Joel Balsam

Lonely Planet's France is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore Bordeaux's wineries, lose yourself in Paris, or reach new heights in the French Alps; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of France and begin your journey now!

I wrote the Northern Morocco and Mediterranean Coast chapter of this popular Lonely Planet guidebook.

Spent nearly three months research and writing the Armenia chapter of this Lonely Planet guidebook.

A longform feature about a man saving the world's largest viper and the potential in their venom to save human lives, rather than take them.

In ovens across Oaxaca, bakers are raising the dead.

What do you think of when you think of a cowboy? A gun-slinging John Wayne type? As my first story for The Guardian shows, there's a whole other group of cowboys that are left out of the mainstream narrative.

Innu First Nations, environmental activists and regional politicians hope
to use the Quebec river’s status to protect it from pollution and dams. This multimedia feature, front page story and video was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.

Shina Novalinga and her mother Caroline are reviving Inuit throat singing by sharing with a new generation on TikTok.

A medley of efforts, and one abbey’s monks, may bring back the forgotten fruit.

I spent the beginning of 2019 living in the Mexico City's Colonia Roma, and wrote a guide & story about the neighborhood for Travel + Leisure.

Quebec’s native chorus frogs are in danger as Montreal’s expanding suburbs continue to consume the wetlands where they thrive.

A travel story about how Quebec's Îles-de-la-Madeleine are coping with erosion caused by climate change.

I ventured deep into the Amazon to profile surfers (and a surfing dog) riding rare tidal bore waves.

For those who've grown accustomed to the bidet experience at home (count this writer among them), there's now a way to maintain that while on the road.