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Title: Central America (Shoestring)
ISBN: 1741045967
Author:
Robert Reid
Publicate Date: 2007-11-01
Publish: 2007-11-01
List Price: $24.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $15.60
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.49
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| Customer Review: |
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1: The Bible
Everywhere we went on our month long blitz of Central America, we saw other travelers using this book. Anyone that wasn't looked on jealously. It was commonly referred to as "the Bible". The information on border crossings and buses could've been more extensive, but that's what other travelers were for. The recommendations on hostels were great, as were the highlights of things to do in each country. It's a heavy book, but a necessary item in your pack.
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2: The backpacker's bible to Central America
I have used Lonely Planet's "Central America on a Shoestring" on a couple trips to Central America. Just like every other Lonely Planet Shoestring Guide, it's been amazing. There have been some bad reviews of the book, so I think I should clarify who this book would best appeal to. If you want to stay in three and four star hotels in the tourist parts of town, take guided tours of everything you see, eat at expensive touristy restaurants, and basically don't care whether you ever encounter the "real" Central America, this book is probably not for you. If you are a backpacker, want to stay in hostels with other backpackers, experience as many "adventures" as possible, find all the sights yourself, dive deep into local culture and history, eat at authentic restaurants that attract mostly locals, ride the chicken bus, and basically wouldn't consider your trip complete unless it's as authentic as possible, then this book is right up your alley. If you are planning on visiting just one or two countries, this book will be fine. Just be forewarned that it does cram all of Central America into one book, so some of the info on sights and attractions is very concise. This book generally sticks to times, costs, and locations, plus a very brief description of each sight, with certain exceptions (Tikal has 5 pages, don't worry). If you think you'll want more than that, you might consider the individual country guides. The maps and info have all been 100% accurate. The coverage of hostels, restaurants, sights, and treks cannot be beat. And it puts all of this into one compact, easy to carry book. Highly recommended.
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3: served me well.
I just returned from Central America from a month long trip,during which I used this book exclusively. I've heard a lot of people knocking Lonely Planet's "on a shoestring" series but I found the book to be invaluable. The maps are excellent and provide a side legend that lists the area's Hostels bars and tourist spots. But aside from listing cheap places to stay "on a shoestring" is a fascinating read. information is provided on travel safety, current events for the Central American countries (and their national parks) and important travel schedules(for instance, when I was in Gracias, Honduras the book showed that I had to catch a 4.am mini van to begin my journey out of the country. It showed exactly where the pick up was. I would of been lost and clueless if I didn't have the book). I found the book to be greatly helpful and every place I stayed or went was exactly how the book described it. The only problems I had was not every town they listed had a map and some of the prices they listed in the book where a little different in actuality(Most of the time $5 more but prices could of changed since the book was published)So. This is an excellent choice for backpackers and should definitely be their choice of guidebook for your next trip.
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4: Very flawed, but essential
This guidebook is pretty much the best you can get if you only want 1 book to cover all of Central America, it covers all the main touristy places, and a few that are a little more out of the way (but definitely NOT off the beaten track).
There are some serious problems concerning organization. You have to do a TON of page flipping trying to figure out all the relevant information, this is at it's worst when it comes to using buses to cross borders. Another very irritating thing is that the "Getting There and Getting Away" sections really only contain information on getting away from that particular location, so you have to continually flip back to other cities to figure out bus costs, times etc..
Also, you have the classic problem of the book highlighting cool places that are not very popular, then they explode with people because so many people use this book. Some of the places they recommend feel like you never left the U.S.
Another problem, This edition is a just a little bit dated, a lot of the prices are a bit higher than they are listed, but this is due to the exchange rate for USD, so it's not really Lonely Planet's fault, just keep that in mind when calculating your budget!
But overall, I recommend it.
One note, this edition includes coverage of the southernmost part of Mexico, but this section is pretty inadequate, so buy a supplemental guidebook if you plan on spending some serious time in the region.
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5: For "Shoestring" Travellers Only
I have wonderful memories of my days as an ultra cheap backpacker who averaged about $5 a night for hotels while travelling around Central America in the late 80's-early 90's. But now, as part of a married couple approaching middle age, my wife and I are inclined to travel on a more mid-range budget. As one of only three companies that publishes a guidebook for the whole of Central America you would think that LP would be interested in reaching out to a broad range of travellers. But this book is very much geared for "shoestring" travellers only. Fodors is certainly a better choice for those who want options in a wider range of prices and perhaps Rough Guide is as well. I haven't yet read the Rough Guide book so I can't really confirm this.
This is a shame since LP does some things very well, particularly in terms of providing detailed information on places off the beaten path. LP usually provides excellent maps. But the ones in this guide were low quality and difficult to read. Also this guidebook often has an uptight and self-righteous tone to it. The earlier LP guides had a more free-spirited sense of fun. But nowadays the company has become way too "politically correct" for my taste.
In any case, I would encourage mid-range travellers to seek out the Fodors' guide and perhaps the Rough Guide one as well. This LP book still has it's good points but is too limited in its options for any but those on the most "shoestring" of budgets.
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