Busan in South Korea tops Lonely Planet Best in Asia 2018 list; Sichuan, Ho Chi Minh City, Chiang Mai also in top 10
Hot springs, hikes to Buddhist temples, seafood feasts, and its East Asia’s Culture City for 2018 – Busan has the lot. New museums and national parks help other places make guidebook brand’s 10 best in Asia list
“An eclectic offering of activities to suit all travellers” is how Lonely Planet describes the port city of Busan in South Korea, which it has declared the best place to visit in Asia in 2018.
Compiled by its in-house Asia experts, the guidebook brand’s Best in Asia list puts Busan in first place ahead of Uzbekistan and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in a list of 10 locations.
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Busan’s status as East Asia’s Culture City for 2018 is likely to have helped it make first place, with the writers from the travel guidebook publisher describing it as “a stunning confluence of scenery, culture and cuisine”.
“Asia is such a vast and diverse continent for anyone dreaming of an escape,” said Chris Zeiher, Lonely Planet’s Asia-Pacific spokesman.
This is the third annual Best in Asia list published by Lonely Planet. It’s a list that focuses on places that it considers particularly good to visit now and over the next 12 months, and which have something fresh to offer for the year ahead, Lonely Planet told the Post.
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Two years ago a new bullet train linking Tokyo and Hakodate helped Hokkaido, Japan top the list, while Gansu in China was crowned in 2017 thanks in part to the upgrading of the Mogao Grottoes Buddhist art site.