Lonely Planet’s ‘The Perfect Day’

Most of us, when pressed, could describe our ideal day in a city we know well. It might begin with breakfast out and strolling along a favorite street. It might culminate with dinner and a trip to a favorite club to take in some live music. In between, we’d see something of the town, check out a particular neighborhood or two. That’s the concept behind Lonely Planet’s new book, The Perfect Day. It features short, perfect-day scenarios in 100 cities around the globe, from Kuala Lumpur to Philadelphia. Each city gets one page with several paragraphs and a photo. It’s a fun read. Of course, the perfect days described are perfect only for the people who wrote them, so part of the pleasure in flipping through the book is arguing with the selections for a given city.

I turned to the pages for some of my favorite cities—Los Angeles, Mexico City, San Francisco—and found myself smugly re-writing the itineraries.

Contributor Sara Benson’s perfect L.A. day includes the Griddle Cafe in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Getty Center. No way, I say. As much as I like the Getty, I wouldn’t include it or any any of those places on my perfect day. My day would have to include a hike up Mount Hollywood and a visit to Sanamluang, my favorite Thai cafe in Thai Town. At some point, I’d have to stop into Guelaguetza restaurant for some authentic Oaxacan mole. And a trip to Canter’s deli on Fairfax—I agree with Benson that Canter’s is a must—would come only after checking out Colin Hay or Jon Brion playing a gig across the street at Largo.

Perhaps the book is most useful when planning visits to cities we don’t know well. I can easily imagine perusing its pages for ideas before heading to Johannesburg or Bogotá.

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