Nokia, the largest handset manufacturer in the world, and Lonely Planet, the famous travel guidebook publisher, have just announced the availability of Lonely Planet for Nokia Maps 2.0.

From now on, Nokia users who love to travel can get Lonely Planet city guides for more than 100 destinations. The guides are intended to help travelers in finding popular sights and locations, plus the best-possible places to sleep, eat, shop or have fun.

"Lonely Planet is a well known brand amongst travelers and stands for adventure and editorial independence. We are very excited to offer their expert local recommendations and itineraries to our Nokia Maps consumers, which will allow Nokia to continue to innovate and enable compelling location aware experiences," declared Maximilian Schierstadt, head of media partnerships, Nokia context based services.

Stephen Palmer, Chief Executive Officer at Lonely Planet Publications, also said, "This is a genuinely transformational deal, which makes Lonely Planet content readily available regardless of time or place. It will help all those questions which travelers frequently have on the road such as 'What should I explore today' or 'where should I go for dinner tonight?' Together with Nokia we will help more travelers connect profoundly with their world, every day".

Although Nokia Maps and the Nokia Map Loader are offered for free, the Lonely Planet content is not, as it can be acquired only for the price of 7.99 Euros (almost 12 USD). According to Nokia, the content is available via "the Guides section, in the Extras menu" - hence, users can probably get it directly on their phones.

Nokia Maps 2.0 can be found on Nokia's website and can be downloaded either directly on supported handsets, or via your desktop PC, with Nokia Map Loader. Leveraging on maps from Navteq and TeleAtlas, Nokia Maps 2.0 currently covers more than 200 countries around the world.