You've got your bags packed, your tickets in hand and your camera juiced up for pictures! Now what are you going to do on your vacation? Picking up a travel guide is a great insight to getting to know the nitty gritty details about a city. Just imagine writing the travel guide to your own city. Wouldn't you want to spill the great secrets and places to see about your city? Thats why its important to pick up the right book to get you seeing the right places!
Two of the biggest publications you've probably seen on the bookshelves of Barnes and Nobles or Borders (Whatever floats your boat) are Lonely Planet and Lets Go. Both guides have their pros and con's for each kind of traveler.
Lonely Planet:
Image SourceThe story of Lonely Planet is actually a sweet love story, ironically enough to say. Tony and Maureen Wheeler met and got married and decided to backpack for their honeymoon. On a broke budget, they traveled through Europe, Asia and all the way to Australia. Their first travel guide was "Across Asia on the Cheap" and it was a great success! They decided to create Lonely Planet and continued traveling and marketing how to budget travel. Fast forward to present day and they have published about 500 titles in 8 languages as well as TV programs, a magazine, podcasts and websites. They are a huge entity!
Lonely Planet seems to win my heart because it caters to a mature backpacker level. And if you're not even a backpacker, you'll appreciate the advice for budget travel. Its like a hip travel guide, with a sassy attitude. I used Lonely Planets Montreal City Guide when I went to Montreal in November, 2008. I left the city with a beat up book because it was so easy to find awesome places to check out!
Its hard to find a downside with Lonely Planet. My personal downfall is not being able to find copies of these books at my local library. They run out like hot cakes! I guess a lot of people really enjoy the Lonely Planet series. I could imagine if everyone is going to the same Lonely Planet places that avid travelers might opt to find the most off beaten path destinations, to avoid the crowd!
Lets Go!
Image SourceLets Go! Come on! I can't help but love the title of this series. We have to thank former students from Harvard University for the Let's Go! series. Being produced by students and continuously updated by the youth traveler, it has a light and fresh feel! The guides seem to cater to adventerous and outgoing things to do in the city, which might not be relateable to everyone. I find it amusing and entertaining to me, since I'm interested in these types of shenanigans.
Let's Go is also a thicker guide in one sitting. They focus on the country rather than the city the way Lonely Planet does. I went through th eLets Go Europe guide (A whopping 1,104 pages) and it was one of the best reads I've come across. But the downside is, its overwhelming if you want more specifics on a city. But I do enjoy the artwork of their covers. Major artist points for them on that.
Which guidebook do you prefer? Lonely Planet or Lets Go?
Comments (7)
i normally use wrb-site, and have bought Planet and found it very useful as u mentioned. I have not read Let's Go series yet, and will give it a try. thanks!
I fell in love with Lonely Planet a few years ago when I had to make an emergency trip to Brazil. Sure, my grandma died, but THIS IS BRAZIL! I went to my local library looking for a travel book on Brazil and picked up a Lonely Planet. I used it more for a good read than serious traveling. I like reading their biography, and can't forget that one guy was from England. He moved to Texas, and dropped his accent because they kept making fun of him.
Sorry, but never heard of Let's Go Travel. My college library is in stock with Lonely Planet.
LONELY PLANET, FTW!! i heart Lonely Planet. i own a Lonely Planet for every destination I've ever visited and several unvisited locations (because they're currently in my destination planning queue). the Lonely Planet is never wrong (assuming you bought a recent edition)!
when my Uncle (who lives in China) was acting as my guide, he disputed several facts with my Lonely Planet (calling me a silly girl for believing a Western's book over her uncle who is native to the land) and, to his dismay, proved that the accuracy of the book prevailed over his arrogant machoism. i love being right. and LP has *never* failed me.
thank you for subbing
lonely planet all the way!! i used them when i travelled to asia and all of their information was precise. highly recommended!!
I use Lonely Planet for all my travels. I just love their budget travelling option ^^
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