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Vivek Wagle

Latest from Lonely Planet

Vivek Wagle Lonely Planet Editor

  • 20 November 2008 4:03AM

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So, you've cherry-picked your favourites from the site. Now use our flash new Trip Planner to put together your own personal itinerary, complete with maps, reviews and notes. See it in action in our video demo.

Unbuttoned Switzerland

Conservative? Nah. Meet the ragged side of the tailored nation.

Montreux - Frank Zappa was playing at the Montreux casino in 1971 when it went up in flames, sending rolling smoke over Lake Geneva and inspiring Deep Purple to write Smoke on the Water.

Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich - Be willfully obscure with your order at this café/bar/gallery housed in the birthplace of the iconoclastic Dada art movement.

Commune Libre du Neubourg et Alentours, Neuchâtel - A free commune in a trio of Old Town streets - its somewhat clammy motto? 'Voir d'un œil sentir de l'autre' (look with one eye, feel with the other).

Hotel zum Wilden Mann, Lucerne - In 1650 it was an unlicensed pub - these days the Wild Man's combed his hair and is trading as a lush hotel.

Read up on Switzerland

Chicago - it's a frame-up!

If you want to see art in real-life action, go to Chicago. The culinary arts scene is thriving - even the hot dogs have gone gourmet. The Art Institute bulges with masterpieces. The city, famous for its gleaming, river-hugging architecture, is peppered with sculptures, fountains and shimmering video installations. Catch the Chicago Toy and Game Fair on Nov 23, and the State Street Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov 27.

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Hiking the Torres del Paine

It's coming up to prime time for hiking in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine - so break in your boots, tone up your calf muscles and start dreaming of those majestic granite pillars against a vivid sky.

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Shanghai

Shanghai was where China first met the West and it's still a frontier town, obsessed with the latest fads, fashions and technologies. Come here for French concession streetscapes, sleek Art Deco architecture, 19th-century shíkùmén buildings and skyscrapers forming with time-lapse speed. Catch it while you can.

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