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Title: Colombia (Bradt Travel Guide)
ISBN: 1841622427
Author:
Sarah Woods
Publicate Date: 2008-07-17
Publish: 2008-07-17
List Price: $24.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $15.62
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.30
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.49
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Great background to the change in Colombia
As I was researching my trip to Bogota, every source I read went on and on about the danger. Heck, I was scared to go! But this book addressed that there is danger as is with any large city, but it discussed HOW things have improved since the early 1990's. Lots of detail on how Colombians brought some terrific change! This book helped me to put aside some of my nervousness, and I had a fabulous trip! This was the first Bradt book I've read; I'll look for more.
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2: made my trip to Columbia all the more special
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found this book a thoroughly researched and detailed guide to traveling Colombia. No travel guide to a rapidly changing country can be 100% perfect, but this one hit the mark more than not. I`m also pleased to see it includes lots of personal insight to stuff that`s off the beaten track. Good stuff.
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3: a good starting place
I just got back from my first trip to Colombia. This book has a lot of breadth and helped us in the early stages of deciding where to go and what to do. We didn't have any security problems whatsoever, sticking to the author's recommended areas in Medellin and Bogota. We visited many of the places that the Bradt book recommended in these cities. I felt like the book was well-researched in general.
I gave the book only 3 stars because it wasn't sufficient on its own. There weren't enough maps to really be helpful to us. Often, I felt like the book pointed out that a destination existed, but didn't provide enough information to actually get there. I was also surprised to see no information on tipping (restaurants, hotel staff, etc). I don't really blame the author -- I think she had to choose between breadth and depth, and admirably tried to cover most of the country.
We supplemented the Bradt book with city and transport maps we got for free in Colombia from the tourism kiosks, and two Spanish-language guidebooks we bought in Bogota: El Tiempo's guide to Bogota (El Tiempo is a newspaper)"Guias El Tiempo Bogota" and "Medellin Turistica" (bilingual, but the Spanish section is better). El Tiempo's book was especially useful with excellent maps, pictures, etc. I highly recommend it and I think it would be helpful even if you don't speak Spanish. The Medellin guidebook we used was just okay -- but necessary considering the Bradt guide's short section on Medellin.
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4: the worst guide i've ever used - read this before going to colombia
just got back from colombia. i brought this and my friend brough the lonely planet. this book is horrendous, even compared to the LP. both are weak, but the LP is by far the better of the two. the most important thing about a guide is safety, in a place like colombia. this book, it seems, just copied the LP for everything but history. it's supposed to be the most recent guide, but has nothing really new on the LP. it recommended the same hotels in the area by the cathedral in medellin. so did the LP. no one happened to go there or check with the police, quite obviously, because it's one of the sketchiest neighborhoods i've ever seen. transexual hookers who mug people on the blocks all around it. one simple check with the police and they will tell you it's a critical zone. it also mentions how safe a city it is. i really wonder how much research was done. in the day we got there we saw and arrest, someone tried to get into my daypack while walking around, and then we were walking in in broad daylight, in the very crowded Parque San Antonio, and my friend and i, both having grown up in brooklyn, and being bigger than most colombians, were jumped by 5 guys with knives, who were going for my camera, and i was STABBED IN THE BACK! we talked to the police who said exactly where to go and where not to, and that it's not nearly as safe as the guides lead you to believe.
more specifically to this book. the maps are absolutely useless, the second most important thing a book can contain. and the recommendations are few and far between for both food and lodging, and are barely located on the useless maps, so they're really no help at all.
my advice is to get the Lonely Planet, despite it's flaws, be careful in the big cities, don't carry anything that looks expensive, and take cabs at night anywhere that looks sketchy. that all said, colombians in general are some of the nicest people i've met and the country has a lot to offer. i have travelled 35 countries all over the world and grew up in nyc in tougher times. i had no problems in any of my previous travels, including brazil, mexico, guatemala, indonesia, or otherwise. i would just warn anyone going to colombia to be on your toes, and ask a lot of travelers where they stayed and where to avoid. things do happen there, and though it's a wonderful country, well worth a visit, don't walk around blind to the realities.
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