San Juan, Puerto Rico on Lonely Planet where to go 2018 list

Damaged homes are seen in La Perla community in Old San Juan after Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. (Carlos Giusti/AP)

Lonely Planet has put San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its list of best cities to visit in 2018.

The list was compiled before Hurricane Maria hit. A fourth of island residents are still without potable running water, 80 per cent lack electricity and only 10 per cent of the island's 5,000 miles of roads open.

Bailey Freeman, a Lonely Planet editor, says the publisher believes San Juan "will be back on its feet for travellers in 2018."

San Juan is No. 8 on the list. Seville, Spain, is No. 1, followed by Detroit; Canberra, Australia; Hamburg, Germany; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Antwerp, Belgium; and Matera, Italy. Guanajuato, Mexico, and Oslo are last.

Lonely Planet's top 10 countries for 2018 are Chile, South Korea, Portugal, Djibouti, New Zealand, Malta, Georgia, Mauritius, China and South Africa.