Travel guide books

Pinkchick03

Anyone have any opinions about Travel Guide books, which ones are good etc. I was going to buy the "Lonely Planet", but are there any other better ones? I'm going to Australia, New Zealand and more...


Cheers, any advice or opinions appreciated

masterK

Probably best to go into a bookshop and have a browse. Depending on destination I find some better than others. Some have large sections on hotels which I never need as I want the guide book for when I'm there no before booking.

DubLegs

I find the DK ones good - though i only ever used them for city breaks! Not sure about such a long haul destination.

Oracle

My tip is check your local library first, they usually have a selection of guide books for various destinations you can borrow.

watna

I've always found the Lonely planet ones the best. I'm heading off in three months and bought a NZ and Makaysia/singapore one. The info ahs been great for planning trips. I'll know soon enough how accurate the details actually are.

Was away over the weekend and had a Lonely planet guide book too. Info was accurate enough (our version was 3/4 years out of date) and helpful.

green123

id say forget about buying travel guides, just use the internet
all the same and more info is available free

jackbhoy

green123 wrote: »

id say forget about buying travel guides, just use the internet
all the same and more info is available free

I agree most of them are full of out of date info. If you want to see how good a series is have a look and the dublin/ireland edition, most of them I've seen are full of cheesy stereotypes that are years out of date, and the more I travel the more I think this is true of most destinations they cover, LP in particular.

Meathlass

Pinkchick03 wrote: »

Anyone have any opinions about Travel Guide books, which ones are good etc. I was going to buy the "Lonely Planet", but are there any other better ones? I'm going to Australia, New Zealand and more...


Cheers, any advice or opinions appreciated

Depends on holiday, if you're backpacking and need to book accomodation and transport on a day to day basis then Lonely Planet or Rough Guide is the best bet.

If you're going on a short holiday then small city guides with little accomodation info are best as you've probably booked this already. Sounds like you're doing the RTW trip so i'd recommend getting a lonely planet for the first country you're going to and then when you're there you can exchange it in the hostel book exchanges for the next country or even buy it second hand if needs be. Check out the thorntree forum on www.lonelyplanet.com for up to date info.

Pinkchick03

Cheers everyone thanks for your advice.

I can't check out my local library as I'm in Japan at the moment But cheers for the advice.

I bought a LP for Australia and another good one for SE Asia - after that I'll see how I get on

cailinoBAC

No good, for the OP, but for city guides in Eastern (and some of Western) Europe, I always recommend www.inyourpocket.com. The website is great, but you can usually pick up a guide in the city to carry around, and depending on the city, they're often updated every two months.

mickoneill30

DubLegs wrote: »

I find the DK ones good - though i only ever used them for city breaks! Not sure about such a long haul destination.

I second DK books. I wouldn't leave Ireland without them.

TestTransmission

Would definitely recommend LP,served me well in Oz and NZ.
Using the net when trying to find accomadation over there is hard as a lot of the info is out of date and u cud be spending alot of ur time driving/or in the bus.
Best thing,u can flog it when u finish ur travels,they;re in big demand as i remember,as they were quite expensive over there