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ARE LONELY PLANET THE BEST GUIDES OUT THERE, I'M STARTING TO BUY GUIDES IN THE COUNTRIES I'M VISITING NEXT YEAR, BUT I'M NOT CONVINCED IN PAYING £15 PER BOOK ESP. AS THERE ARE A LOT MORE TITLES, CHEAPER, ON THE MARKET.

CHEERS MATTY

This question gets bandied about a lot on here. If you do a Find/Search on "Lonely Planet" you'll probably turn up loads of comments and discussions on them.

They do some good stuff, but I've heard a lot of folks on here say they prefer the Rough Guides and Let's Go.

Before you trek out buying the books as well, don't forget to use the net, and your local library. If there's a fairly recent edition in the library, check it out, maybe make copies of the pages with stuff most interesting to you. Online you'll find loads of sites (including us!) with travel info on where you're going. That way you're suddenly not spending hundreds of pounds on these things.

Where all are you going?

Oh... and one last thing - please don't type in all-caps. It's referred to as "shouting", and it's hard to read. Thanks mate, and good question!

Have backpack, will scribble,
Anthony
Eurail Blog.com: 4 months. 1 continent. Many trains. 1 loopy Yank writer.

sorry about that, got typing and realised half way through, just pure laziness!

Generally speaking they are good guides but more than once I was upset because many mistakes or dated things I found. Depends by the single authors who write the guide. For example the LP about Syria I bought a couple of years ago was full of mistakes while the LP on Marocco was good.
If you want to try great and well detailed tourist guides for independent travellers check for FOOTPRINT. These guides are superb and always updated:

http://www.footprintbooks.net/

If you head instead to "unusual" destinations such as Uzbekistan or Mongolia you want try the detailed an well done ODYSEEY guides:

http://www.wwnorton.com/odyssey/welcome.htm

Stefano
www.backpacker.it

So I just had the opportunity to read the British Lonely Planet book for California, and it was a friggin riot. It made somewhat catty references to many things about California (one discussing our lack of public toilets only to be followed by a section discussing public beaches and their ubiquitous restrooms???), and was brutally honest in some areas, but by far the funniest quote was regarding musical venues. The book said that in California, musical venues for popular artists are rather expensive and played in large, daunting stadiums. They cite Tom Jones as an example of someone who might play one of these daunting expensive shows.

ummmmmm, Tom Jones?? Not quite the riotous headliner in Cali!

is the Smothers Brothers listed for Nevada?

I've never seen a Lonely Planet guide....

Don't forget to check out used book stores and travel books stores to save a bit. I've seen some in NZ where you can actually just exchange travel guides. You show up with your Ausie book and exchange for NZ, etc. But lots of people, esspecially backpackers, ditch their travel books when they are no longer useful. Therefore, they are pretty easy to find at used book stores or book exchanges. I have been pretty happy with Lonely Planet. I don't use them for cultural or restaurant suggestions but they have helped me a lot in finding a cheap place to stay and places to see along the way. But I agree with Corto probably depends more on individual author for that location.

Oh, and don't forget your public library, either! Most of the guidebooks I take with me on trips are checked out of the library. I considered having the customs stamp the inside cover as a joke, but figured maybe the library wouldn't enjoy my humor...

I use a combination of guidebooks when researching a trip. I usually start with a Fodors for descriptions of the sights (I feel they're pretty much the best at that). Then, I switch to a LP, Rough Guide or Let's Go, for the dash of reality, where they tell you if something's too dirty, touristy or not worth it. I call them my "gritty" guides, as they seem to give you more of a view from the street. I try to read three guidebooks per trip...

worldwidemike

World Wide Mike
Check out my travel web page at: http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemana/

I think lonely planets are good for the first two or three weeks after this period of time I switch to maps and local advice. They certainly help you get rid of any nerves and plan a reasonable budget the maps are good for finding cheap accomodation and bus train stations

itu matengu

If you speak french, dutch, italian or spanish, you might want to check out Le Guide du Routard. I think they might have some translations in english too but I am not sure. The original language is french. You can check out their catalog on: http://www.routard.com/partir_accueil.asp.

The company exists already 30 years and I like them more then LP or any other book. They have a unique style, sometimes funny and always straight to the point. One disadvantage is that their "what to see" sections are not the most elaborate (especialy in, for example old european cities with a lot of monuments and buildings etc..), but that's not the most important things for a guidebook. You can read the details before you leave and not while you are actually there!

Ant and I have just ditched our Rough Guide Thailand and I can't stress just how crappy it was. The maps were terrible, the info outdated, and every other paragraph has a "see pg. ___." How annoying it is to flip through a book 5 times to get through 5 paragraphs?

Correct info is important, but so is ease of use and organization. If someone could combine the org of Let's Go and the info of LP and Footprints, I'd love it. Local info rocks too, but even that has to be taken with a grain of salt depending on who you get it from. Here in Asia, people don't like to admit not knowing something (or losing face) so will tell you whatever comes to mind.

PC

Check out my new RTW blog:
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/claudia

Have you tried buying second hand books of the internet(e-bay, amazon etc), thats where I get all mine. Sometimes the edges are a bit roughed up, but all are legible. I generally pay about £4-5 for my books, and often they've got extras notes and useful tel nos/addresses written in them by the previous owner! I've got a load of guide books from my travels, and was actually going to sell them on ebay, drop us an email if youre interested, i've got books on most far eastern countries, including India, Nepal etc

I forgot to leave my email address!

leewhitelock@hotmail.com

Dear MATTY
I have this caps lock PROBLEM too, so don't FIND it the least offensive when SOMEONE else does it. Don't take any NOTICE of old SOURPUSS.

You might try my LITTLE cure.... chewing gum and an upside DOWN thumbtack on the caps lock key. It hasn't improved my typing but, as SM goes, it's the most erotic thing I've ever attempted. Cheers, Mate, Jim

Cheers from Oz,
Yamba