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Following on from CruiserElite's thread on use of Trip Advisor, I was wondering whether travellers here use Lonely Planet guides much - I mean the city/country guides, not the forums.
I have been a solid user of them since my very first overseas trip, as the picture below might indicate .
I especially like:
The list of sights and attractions from which one can cull a personal 'must see' list (with opening hours and approx. fees), the 'essentials' of understanding how a place works, from taxis to money, power and phones. Their 'city highlights walks' usually work for me and I usually end up doing them. The potted histories give the basis for at least a basic appreciation of the history of the place. Often their 'off the beaten track' recommendations are well worth doing and occasionally I spot a hotel in their lists which is attractive to me and I would never have found it otherwise. Having a digital edition, where you can buy just one chapter for about $5 is great for doing the first line of research.
I don't like:
I think they are remiss in sticking with emphasising 'backpacker / young trekker' themes; or am I the only over 40 to still use them? Their in-text city maps are pretty crook and often inaccurate and prices for hotels and restaurants are useless in these days of variable hotel pricing (but this is warned about, of course). I find their nagging about 'social responsibility', ie where they don't like the government, and b/s re climate change very irritating, but one can simply ignore that. Their recent format change has very nearly put me off LP completely. I started buying their digital editions but went off them when the digital colours just couldn't be read properly outside and its really fiddly to find a particular page or section compared to the hardcopy. Where the hardcopy book is bulky, I photocopy relevant pages and keep the book in the room.
Over the years I've found a couple of outright mistakes, but not that many.
I have been a solid user of them since my very first overseas trip, as the picture below might indicate .
I especially like:
The list of sights and attractions from which one can cull a personal 'must see' list (with opening hours and approx. fees), the 'essentials' of understanding how a place works, from taxis to money, power and phones. Their 'city highlights walks' usually work for me and I usually end up doing them. The potted histories give the basis for at least a basic appreciation of the history of the place. Often their 'off the beaten track' recommendations are well worth doing and occasionally I spot a hotel in their lists which is attractive to me and I would never have found it otherwise. Having a digital edition, where you can buy just one chapter for about $5 is great for doing the first line of research.
I don't like:
I think they are remiss in sticking with emphasising 'backpacker / young trekker' themes; or am I the only over 40 to still use them? Their in-text city maps are pretty crook and often inaccurate and prices for hotels and restaurants are useless in these days of variable hotel pricing (but this is warned about, of course). I find their nagging about 'social responsibility', ie where they don't like the government, and b/s re climate change very irritating, but one can simply ignore that. Their recent format change has very nearly put me off LP completely. I started buying their digital editions but went off them when the digital colours just couldn't be read properly outside and its really fiddly to find a particular page or section compared to the hardcopy. Where the hardcopy book is bulky, I photocopy relevant pages and keep the book in the room.
Over the years I've found a couple of outright mistakes, but not that many.