Australia Lonely Planet guide - great as usual

Advantages: Lots of information, good photos
Disadvantages: Heavy!

...Lonely Planet is one of the top travel guides worldwide, particularly for the backpacker market, though nowadays their reviews and suggestions cater much more for the top end of the market too. The 13th edition of their guide to Australia was published in November 2005, and I think it's one of the largest and heaviest LP guides out there. This is necessary as Australia is a huge country, with a lot to offer the traveller. But at over 1000 pages, there are more specialised regional guides for those not doing a grand tour of the country, e.g. the East Coast Australia book. There are a few things that make me like the LP over other guides. One is the great photography in the books. This doesn't disappoint, from the stunning photo of the Aboriginal child on the front cover, to the first few pages of highlights, with "National Parks...

cathy_m80 11.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Australia (Lonely Planet Country Guide) - Paul Smitz

A Lonely Planet Guide to Australia and its Wonders

Advantages: Bulgiing with Useful Reviews, Maps, Prices, Accomodation, Attractions...
Disadvantages: Bulky and Heavy and Sometimes A Little Generous in its Reviews

.... The book also provides useful information about planning your trip before you even leave for Australia, such as immigration and visas (we went on a holiday working visa allowing us to stay in the country for one year and work up to three months with any one employer), health issues such as what immunisations to have before your travel and what diseases or symptoms you could encounter. There was also a breakdown and lists of deadly and venomous snakes and spiders for each state, giving detailing of what to look out for, what to do if you get bitten and national helpline numbers for emergencys. It also had a good range of maps from a national perspective and a local one. Lonley Planet also included estimated expenses of accomodation, travel, personal items and the exchange rate of currency from British Pounds, US Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars all...

becky_tredget 04.06.2007 (02.04.2007) · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Australia - Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet Peru - a thorough guide with good advice.

Advantages: user friendly, thorough information.
Disadvantages: Slightly pricier than expected.

...My husband and I purchased this book to assist us on our honeymoon. The relevant sections for our trip were easy to find and contained thorough information and advice for that area including history, local sites, accommodation, eating and drinking and dangers. Area maps highlighted recommended establishments which we found extremely useful when planning an evening out. The only small disadvantage was that some of the recommended establishments had changed hands and no longer existed. However, this was to be expected as this edition was published February 2007. The guide does have a website address on the back for latest updates. Overall, I would recommend this book as it gave us a great insight to Peru before we had even arrived and felt more organised for having it with us!...

katt456 02.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Peru (Lonely Planet Country Guide) - Sara Benson

The Lonely Planet London Guide

Advantages: Got exerything about the city.
Disadvantages: The maps at the end of the book are not detailed enough to be useful.

...Lonely Planet strikes again! Starting a university degree in London I wanted to make sure I got to see all the sites and had all the fun I possibly could while studying. As one does on such occasions, I bought the lonely planet guide. Tremendously useful while I was still a 'tourist' before my course started. Indispensable now that I'm living here! When one thinks of London certain key sites come to mind - the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the West End theaters, Leicester Square, Marble Arch, Trafalgar square, and maybe some of the bigger museums like the National Gallery. Sure, on your first visit to London these key attractions will keep you entertained. If that's your ideal holiday than don't worry, the Lonely Planet will tell you all about the sites you visit: its neighborhoods and architecture sections are very well written...

vetstudies.com 09.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet London - Lonely Planet

The not so Lonely Planet

Advantages: Wealth of information for travellers
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

...www.lonelyplanet.co.uk is an independent travel website full of relevant and very useful information. I encountered The Lonely Planet when buying some books as a present for a couple of friends going travelling around the world. +++++++++ What is the site about ? ++++++++++ The Lonely Planet began in the 70s and was founded by Tony and Maureen Wheeler. The Lonely Planet today has not changed much. All articles, reviews and guides are written by authors that have ?been there, done it and got the tee-shirt? and the site does not have any ads of any kind apart from its own shop, they boast that their authors do not accept payments or favours for positive reviews and I would tend to believe that. Travels information at his best. The site claims to be the World Best Travelling sites providing insight and advice, well I cannot agree...

FrenchCancan 02.01.2004 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Travel Guides - Lonely Planet

LONELY PLANET GUIDE. ESSENTIAL READING

Advantages: Facts about everything you want to know, easy to carry, cheaper than rough guide
Disadvantages: need to ensure up to date version

...We visited Amsterdam not too long ago, and I get to do the planning of trips- always the best part for me, so I love it. Anticipation is a great part of the holiday, in my opinion! Went out and looked at the guide books and travellers companion books before I bought one- I think it's no good having one that you won't read. WHY THE LONELY PLANET? The books are written with the reader in mind and the people who write them have actually been to the places they write about. In the Amsterdam case, one otf the authors lived in Amsterdam. People who visit places are encouraged to write in and the authors include recommendations which you might or might not want to take up. What they don't do sometimes is put things in that might encourage an influx of people to a place- this might dameage the environment or offend the locals. So they...

ginger59 28.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Amsterdam - Lonely Planet

Lonely Guide or Rough Planet

Advantages: Detailed, informative, great website
Disadvantages: Go out of date fast

...... which to choose? Pretty much every backpacker I know has faced this dilemma and generally, once they have made their choice, they stick with it. This may just be because they don't want to admit they wasted their money on something crap, but it is striking how the choice between Lonely Planet and Rough Guides divides travellers. At this point, I should nail my colours to the mast and say that I'm an RG girl myself. For a while there, I flirted briefly with Lonely Planet and even ventured into unknown guidebook territory with one unfamiliar Indonesia guide that I thought had a really nice cover, but again and again I realise that the RG is my true love. In an ideal world, of course, I would take both - this may just be because as a journalist and historian, I am always loth to trust just one source on anything, but that's just me...

ImogenW 22.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of General: Rough Guide - The Rough Guide

Lonely Planet-Cuba

Advantages: info on history, culture
Disadvantages: inaccurate directions,casa info

...In 2006 I spent some time traveling around Cuba, it was always a dream destination of mine. I was accompanied by my sister and as two girls alone it soon became clear we were not going to have an easy time. The Lonely planet was our only source of information (since there is very little access to the internet in many places). It was a disappointment to find ourselves arriving in a city in the evening, looking for the "casas"(you stay in family homes rather than hotels)to find the map was completely wrong, and the casas listed didn't even exist anymore. As a last resort we attempted to find the only hotel listed in the book(which would have used a weeks worth of money from our budget) only to find it had closed down 5 years ago! It was not an enjoyable experience. I think it is time for them to update the book. Although the guide...

melanderson80 03.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Cuba - Lonely Planet

lonely planet malaysia,singapore and brunei

Advantages: accurate
Disadvantages: carrying it about everywhere!

...This book was with me on my 6months travels round south east asia recently.It was extremely helpful and accurate,unlike other lonely planets I have read which has lead me to all sorts of places. The content not only covers the main sightseeing spots but gives you hidden extras that are definitely worth checking out.The accommodation sections are sometimes questionable and it is worth checking these out before you book anything in advance but overall I relied upon this book and it led me to some of the best experiences of my life,in particular the hidden beautiful Malaysian islands on the East coast.Having taken my time to explore the different countries,the itineraries for shorter trips at the start of each chapter are definitely worth considering,they give a good guide to the main spots worth seeing if your time is limited.The overview...

melanderson80 25.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (Lonely Planet Country Guide) - Simon Richmond

More inspiration from Lonely Planet

Advantages: Great for ideas, choosing best time of year to travel
Disadvantages: Limited information, some of the dates may be slightly inaccurate

...This travel book from the Lonely Planet team was published about 2 years ago now, and it's a book I've tended to dip into for inspiration intermittently. The format is a week by week guide of travel suggestions throughout the year, a kind of "where to go when" book. From this point of view, it's great for ideas - if you're thinking of taking a week or two in March, you can flick through and see some of the travel experiences best done at that time of year. It could also be used to look up the best time to go somewhere, but I think if you had a specific goal in mind, using a regional travel guide would give you much more information. The book is very well-illustrated - nearly every suggestion has an image to go with it. There are usually 2 double pages per week, occasionally with a few extra ideas written at the bottom. Every quarter...

cathy_m80 23.05.2008 (19.05.2008) · Read review
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Review of A Year of Adventures (Lonely Planet General Reference) - Andrew Bain