lonelyplanet.com

.../> For some exotic countries, lonelyplanet.com may come as an area of last resort, as there isn't much to be found about such places elsewhere on the internet. And as you would expect, it comes with good navigation which leads you directly to the desired country. There you will find the usual information on history, culture, main sights, environment, and transport. That is to be expected from any major travel guide on the market, be it on paper ...
...warnings.

Ironically, lonelyplanet.com on the very same website explicitly advises against travelling to the autonomous regions of Abchasia and South Ossetia. In the case of Tshinvali, this is not only ignorant and incoherent, but also dangerous.

To me this looks like none of their staff has ever been there. They have probably copied this from an old Soviet travel guide.

Their second and only other choice ... more

Well known for its travel guidebooks for almost every spot on earth, Lonely Planet also has a travel website. Like the paperbacks, the website once again tries to convey the insider image - and terrible fails to fulfill its promise.

For some exotic countries, lonelyplanet.com may come as an area of last resort, as there isn't much to be found about such places elsewhere on the internet. And as you would expect, it comes with good navigation which leads you directly to the desired country. There you will find the usual information on history, culture, main sights, environment, and transport. That is to be expected from any major travel guide on the market, be it on paper or online.

I won't get further into the functionality of the website, their is an opinion by JVL which explains that in detail (but fails to check on the validity of the content).

Lonely Planet has built its name by seeking to provide "insider information" and leading you "off the beaten tracks". In fact, I have experienced that it will put you right in the middle of the backpackers' track, beaten or not. Fair enough, I was new to their website when I first used it for my travel planning for Macedonia this winter, so I thought I might give at least their internet site a chance and test it against my own travel experiences.

The LP site offers one section on every country called "Off the Beaten Track" (as of here OBT), and I'm going to check just that. You might find this test selective, but in my opinion, OBT is the only reason to even consider Lonely Planet, anything else can be found in hundreds of other travel guides.

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Let's start with my homecountry, GERMANY, which of course I know best of all countries (including a few hundred OBT spots).

The website lists three OBT destinations: the city of Tübingen, the Frisian Islands, and the Harz Mountains.

1) Tübingen - right in the middle of the Heidelberg-Nürnberg-Rothenburg-Munich tourist trail travelled by a) 18 years old American students on their first overseas holiday doing "Europe in two weeks", and b) groups of Japanese pensioneers who view the world through the lens of a video camera. I guess they couldn't have got this one more wrong.

2) Frisian Islands - the LP advises to stay clear from the Jetset island of Sylt and to visit the islands of Amrum and Föhr instead. Perfectly fine this time.

3) Harz Mountains - these may be the least visited "mountains" (actually they are hills) in Germany, but also the dullest. Only frequented by pensioneers for spas and nature walks - not really the LP's target group.

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On to ITALY, a country that most of us will know more or less well from our own travels. So you may join me in laughing about the Lonely Planet's suggestions for "off the beaten track" destinations:

Sicily, Sardinia, Paestum, San Gimignano, Tremiti Islands, Cinque Terre - most of which are top of the list for cultural tourists and hence very frequented.

1) Sicily: there are still a lot of hidden spots on this island, but the LP won't lead you there either. Instead it recommends to visit Palermo, Monreale, Aetna & Stromboli vulcanos, Syracuse and Taormina. Sicily is a beautiful island, indeed maybe my favourite, and all of these places deserve a visit, BUT you have to expect loads of tourists stepping on your feet, at least at those places the LP has "discovered". The LP mentions that some of these places are touristic, so why have they put it on their list in the first place?

2) Sardinia: at least to us Germans, this is a most popular island, filled with holiday resorts, sailing schools and golf courses. Off the beaten track? Rubbish!

3) San Gimignano: probably every third German teacher in his/her mid-fourties has a holiday home within ten miles distance of this Tuscany town. Great job.

4) Paestum: THE destination for cultural tourists seeking Greek temples in their original condition. Full of souvenier shops and tourist snack bars.

5) Tremiti Islands & Cinque Terre: beautiful places and indeed not well known or frequented. But having it got completely wrong four times, this looks like a random shot.

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So how about a more "exotic" European country like MACEDONIA?

It's not too hard to recommend some OBT destinations here, because the whole country is in fact off the track. But with Bitola and Ohrid they have picked the second and third largest city respectively. And their third choice, Struga, is a dull place at the Albanian border which, if at all, stands out for alcohol and drug smuggling.

Once again, absolutely useless.

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Back to familiar territory then - TURKEY.

The Lonely Planet recommendations are: Galipola Peninsula, Troy, the Valley of the Fairy Chimneys, and Harran.

As for the first three places, Troy and the Chimneys Valley are on the agenda of every round tour of Turkey, and Galipola is a popular destination for daytours from Istanbul. But having come that far, this somehow doesn't surprise me anymore.

I am more surprised by them mentioning Harran. This place, 20 miles outside the city of Urfa at the Syrian border is indeed known by insiders only. But why of all places have they chosen Harran? Knowing this region like the back of my hand, there is a much better place to see 4000 years old Hethitian buildings only five miles outside Urfa, and just as exclusive. Had they really wanted to go out of their way and recommend something special in that area, they could have mentioned Hasankeyf, an equally old, but much more interesting cave town south of Diyarbakir, around 100 miles east of Urfa.

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Last try then for a country where I have lived myself for two years: GEORGIA, Transcaucasus, bordering to Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaidjan. Here some insider information would really come in quite handy for most visitors.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the town of Tshinvali ranking top of their list. This is the capitol of the autonomous region of South Ossetia and was in a state of civil war until five years ago. Even now, this place is the homebase of the independent militia and the alcohol mafia. It took me two years to get the connections to travel safely through this region. No government in the whole world can get you out of there if anything goes wrong. You may read my opinion on travel safety, where I have used this particular region as an example for assesing the accuracy of governments' travel warnings.

Ironically, lonelyplanet.com on the very same website explicitly advises against travelling to the autonomous regions of Abchasia and South Ossetia. In the case of Tshinvali, this is not only ignorant and incoherent, but also dangerous.

To me this looks like none of their staff has ever been there. They have probably copied this from an old Soviet travel guide.

Their second and only other choice is the cave monastery complex of Vardzia, but again, that appears on the itinerary of every round tour of Georgia.

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VERDICT:

The Lonely Planet team have no idea what they are talking about. Their "off the beaten track" destinations seem to have arrived from running the random function through the list of all places in each country. That may explain why they have a few random hits, while most of their tips are completely useless. Whilst in most cases their recommendations are guided by ignorance, in some cases it may even prove to be dangerous to follow the Lonely Planet's advice.

Out of a sentiment of generousity I rate them POOR rather than VERY POOR, because of the well structured website and the standard country profiles which are okay.

Copyright 2001 by Hansjörg Gebel, Witten, Germany

 

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