This is another book in a coffee table travel series. You can arm chair travel around the world and discover many new places. The real highlight of the book is the photographs. There is a little text. Enjoy the vacation

This book is filled with gorgeous photography of the titular great destinations from around the world, giving inspiration to travelers everywhere, both real and armchair versions. Each photo is accompanied by an informative caption, and the destinations are grouped by continent. A perfect way to spend an afternoon!

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I love all the books from this publisher and this one is no exception! The only downside is getting excited to travel while there is a travel ban for US residents. The color photography on every page draws you in and the descriptions are just enough to tell you the points for each destination. There are now new places added to my dream travel list. Share this with anyone with a travel bug or just enjoy armchair travel. Perfect for the coffee table! Free preview copy from Netgalley.

This is a coffee table book packed with stunning photographs of all the places most of us one day would like to see. It is split into five sections, North America, South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and finally Asia and the Pacific.

Each time you turn the page you are presented with a fantastic photograph and a brief description of a destination which jumps to the top of your must-visit list.

Claudia Martin has managed to create a perfect balance of nature and man-made structures which accentuate their surroundings. Photographs of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland sit comfortably alongside the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland as well as Las Lajas Sanctuary in Colombia on opposite pages to Cotopaxi in Ecuador.

Great Destinations of a Lifetime is helpfully split into five separate sections based on geographical location: North America; South America; Europe; Africa and the Middle East; and Asia and the Pacific and these sections are topped and tailed by a concise introduction and picture credits respectively. Each continent (section) is then introduced briefly by giving an overview of the type of geographic features that can be found there, including the type of plants and animals you are likely to encounter and both natural and man-made wonders that punctuate its landscapes. Also touched on is the first settlers to the area and an approximation of when they arrived.

To follow comes a short, pithy paragraph on each of the ’destinations’ accompanied, and superbly complemented, by stunning full-colour photographs with some running the size of the entire page. I must admit that the pictures really do bring each location to life and whet your appetite for travel or for inspiration for places to add to your bucket list. It's the perfect coffee table book or to get the imagination into gear as it provides a small sliver about a diverse range of places and this is the ideal starting point to see if any take your interest enough that you may wish to pick up a book on that specific location to learn more. Many thanks to Amber Books for an ARC.

What a gorgeous book ! Starting in Canada, this book takes us through each of the continents and highlites the natural wonders as well as man made ones !

The stunning photography is beautifully curated as we travel through the world with this book.I definitely need to travel more in South America after flipping through these pages .

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful book. The pictures were stunning and I now have a much longer list of places I need to travel to. I enjoyed the little side snippets of information; they offered up some very cool nuggets of information that I didn’t know.

This is a great book for travellers and I could go back and look at this over and over again. I really think that there’s always room for more. I’d love to see another book like this one with different locations.

Loved it

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Great Destinations of a lifetime is a stunning photography book featuring some of the worlds most amazing locations to travel to for a holiday of a lifetime or adventure.

This book is the second photography book by Claudia Martin I have read in this series and won't be the last.
Each photograph has a small piece of information about it and a page below telling you about the destination.
Truly stunning photography!

Great Destinations of a Lifetime is a beautifully constructed book, with short text pieces introducing large scale full colour photographs. It is a virtual round the world trip while we’re socially distanced, locked down and isolated, weathering the storm of a pandemic and preparing for a long winter. A total tonic, and a book I shall return to in coming months.
Great Destinations of a Lifetime takes you on a journey that gives new perspective to more familiar far flung destinations for the armchair traveller, as well as a whole host of new sites - from the Nazca Lines in Peru, the Marble Caves in Chile and Bora Bora in French Polynesia, to new views of Uluru and The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, bringing a different perspective to the ‘typical’ impressive view, making it feel closer with richer colours and glorious sense of wonder. For the places I haven’t been I want to see, and those I have, I want to return to.

Fantastic photography spanning across the globe. A great space-saving coffee table book. Makes me miss travel.

Great Destinations in vivid color experienced without leaving the comforts of my own home. It is well known that images never do justice to the real thing, but these images provide a very close second. Each picture provided a short description that served to enlighten and educate me regarding the areas captured. I love that it explores areas all over the world, especially some of the lesser known places. I love to travel, and this book provided an opportunity to see first-hand places that I know I will never be able to personally experience.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own and freely given.

What an absolutely stunning book this is. Every photograph could be framed and on display. Various destinations of the world are divided by continent. Each location has a brief description . Such a calming and beautiful book to have on display and dip into. In stressful times as we are currently in and when travel is so limited I felt like I had been on a relaxing holiday whilst leafing through this book. I will definitely be purchasing more copies of this book as a gift for friends and family. Probably the nicest example of its kind that I have come across.

**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Even before the 2020 pandemic, I didn't have the opportunity to do much travel. That being said, I absolutely love to do some armchair traveling!

The photographs are absolutely gorgeous and make you feel like you're really in these amazing locations. Nice captions alongside the photos give you information about these places.

Overall, this would make a great gift for anyone who loves to travel, anyone who loves photography, or even just an awesome book for your coffee table.

Great Destinations of a Lifetime is an absolutely gorgeous book! Spectacular photography accompanied by fascinating facts make this a book that's hard to put down. I found it to be absorbing, engaging and relaxing.

This would make a wonderful gift for yourself or others!

My thanks to NetGalley and Amber Books for allowing me to preview this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Feast your eyes on 180 stunning photographs from around the whole globe. A beautiful coffee table book to remind you how many places on this planet you have yet to visit! I hate the term 'bucket list' or 'tip of a lifetime'. If there are places you want to see, why limit yourself to one trip? But as this book shows you, there are a hell of a lot of amazing places to go and see.

I was pleased to see there are quite a few places I'd visited included in the book, and the accompanying photography was better than any of my holiday snaps. Most interesting for me were the natural made wonders, but also included are man-made wonders with snapshots of historical information about them.

I would recommend this book to all fans of photography, nature and travel.

Gorgeous and inspiring. Added so many destinations to my bucket list. This would make an amazing gift. Thank you to Claudia Martin, Amber Books, and Net Galley for the advance digital reader! #GreatDestinationsofaLifetime #NetGalley

This is a book full of pictures from around the world with little blurbs as to what each place is. One of the things I love about this book besides the beautiful pictures is that 95% of the photos are of less traveled places. They are not the normal shots for each of the countries that they are from. I think that is so important because it helps drive a sense of wonder and desire to travel. If you google France you will see pictures of Paris but here you get photos like one of lavender fields at an abbey. Or when you think Japan, you think Tokyo or Mt Fuji not a gorge or sand dunes (did you know Japan had sand dunes?).

This is a book for someone that looks travel photos or needs a new coffee table book, so not a big market. But they are amazing photos and unique photos.

Wow, great images from North America, South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. This book is a work of art with all the beauty around. Sometimes I wished there would have been a little more info, but still great!

Absolutely brilliant!!! I love photography and art, so when I saw this book I knew I had to request it. But I had no idea how amazing it was going to be. I’m going to be very honest, this book makes me want to travel to these places. Each picture is so carefully taken, well-planned and I think that’s the essence of this book. I am in love with the photography and the places! I highly recommend this book!

Images from North America, South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific over a little over 220 pages that will give you an idea of some of the beauty around the world that you haven’t seen, and another view on some that you may have seen.

Beginning with a gorgeous view of Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, Canada, high in the Rocky Mountains, the turquoise shade of the water reflecting the peaks of the mountains in the distance, the tall fir trees and the lights glowing in a building near the lake’s shore. Following is another Canadian site, in Alberta - Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, the colourful doors, and homes of St. John’s, an early 16th century fishing village in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. A stunning photograph taken in Hudson Bay, Canada of a Polar bear, with a background of snow – white on white on white. Spectacular. From there head south to California, where you’ll see the Pacific Highway winding through Big Sur, and a gorgeous photograph of El Matador Beach in Malibu, and then along to Joshua Tree National Park, and a sight I have never seen – Zabriskie Point, another stunning view – before heading to Yosemite Valley, and a view of Yosemite Falls. The beauty of the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area, as well as Lower Antelope Canyon in Arizona, and, of course, the Grand Canyon. Off to Wyoming, you’ll find Devil’s Tower, as well as the Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, which is quite a colourful sight. From Bryce Canyon, to the setting sun in Outer Banks of North Carolina, to Kauai, Hawaii and the gorgeous Na Pali Coast, some of these places I’ve seen in person, and these photographs more than do them justice.

The pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico are a reminder of days when things were built to last, and did. The colourful buildings of Guanajuato, Mexico stand out against the mountains behind them, while the waters of Tulum, Yucatan offer the brilliance of the sky and waters balanced by the vision of the Temple of the Wind God set above its shores. The Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica seems like a vision from a fairy tale, while the Fortuna Waterfall in Arenal Volcano National Park offers the only relief from an abundance of green.

One of the most breathtaking photographs is of Perito Morino Glacier in Argentina, 97 sq. miles of vision that combines the stark white to dark blues in the veins of frost covered ice against the turquoise waters near the shores of green grass and flame coloured leaves on the trees. The waterfalls, the movement of the water captured, the mist, the green all around. The beaches. The wildlife.

From beginning to end, from Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil, Marble Cave in Chile to the amazing designs found in the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni, the beauty of Bolivia, the Nazca Lines and Machu Pichu, and the colourful Vinicunca – also known as the Montaña de Siete Colores in Peru – which resembles a rainbow of seven colours shaped into a long range of mountains. In this section are also some photographs of Equador, including ones of the Galápagos Islands.

Not to be missed are the photographs of Europe, which include Blue Lagoon, the Vatnajökull Ice Cave, as well as the Aurora Borealis in Iceland. One of my favourite shots taken was of a small red holiday cottage on Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden. Stonehenge, Castell y Gwynt in northwest Wales, Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland, and a place I have visited, and loved – Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. In France, the Sénanque Abbey surrounded by the lavender grown by the monks is a vision of tranquility and beauty. The Cliffs of Étretat another portrait of the beauty found in nature. The beauty found in the Orcia Valley in Tuscany, Italy, the Black Forest in Germany and the Punkva Caverns of the Czech Republic. The majestic European Bison in Białowieża National Park, Poland. Lake Baikal in Russia is stunning in its simplicity and perspective, a lake that holds more water than all of the US lakes combined.

The Benxi Water Caves in China and the Takachiho Gorge in Japan are visions of places and times hard to imagine. The photograph of Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, shot above the clouds while travelers walk on the jagged, barren surface of the summit, breathtaking.

Then off to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Uluru before heading to Bora Bora, followed by Champagne Pool in Waiotapu, New Zealand a brief hop to Easter Island in Chile, and ending in Milford Sound in New Zealand.

As Louis Armstrong once sang, ”What a Wonderful World.”


Pub Date: 14 Oct 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Amber Books Ltd / Amber Books

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