Last year, the authors at Rough Guide gave Bournemouth and the surrounding areas somewhat of a drubbing.

In their guide to Great Britain they said Bournemouth was little more than “the nucleus of a vast monotonous conurbation from Lymington to Poole.” It wasn’t a pretty picture.

Happily rival travel guide publisher, Lonely Planet, has a fairer impression of Bournemouth, as its latest tome on Great Britain shows.

Described as a “party-town”, the guide does not ignore the town’s famous, and sometimes infamous, nightlife.

“In Bournemouth, four worlds collide: old folks, families and corporate delegates meet club-loads of boozers out on a bender,” reads the guide.

“On weekend evenings parts of the town transform into a massive frenzy of stag and hen parties, full of angels with L-plates and blokes in frocks, blond wigs and slingbacks.”

However, in contrast to other travel guides, authors at Lonely Planet saw past the boozy revelry and painted a pretty picture of Bournemouth. “There’s also a much sunnier side to the town. In 2007 a survey revealed Bournemouth had the happiest residents in the UK – thanks partly to its glorious seven-mile sandy beach.

“Bournemouth’s expansive, sandy beach regularly clocks up seaside awards for its immense promenade backed by ornamental gardens.”

Aside from the beach, the Russell-Cotes gallery, pleasure gardens, surf school and artificial surf reef (when it’s finished) are given a nod by the authors as sights and activities worth making time for. The guide reckons Sixty Million Postcards and The Opera House provide the best in evening entertainment in Bournemouth, while Basilica, Indian Ocean and West Beach were the author’s choice when it came to dining.

Poole, Sandbanks, Lyndhurst, Lymington, Corfe Castle and the New Forest also get favourable write ups in the latest guide, which has no mention of Christchurch or Swanage, which have been popular holiday destinations for many generations.

“The authors include places that have the most attractions and draw cards,” says Heather Carswell, media executive at the Lonely Planet. “They can’t include everywhere so they have to be selective.”