Level 1-15: Bree
Each race has its own starting area, and this starting area should be fine for any character in this range. However, if speed of leveling is a concern of yours, and it likely should be, then pay the silver to travel to Bree. Quests in the Shire and Ered Luin tend to require a great deal of travel, while Bree's quests are tightly packed together. In fact, you'll be able to set up your character quite nicely for the next quest range as well.
Advice: If you go east of Bree to the Midgewater Marshes, head southeast until you reach The Forsaken Inn and grab the horse route here. If you go north of Bree to take care of the Tarkrip Orcs, head north to Trestlebridge and grab the horse route there.
Level 15-22: The Lone Lands
You can actually quest in this area until you reach roughly level 28, but so many of the quests here require fellowships and this guide is intended for solo leveling. You'll spend most of your time around the Forsaken Inn and Weathertop. If you get a quest to go visit Ost Garuth, take it, but wait until you reach 22 to go that way if you can. There are a few solo quests around Ost Garuth which you can do to fill out this gap. Make sure if you go to grab the horse route.
Around level 22, it becomes much more lucrative to quest in Trestlebridge. Fortunately, there's a quest in Ost Garuth which instantly ports you to Trestlebridge, so grab this quest only when you're ready to leave, and get out of there and don't look back.
Level 22-35: The North Downs
Welcome to where you will spend the largest part of your existence in LotRO. This zone is great for solo questing, which is good considering the fact that there are absolutely no other areas you can go between 28 and 32, and you probably won't want to spend any time doing more Lone Lands quests. And, since the next place you'll go is Evendim, lovingly named as Everswim by disgruntled LotRO players, you'll want to spend as much time in the North Downs as possible.
Some of your quests in Trestlebridge will take you north, and eventually you'll hit a small quest hub along the road on the west side of it. When you do, turn east down that road and as it curves north, you'll see a horse route. Grab it and head up the hill to the west for another quest hub. Between these two points, you'll have plenty to keep you busy for a while. If you happen to head east past the river for a quest, head straight east along the road until it seems like the road runs out, and continue heading east. You'll reach Esteldin, which is the hub of the Rangers and the largest questing hub available to you in a long while. Grab the horse travel point here just so you can have it. This place has almost everything (it'd be better if it had an Auction House, but I'll take what I can get) and it's one of the places that has many swift travel options. If you seem to run out of quests, head both north and south down the road just west of Esteldin. To the north is a small dwarven quest hub, and to the south is a small elven quest hub, both with many quests local to their areas. There is also a small quest hub east of Esteldin. Leave Esteldin by the east exit and hug the mountain range heading north. You'll head back west into the range for this quest hub, and it's well worth it.
Also, remember to pick up your horse as soon as you can. You'll be happy you did.
Level 35-42: Evendim and the Trollshaws
To get to Evendim, take the road west from Esteldin until you reach the end of the road, then head a little north but mostly west through the outer areas of Fornost. There's a slightly hidden road going straight out the westernmost edge of the map. If you keep following this road, you'll go into Evendim. Heading further west will take you to Tinnudir, south to Oatbarton, or north to Ost Forod. Oatbarton starts at level 32, Tinnudir around 35, and Ost Forod around 38, so you'll want to visit them in that order. If you can get to 35 without the help of Oatbarton, great - but if not, it's not a bad quest point. You can also get to Oatbarton by heading north from the Shire.
For speedy levelling, only do the quests in Tinnudir that involve travel eastward. Do not go across the lake. There are lots of quests and Tier-4 crafting items across the lake, but it takes so long to swim (thus the name Everswim) that you'll begin to ponder the meaning of life, and that's a bad thing when it comes to MMOs.
Once you're out of quests around Ost Forod, head to the Trollshaws by going first to Ost Guruth and heading east along the road. You'll find a few small quest groups along the road. The first horse travel point in the Trollshaws is Thorenhad (with the other being Rivendell), just north of the road in approximately the middle of the map. There's a few good quests around here, but it doesn't compare to...
Echad Candelleth. This amazing quest hub has a great armour set (it'll last you until you're level 47 at least). There are two ways to get here - the easiest as far as directions is to travel east to the river, then head south along the western edge of the river. Eventually, you'll come to a place where there's a blockage in the stream and a house on the right, and before the house another small river is emptying out here. Head up the north side of this river and you'll come to a well-marked trail heading up the cliff. When you reach the top of this trail, double back along the upper edge of the cliff - this path will be unmarked, just stay along the edge - and eventually you'll see some quest rings. There's the quest hub. There aren't a lot of quests here, but it can get you from 40 to 42, and give you some nice armour to boot.
Levels 42-50: Angmar, the Misty Mountains, and Forochel.
Now you have some options. The Misty Mountains is slightly lower in level if you want an easier time leveling, but it is heavily spaced out with no horse travel locations whatsoever. I tend to avoid it unless I'm farming something specific. Angmar and Forochel are, however, great places for quests. To get to Angmar, go to Esteldin, head out the east exit, and head north. You'll see two exits close together, take the eastern one. There will be a small quest hub along the road, take care of the solo quests here, and then continue on the road to Aughaire. Aughaire has a lot of armour sets and a lot of quests, including a quest with the chieftain that will involve you doing a ton of quests to earn his favor, for which you will be heavily rewarded.
Just as entertaining is Forochel. Forochel's content starts at level 44, but you can either do the quests at a slightly lower level or hit Aughaire first and then come here. To get here, go to Ost Forod and head northward. The first town you'll hit is Kauppa-kohta, with a horse travel point and many quests. Next is Pynti-peldot - getting here is a bit of a challenge. When you're done with Kauppa-kohta, head northwest out of the area. You'll go through some caverns, and eventually come out into an area with some signature mobs. Just ride through as fast as possible and keep going straight. You'll hit it soon enough.
Pynti-peldot has the same type of chieftain-favor quests that Aughaire has, but the rewards are slightly better. Additionally, reputation is a big deal in Forochel, which I'll get to in a bit.
Now you're in for a long ride. Head north and finally west, all the way around the large bay. You'll eventually reach the extremely major town of Sûri-kylä. This is where you'll turn in reputation items, and you need a reputation of at least Friend (for some faster travel options) and preferrably Ally. At the highest rep level, there are also some very neat armours here, but they're likely not worth taking the time to grind out that much reputation.
However, for the time being, there's only one quest you want to get here, and you'll want to get it regardless of whether or not you do Misty Mountains or Angmar instead. Come up the steps toward the big lodge and talk to Vamma. He'll offer the quest "The Frozen War." Take it, and head all the way back around the bay (don't try to cross the bay) to Pynti. Keep heading further west and you'll come to Zigilund. If you're doing quests in Forochel, you should do the solo quests near Zigilund before you do the ones in Suri. The big thing is completing "The Frozen War," which will open up a swift travel option between Suri and a small quest hub northwest of Zigilund called Kuru-leiri. Especially when you get to Book 13, you'll use this quest hub a lot.
