Lonely Planet South India

Average customer rating:

sufficient info
so far i am pleased
Good, well balanced coverage of the region
Another strong title from Lonely Planet
short on detail

Lonely Planet South India
Paul Harding , Janine Eberle , Patrick Horton , Amy Karafin , and Simon Richmond
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Rough Guide to South India (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
The Rough Guide to South India Map (Rough Guide Country/Region Map)
Lonely Planet India
India - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!)
Lonely Planet Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

ASIN: 1741041651

Book Description

Journey to India's gentler side, where laid-back beaches nestle alongside buzzing temple towns, and cosmopolitan cities sound an urban hum of bars, cafes and shop-till-you-drop extravagance. Cruise Kerala's backwaters, find serenity at a Maharashtrian ashram, count cows on a Goan beach - discover the best of India's tropical south with this comprehensive guide.

• GO BEYOND THE TOURIST TRAIL to find tranquil beach escapes, wildlife-packed national parks and remote tribal villages

• ENRICH YOUR EXPERIENCE with our chapters on South India's extraordinary history and culture

• REST EASY in the best accommodation - from backwater houseboats to Raj-era palaces

• TELL YOUR DHAL FROM YOUR DOSA with our chapter on Indian cuisine, and in-depth reviews of the best restaurants in the south

• FIND YOUR WAY from Mumbai to Chennai and back again with the help of our detailed transport information and over 90 maps

Customer Reviews:

sufficient info.......2007-03-11

The guidebook does not include all the options or highlights of places but it has sufficient information for your first or second time visit. Very useful opening times and price guidelines!

so far i am pleased.......2007-02-01

i am on my way to India so i hope this book will be thorough but i use lonely planet books all the time to travel and i travel alot.

Good, well balanced coverage of the region.......2006-12-01

This book proved helpful on my recent biycle tour of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. It's one of Lonely Planet's better guidebooks, however some sights suffer from rushed research. For example, the fort at Gingee--one of India's best--has three sections, but the authors failed to mention the most spectacular of the three. The authors should have mentioned Suchindram Temple, just north of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu; the beautiful stone temple is famous for its musical columns and 6-meter-tall statue of the monkey god Hanuman. I found the book weak on off-the-beaten-path destinations. I would have liked more information on culture--places to visit and background; if this is your main interest, I recommend that you also check out the Rough Guide edition on South India.

Another strong title from Lonely Planet.......2006-02-06

I ventured to South India, Bombay and Goa, last January, and this book never left my side. As a first-time visitor to the country, I was nervous at first, but the information found in this book helped me to prepare adequately for the trip and navigate my way through this often confusing (but always amazing) country. The guide caters to travelers on a variety of budgets, and offers tips for escaping the white-washed tourist trail to really get a taste of local culture. I would recommend ordering a copy a couple months before leaving- there is much to peruse in the book and region, and it will help you to plan out what you want to see, what you need to pack, and how to get by when the culture shock is hitting hard.

short on detail.......2004-02-06

India is really too big to be adequately covered in a single guidebook. That was one of the main reasons I used Lonely Planet's "South India" while travelling there in December 2003. Some of the information, particularly prices for accommodation was out of date, but this is to be expected of a guide book that has been in print for more than two years. What disappointed me about this book was that even though it only covered part of India and should be less constrained by space considerations it was frustratingly short on detail in various ways. Some places could have had more detailed coverage and there were still many places omitted completely. I also think Lonely Planet stretches the definition of South India a bit far by including chapters on Maharashtra and Orissa. Less states and more detail would make this guide book much better value for money.

Hindi, Urdu & Bengali: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

Average customer rating:

Not useful for learning the languages

Hindi, Urdu & Bengali: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
Richard Delacy , Shahara Ahmed , and Lonely Planet Phrasebooks
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Lonely Planet India
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ASIN: 1740591496

Customer Reviews:

Not useful for learning the languages.......2007-03-15

Although this combined edition is more accurate than the previous separate phrasebooks for Hindi/Urdu and Bengali, do not expect to use it to actually learn the languages or even get beyond a couple of dozen phrases.

Perhaps in conjunction with a formal language guide to Bengali, this phrasebook would be more helpful, but at the time of my recent travels, there was no English language language study guide available for Bengali/Bangla (I think the Teach Yourself series has one, but that series is currently going through a one-by-one reissue as the cover format and typeface have changed).

The main problem is the Bengali to English dictionary, which is listed from the point of view of the written form vs. how things sound or how they transluterate to Latin characters. This requires first learning Bengali script, which is quite difficult due to the bizarre rules in all South Indian derived scripts (including Thai and Khmer/Cambodian as well as Hindi) vs. Cyryllic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. And besides which, literacy is not and should not be a requirement for developing the more important day-to-day fluency of speaking and listening skills in a new language while traveling.

The publisher would also be advised to make clear that there are significant regional variants within Bengali (if not also Hindi/Urdu), and thus one is not always understood even with basic everyday phrases as they are published here. They might also be advised to include the related Punjabi language/dialect in the next edition, to be more complete.

Average customer rating:

Not the same as the China guide!
Much improved
This Is The Updated Version 2002
Nothing New
Don't use this book to plan your trip

Lonely Planet South-West China (1st ed)

Manufacturer: Lonely Planet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

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Lonely Planet Peru
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Stumbling on Happiness

ASIN: 0864425961

Book Description

87 Maps

Customer Reviews:

Not the same as the China guide!.......2003-01-05

A couple of the reviews below complain that the coverage of South-West China was just lifted from Lonely Planet's China guide and this is really misleading. To prove a point, the following destinations are covered only in the SW China book and are not covered at all in the China guide:

YUNNAN - grottoes of Shibaoshan, stone city of Baoshan, Weixi county, Tiger Leaping Gorge trek map, Birang Gorge, Dondrupling monastery, Cizhong Catholic Church, the Nujiang Valley, Menglian, Chengjiang, Jiangchuan, architecture of Jianshui, Gejiu, terraces of Yuanyuang, Luxi Caves
SICHUAN - dinosaurs of Zigong, Yibin, Bamboo Sea, Bo Hanging Coffins, Yi people of Xichang and the Cool Mountains, Tibetan area of Muli, Tibetan monasteries around Tagong and Ganzi, Dzogchen Monastery, Pelpung, Dzongsar and Kathok monasteries around Derge, trekking around Derge, Daocheng and Yading Nature Reserve, Woolong Nature Reserve, Barkham, Wenchuan, Langmusi, Aba
GUIZHOU - Xingren, Miao towns of Leishan, Taijiang, Fanpai, Shidong, Huangping, Shibing, Zhenyuan, Tongren, Fanjing Mt nature Reserve, the Dong settlements of Ronjiang, Congjiang and Zhaoxing, waterfalls and caves of Chishui,
Guangxi - Nanning, Beihai, Chongzuo, Detian Waterfall on the Vietnam border, Jingxi, Baise, Guiping

The bottom line is that if you are planning a trip around China and/or only have a week or two in SW China, then take LP's China. But if you want to get off the beaten track, have more time to explore SW China and/or have an interest in Tibetan monasteries, hilltribe villages and minority nationalities in general, then SW China is DEFINITELY the guide to take.

Much improved.......2002-09-14

The negative comments re the first edition are justified, but for this much better second edition clearly a lot of work has gone into improving the Yunnan section (the bit I can comment on).

This Is The Updated Version 2002.......2002-02-09

This edition will take the traveler beyond the main sites detailed in the China 2000 Lonely Planet. Ignore the other two reviews as they criticize the earlier edition for being out of date. This edition will be very helpful for those exploring the diverse regions of Yunnan and beyond in the Southwest of China.

Nothing New.......2002-02-09

I had been eagerly awaiting the 2002 edition of this guidebook to South West China to help me plan my upcoming trip throughout Sichuan and I was very disappointed. All it did was lift the section on Schuan out of the Lonely Planet "China" guidebook and reprint it. Most of the smaller towns and attractions that I was looking for are not even included. If you have any other decent guidebook of China already, this will be a waste of money.

Don't use this book to plan your trip.......2002-01-27

Published in 1998, Lonely Planet South-West China is essentially the sections for Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Sichuan from the previous edition of Lonely Planet China (6th Edition), which has been out of print for a while. China is a country that is changing rapidly as a result of these changes the book contains a lot of inaccuracies. For instance, the Kunming-Dali and Kunming-Lijiang travel times mentioned in the book have been cut in half because a highway has been built since publication and has been operational for a couple of years!

Book Description

90 Maps

Customer Reviews:

Lonley Planet guide to South India.......2000-04-03

This guide is very comprehensive. I have travelled exstensively throughout Southern India and have found that this book is imperative to a well informed and succesful travel experience. The information is unfailing in its accuracy. The book seems to be written more with the budget traveller in mind, but certainly provides a wealth of information for the traveller looking to be a little more spendthrift. Also important to take notice of, is the honest and unbiased perspective conveyed throughout the guide; if something is to be avoided, you will know it. Well organized and profusely detailed. An interesting read just for pleasure as well.

Average customer rating:

Lonely Planet South India
Sarina Singh
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Lonely Planet | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1741047048

Book Description

Discover South India Let the night's festivities wash away with the tide while relaxing on a palm-fringed beach in Goa, p.192 Perform a puja at a Hindu temple: scoop smoke from a burning lamp and 'wash' your face, p.367 Feast like a maharaja on tasty thalis in Mumbai (Bombay) and sumptuous seafood in Kerala, p.77 In This Guide: 26 years of experience covering India - no other guide is better positioned to advise you on the country's south. All the content on the South from our India guide with extensive coverage of Goa's beaches and Kerala's backwaters. New activities chapter covers everything from wildlife safaris to Ayurveda, ashrams and yoga courses. Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler suggestions.

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