmen. The post office is a huge, white, Neoclassical fascist temple, now a monument to Mussolini’s failed experiment to destroy the Mafia’s power and popularity. Veering off behind it in every direction is a honeycomb of tiny little streets – so narrow that it would be pointless trying to squeeze through in any vehicle larger than a three-wheeler – each with lines of washing hanging all along them.

Festival promotes culture, tourism

More than 10,000 tourists and locals gathered on Lang Co Beach in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on July 9 for the opening of the Lang Co Festival 2011.  The two-day event, which aims to feature the natural and cultural beauty of  Lang Co – Canh Duong and introduce its potential for tourism, is just one of the activities planned to prepare for the National Year 2012 which will be hosted by Thua Thien-Hue. Highlights of the event included beach football and volleyball, surfing, boat and coracle races and exhibits of miniature models of ships and aircraft. The event also aimed to review the contributions Lang Co had made to promoting tourism development in the province two years after it was recognised by Worldbays Club as one of the World's Most Beautiful Bays.  Lang Co Bay became the 30th member of the World's Most Beautiful Bays club (Worldbays Club) at a ceremony held at the club's fifth conference in Setubal , Portugal , from May 15-17. According to the club's General Secretary Bruno Borda, Lang Co was selected because it still maintained its natural beauty and was almost intact. Lang Co is Vietnam 's third bay, after Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh and Nha Trang Bay in the central province of Khanh Hoa, to join the Worldbays Club. Lying between the cities of Da Nang and Hue and in proximity to Hai Van pass, the Bach Ma Natural Reserve and an ancient fishing village in Thua Thien-Hue, Lang Co Bay presents a wonderful view of people living in harmony with nature. The bay is lined by a 13km long white sand beach and is filled with blue water. One of it's most beautiful features is the Lap An Lagoon, a brackish water lagoon covering 1,500ha which is rich in natural resources. Located on the Central Heritage Road, Lang Co is very close to several famous world heritage sites including the royal citadel of Hue, Hoi An Ancient Town and the My Son Cham Tower complex in Quang Nam province, and Phong Nha Cave in Quang Binh province.

Red River Festival in Yen Bai

 Red River Festival in Yen Bai

The first Red River Festival will be held from March 29 to 31, 2012 (from the eighth to tenth days of the third lunar month) at Dong Cuong Temple (Dong Cuong Commune, Van Yen District, Yen Bai Province) by the Tourism Promotion Information Center (the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Yen Bai Province) and the People's Committee of Van Yen District (Yen Bai Province).

The festival aims to develop the cultural values of the Red River in the spiritual life of the people. This activity is a part of the tourism program "Back to Roots" of three provinces of Phu Tho, Yen Bai, and Lao Cai.

As scheduled, the opening ceremony will take place in about 45 minutes with a unique art performance, including four parts: Dance of the Red River, Up waves of the Red River, Alluvial seasons of the Red River and Calls of the Red River.

Besides, there are many exciting activities of culture, arts, sports at the festival such as fair of trade – countryside market - gastronomy; exhibition with the theme of "Red River - past and present"; street exhibition; traditional making process of poonah paper; witchcraft transmission ceremony of the Dao ethnic people (Van Yen District); buffalo fighting festival and troop banquet ceremony of Tran Dynasty; boat racing, tours along the Red River; public arts festival and ethnic costumes show; professional performance arts with the popular opera play of "Brave General Ha Chuong"; presenting films, publishing books to introduce Yen Bai Tourism...

Currently, the Tourism Promotion Information Center of Yen Bai Province and the People's Committee of Van Yen District are promptly carrying out many activities to prepare for the festivals.

The Red River Culture (also known as the Red River Civilization) was formed thousands of years ago and associated with the development of spiritual and material life of the ancient Viet people. The Red River Civilization which represents both cultural identity of a community cohering on a common living area and close cultural exchange with the outside is a source of power to support the Vietnamese people overcome great challenges during over a thousand years of domination by Northern (Chinese) invaders (111 BC – 938 AD). Together with Muong Lo Culture, Chay River Culture, Red River Culture will contribute to promoting comprehensively advantages of Yen Bai tourism and the Red River Delta Region

Ben Tre ready for 2012 Coconut Festival

 Ben Tre ready for 2012 Coconut Festival

The 2012 Coconut Festival themed “Ben Tre on the road to integration and development” will take place in the Mekong Delta province between April 5 and 10, reported the organisers at a press conference on April 2.  This year’s festival will put on several attractive events including an exhibition of coconut products, a trade fair highlighting the high quality of Vietnamese goods, a street carnival celebrating the future of coconuts, a seminar on how to increase the value of coconut products and a ceremony to honour coconut farmers. It will give coconut farmers an opportunity to meet and exchange their experiences on scientific techniques and different ways of cultivation.  Coconut processing businesses will also be able to examine the range of equipment available first hand, so they can improve the quality of their products. The festival will also motivate growers to develop the industry and improve the living standards of farmers. The festival will be also a chance for Vietnamese provinces and other countries in the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) to showcase their brands, attract investment and open up new trading opportunities during global economic integration.