when away from home, which guidebooks do you trust?
While I usually post about cooking escapades in my well-stocked New York kitchen, I had another topic I wanted to bring to light today instead. I just returned from a most wonderful 10-day vacation in Costa Rica. It was adventurous and romantic and exciting and planned almost entirely by the folks at Lonely Planet . Having decided on Costa Rica as our vacation destination many months ago, we picked up the latest Lonely Planet to do some research before our trip. Overall, the trusted guide-book steered us well BUT in the case of one particular Costa Rica destination, our guide book fell short. In a description for a hotel up in the mountains of the beautiful Cloud Forest, Lonely Planet describes the lodging as “off the beaten path.” This may be the understatement of the century. Driving straight up a mountain on a dirt “road” that has potholes the size of my living room and nary a sign in sight was not what we had in mind as we headed “off the beaten path” to Vista Verde lodge. At one point the road dropped off so steeply we had to get out of the car with a flashlight to make sure we weren’t driving ourselves off a cliff! In our opinion, “take a drive off the beaten path” should be changed to “hold on tight and hope for the best.”
So, Shelterrific readers, I must ask you. Who do you trust when it comes to planning a vacation to a new destination? Should we have talked to a travel agent? Bought a different travel guide? I’d love to hear how you manage your vacation planning.–Erica P.
In Lonely Planet’s defense… we took a trip to Costa Rica a few years ago and took the bus on the highway between Quepos and Dominical. The highway hardly qualified as a road. It wasn’t paved and it had potholes bigger than the bus. If that’s the highway, it’s hard to imagine what off the beaten path is.
Generally I use Lonely Planet and then double-check the places that I plan to go against reviews online. There are good sites, like igougo, that have lots of user reviews. You can also usually find travel journals in blogs and lots of pictures on Flickr.
I usually buy a guidebook or two for trips, but when the time comes to make lodging reservations, TripAdvisor has never steered me wrong. People post photos, honest comments, and I’ve found that it lets you get a real feel for the place, and what type of traveler would be happy staying there (budget, family, honeymooner, etc) It can also be really helpful in finding neat, smaller places to stay. (Of course, like any other review site, I tend to ignore both the highest and the lowest review!)
i just got back from a trip to india, and we used lonely planet. mostly, it was accurate. however, the section on “health” was lacking a lot. there was little info on malaria. and it suggests bringing zithromax as an antibiotic in case of delhi belly. we did, and only got worse. later a doctor told us zithromax is not good for treating intestinal infections at all. we really lost a few good days of our trip to that mistake. we used let’s go when we traveled to mexico, and i thought their health section was fantastic — right down to how to make your own rehydration drinks (add salt to sodas) and what you should eat (plain tortillas) when you are feeling sick. i also prefer the tone of let’s go books to lonely planet. sometimes lonely planet is a little too condescending and anti-american for my taste.
in general, i use the online forum thorntree at lonelyplanet.com and reviews on tripadvisor.com. the thorn tree is a wealth of information, and can really help you figure out what you are in for. i always use it to help plan my itinerary. for hotels, i rely on tripadvisor. it’s usually very accurate, but in india we were really disappointed in a few places that had rave reviews on tripadvisor. later we found out they were probably bogus reviews, but you have to read really carefully in order to catch fake reviews.
rick steves! his europe centric books are exceptional and unbeatable. my parents and us have collected at least 10-15 books over the past 8 years. amazing writing, wonderful places, and exceptional tours.
for booking hotels, him, or whatever website caters to that area. we used http://www.venere.com/ for our italy trip last year.
new zealand has a hostels chain review card that works well. in australia we had a lonely planet guide, which we didn’t really use and just aimed for parks and major things as the internet has shown. we had a campervan, so we parked anywhere that had public rest stops or looked for a campervan park.
all in all, lonely planet has been quite lacking… especially compared to rick steves.
There’s no denying Rick Steves’ expertise in Europe. But in general, I heart Lonely Planet. Of course, less developed and up-and-coming places are hardest to keep accurate in a published book, so I definitely agree with Jen’s advice to check it against web information, which is able to be sooo much more timely. Finding a forum with people you seem to click with, where you can ask specific questions, is invaluable. I’ve used & liked http://www.travellerspoint.com/.
For bigger decisions, like hotels, I definitely try to cross check guide books with user generated reviews online. They are usually pretty accurate. I am also a fan of a flickr search to see what real tourist photos of a place look like. Hotel websites can be so misleading.
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Years ago, a friend of mine told me a story about when he was a college kid backpacking in Europe. (Literally, this was YEARS ago–he was in college in the ’80s, as was I). No matter where they went, as soon as they pulled out the Rick Steves book or mentioned his name, everyone would say, “Oh, Rick Steves!” and smile and be all welcoming. The locals LOVED RIck Steves. This was far before his PBS show, and I believe that his goal of finding the authentic nature of each place he visited was much loved and appreciated by the locals. That would still be my guess, so that would be my recommendation as well.
Sorry to here about your terrifying experience. The Lonely Planet Guides are the best, They are written for people who like to get off the beaten track, are probably carrying their stuff in a backpack and may not have a whole lotta cash. They do a fabulous job of pointing out all the touristy stuff and not so touristy attractions. I have never felt the need to check out any other guide books. The books are not updated yearly so some info, on hotels/restaurants for instance, may be no longer useful. They do have a great website forum where you can interact with people who have visited your destination.