BootsnAll Travel Community

hey!
it's me once again .
a few questions on bali again.
i really wonder which guidebook is the best (i will probably get the new lp on bali & lombok which will be released in march, could be pretty much uptodate then) and what about the indonesia guides. it seems that there is another round of rough guide vs lp going on. we will prolly not just go and visist bali but als do some isle hoping and therefore an indonesia guidebook might be useful.

apart from that i wonder if there are many backpackers on bali and lombok these days?
for example thailand used be very popular among backpackers but what about bali?

thanks in advance and regards
flowinhard1

The best guidebook for Indonesia is the Indonesia Handbook written by Bill Dalton.

The best Bali guide book is Rough Guide, much better than LP.

I see backpackers in Bali. I see more tourists, surfers and honeymooners though. Bali is definately on the world route for backpack travel and has been for a long time.

Hi Flowinhard1,

I own and have read most of the Bali guidebooks. I also have been several times and have to agree with Nick, The Rough Guide out does LP easily. The detail is better and information so much more relevant! Have fun!

Doobie

hey just came back from the bookstore. planning a trip to bali in august and saw that you recommended Rough Guide over LP. about to get one and while paging thru the books at the store, personally thought LP was better. remembered your post and decided to hold off. As a local NICK, what makes RG better?

I don't know about the Bali ones, but I personally find Rough Guides way better in nearly all the cases.

There is much better background information and a much broader scope about the places you visit (which in my opinion is more important).
Essentials are much more to the point and up to date in the Rough Guides, and they are not written with *only* a "shoestring" public in mind. However, if you solely want to spend some time with fellow backpackers doing the same beaten path, go for LP.

A few years ago I travelled in Argentina with a LP, and some of the information was just plain wrong.

hey there!

i'm sitting in ubud right atm, having the lonely planet with me and i have to say that it was pretty usefull so far, though some prices arent accurate anymore.

when it comes to backpackers i see a few and most of them have the lonelz planet bali and lombok one. but there arent many backpackers here in general.

nick if zou read this maybe zou want to meet me and my friend one daz for a beer (we got some unplaned tmie around 8-13th of july).

so far...

Dennis

I like the RG over the LP because it contains more information and I feel it was more thorughly researched. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with LP.

Many of the special places I get to I find that RG already knows about them. They also reserch things like the bemo schedule with great attention to detail.

I would go for RG but LP will do the job for Bali.

I would love to meet travelers for drinks anytime. Post a message when the date gets closer.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick:
The best guidebook for Indonesia is the Indonesia Handbook written by Bill Dalton.

The best Bali guide book is Rough Guide, much better than LP.

I see backpackers in Bali. I see more tourists, surfers and honeymooners though. Bali is definately on the world route for backpack travel and has been for a long time.

I can't seem to find any Moon Handbook for Indonesia on the Moon website. Is it not available anymore?

I'm going to Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi in April next year. Would it be better to get a regional guide for those places or will the LP Indonesia suffice?

Throwing my vote in for the Rough Guide. I browsed through both the RG and the LP in the bookstore and decided on the former and after my solo trip to Bali last year, was very pleased with my decision.

The most useful feature for me in RG was its detailed bemo schedule -- when I decided to ditch the taxis and the usual traveller's buses for the more local-based (and cheaper!!) transportation, the RG was a life-saver. Was able to travel around Bali via bemos!

I think in general, I'd lean towards getting RGs compared to LPs from now on. I just prefer their format, it's more user-friendly imho.