Do you use the Lonely Planet guide books for travel information? How accurate, good, useful, interesting etc is the information in them? Are they worth the cost? What other sources of information do you use, when travelling or doing planning a trip?
Hi Mell, I just bought a copy of SE Asia on a Shoestring by Lonely Planet - and yes, it was a wise investment 😊
Thanks for the advice! 😊
Reply to this You are Welcome 😊
I still have an old editon from around 10 years ago, which I still use. I suppose, not much changes from one edition to the next.
Reply to this The accommodation recommendations change, and perhaps the bar/restaurant info. However, we find that's the least useful information. What you want is information about the place, what to see, how to do border crossings, how to get from A - B. That doesn't change much (although check up on border info and visa info on the net for up to date info).
By the time the book is published the accommodation information is at least 1 year out of date. Sometimes they aren't as good as they once were. We had some awful recommendations from LP in Malaysia before we stopped using it.
And then every backpacker in the area flocks to the guesthouses in the Lonely Planet, so they are always full. There are usually many lovely new places around that opened after the guide was published, or for whatever reason didn't get into the guide. If you think how many guesthouses there are and how many are mentioned for each town....There are only so many pages in the guidebook.
We've used www.travelfish.org a lot for accommodation advice, as it's relatively up to date and mentions many guesthouses in the area. In Thailand, outside Bangkok, as well as in Cambodia, we have also taken advice from touts that meet you at the bus/train station. Ok, they often get commission, but they know which guesthouses are open, they ask you for your budget first, and if you don't like where they take you to, you don't stay there. We've found some nice places from taking advice from touts at bus stations.
It's abit more dodgy in Vietnam though. I wouldn't recommend you do that here.
Reply to this Good point about the guesthouses. Did not occur to me :P
And I agree about looking up internet for more updated information. The book is just more to as a guideline, basic information and that sort of things.
I learning a new thing everyday - I am pretty sure I am up to my next trip 😊
Reply to this The book is just more to as a guideline, basic information and that sort of things.
Yeah, that is exactly what I use it for too. It gives me a sort of general overview about what to expect. It does not much matter if the prices have gone up a bit. Unless they change extremely that is, where things that cost 3 Euros now cost 30 or something. But if that happens there would be people talking about it on all the travel internet sites......
Reply to this And then every backpacker in the area flocks to the guesthouses in the Lonely Planet, so they are always full. There are usually many lovely new places around that opened after the guide was published, or for whatever reason didn't get into the guide.
We just came back from Zanzibar, where we had the LP, the Rough Guide and the Bradt books. All listed different places, the contact numbers were different and none of the recommendations matched what we found when we got there... Even their various maps didn't match up!
Ask travelbloggers for advice!! They've been there, they are honest and you may make a new friend.
happy travels!!
Reply to this Yeah we have sort of given up on guidebooks, like crashpacker says the maps are wrong, contact numbers or guesthouses are out of date etc.
We almost exclusively use travelblog to research places to visit and travel forums. Although we wish more people would put on their travelblogs where they stayed and how much they paid! We try and put costs into our blogs and travel information about getting from A to B to help other travellers.
We also ask people on the road for recommendations.
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