A very useful guide

The Lonely Planet books are very useful for all budgets, covering backpackers to those who like to splash their cash. This book covers all the Thai islands and coastal areas, as well as an extensive section on Bangkok. <br /><br />It includes details of transportation between all the different areas which is really handy if you are making your own way around Thailand, and there are tips on scams to avoid etc. It also includes the usual information of accommodation, eating options, things to do etc. <br /><br />I would highly recommend getting this book if you are planning to travel around Thailand as it will be an invaluable source of information.

Beautiful ride and reading

This book is a page turner, funny, witty and intelligent. I couldn't stop myself until I finished. It can be an enjoyable reading for both bikers and non bikers as it develops in the best tradition of humour and travel literature. <br /><br />Highly recommended. And if you just turned 40 (as me) so much the better.

Essential reading for any visitor to Spain

This is yet another feather in Rough Guides' cap. Spain is one of the most rewarding countries to travel around, especially for those who like to explore off the beaten track, so a good guidebook is more than welcome. <br /><br />Besides the usual hotel and restaurant reviews, which I've always found accurate and honest, there is much more besides. The town and city descriptions are refreshingly candid, ranging from"stunningly beautiful" to"large, sprawling and industrialized", a welcome departure from those guides that are unstinting of their praise for everywhere. That makes it easier for the traveller to choose an itinerary that shouldn't contain too many disappointments.<br /><br />The guide is organised into chapters on geographical regions, each with a useful introduction detailing the region's highlights. All regions of Spain are covered, often in surprising detail. <br /><br />The sections on the well-known destinations are entertainingly written with coloured inserts that dwell on particular themes (e.g. the cider houses of San Sebastian, Costa Brava fiestas, parish churches of Seville, Madrid café life)that will encourage people to seek out the less obvious, a welcome respite from non-stop sightseeing. However, there is plenty there for the visitor who wants to concentrate on the country's big attractions. For example, in the section on Granada's Alhambra there is a whole page on the practicalities of"Admission to the Alhambra" to accompany the five pages of erudite description of the complex and a valuable map.<br /><br />There are also knowledgeable sections on the less fashionable and less visited corners of Spain, such as Las Hurdes in Extremadura and El Maestrazgo in Aragón, often quite detailed, that will reward the traveller who enjoys getting off the beaten track. There are also details of hikes for those who like to get out of their cars and walk. <br /><br />As is always the case with Rough Guides, there are attractive colour plates and a comprehensive"Contexts" section covering themes such as history, architecture, art, music, cinema and reading lists. The book is well bound.<br /><br />Accommodation is price-banded, sensible given the seasonal fluctuations in prices in some places, and in the tapas bars/restaurant recommendations the house specialities are provided. I would offer just one criticism: in these days of car-based tourism, it would be useful to have indicated which hotels have car parking facilities.

Comprehensive backpacker's guide

All you need to know for planning a trip on limited time and budget: good list of budget to mid-priced accomodation for most towns and cities, concise guides for all places of interest, good introduction and background of the region, suggested itinery is good for reference, but lack of photos, and poor quality maps: insufficient maps for motorists.

A non-walker

This is an absolute must-have if you have any interest walking. Even if you have no interest in walking you can't fail to be taken in by the consistently detailed drawings and conversational prose. Each and every page contains the most beautiful pen drawn maps, views and very accurate drawings of the Lakeland fells themselves. Further, Wainwright takes the reader through each fell climb in his own handwriting which, startlingly, justifies to both margins with not a hyphenated word in sight - a feat in itself which I've not seen elsewhere. Perhaps I'm impressed because I'm a graphic designer but I really don't see how anyone could be disappointed with this fascinating book.

Dissappointment, previous issue much was better

Yes, the book is very detailed and very useful. But the pictures are misleading. Lonely Planet has become orientalist. Turkey is not just beaches and peasants with headscarfs. Where are the normal people? Come on Pat Yale and Tom Broshanan, you both have lived in Turkey! Why there are no pictures of the young girls in miniskirts and their boyfriends who together roam the streets of Istanbul, Trabzon, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Giresun, Bursa while talking to their cellulars and going to pubs at night?????

Maybe they look too"western" and normal to make it to the pages of LP! --- Even though these people are a majority in Turkey where 60% population is under 30years!!!!!!!!

This time LP was a great dissappointment. It is not voicing the reality of Turkey, but the way foreigners (=rest of Europe) *wants* to see it. Shame on you Pat and Tom!

Excellent On Milan

We used this book last October when visiting Milan. We have also been to Verona in the past and this book is informative on both cities. Did not make it as far as the lakes so cannot speak about previous reviews. But fine on the cities.

We would've been lost without this!

Just got back from New York and had bought prior to going. It was the single most important thing we carried everywhere with us in order to get around manhatten, not only is it detailed but has all the main tourist attractions labelled all in colour. it's nice and compact so you're not unfolding a huge map in the middle of the street every 5 minutes.on the back theres also a subway map to get which was a great bonus too! I totally reccomend buying this if you go to NYC for the first time best £3 i spent! great value for money.

A useful guide to suit everyone

A guide that recommends the top 10 places to visit and stay, whether it be for culture, art, history, places to eat or entertainment. It is guaranteed to suggest some of the best places in the city and often the most hidden and without this guide you may never come across such nice places.

It has an easy to follow grid referencing system with clear maps at the front and back of the book.

I swear by these guides and will not visit a place without taking a Top 10 guide with me.

Absolute must have

This guide book is the best I've read. The advice was invaluable and I trusted the recommendations, especially when it came to accommodation. It very quickly became my travelling companion and I followed its advice as much as I could. Don't leave home without it!

A good read

This is the book for every aspiring"test player" who never got beyond the 2nd eleven - as the last resort"reserve player". Superbly written, both with expert knowledge of the genre and hilariously funny as well.

Psssst, don't tell anyone!

Around three years ago my partner and I decided to go camping in Wales, revisiting a site he had stayed at many years ago. It turns out that we were cool even then, but didn't know it. After many enjoyable visits we began to consider the possibility of going to ... other sites. But where to start? A few tentative searches on the internet and a leaf through the Rough Guide confirmed our suspicions. We were cowards. What we wanted was for someone to nudge us in the ribs and point us towards campsites with stunning views, friendly owners and like-minded souls. And tell us what we could do if it rained. And give us a sneak preview of the place whilst not spoiling too much. <br /><br />Well, Cool Camping does just that. The first few pages allow you to select your campsites by location or by category ("Cool for campfires","Beach within reach" and so on) or you can just flick through and choose whichever takes your fancy! As well as facts about the campsites themselves, each entry contains information about the surrounding area, and our Cool Camping doubles up as a guidebook for places we aren't even staying in. <br /><br />Since we purchased Cool Camping Wales (along with its England and Scotland companions) we wouldn't be without it when choosing our next destination and have stayed in some delightful sites in Pembrokeshire and Cornwall. The only problem is, once you've been there you might want to buy up all the existing copies of Cool Camping so no-one else finds out about them!<br /><br />

for the philosophically inclined

This book is for the philosophically inclined, and somehow I never quite got into it. I found myself enjoying the events in the book (especially the traveling), rather than the abstractions and ponderings of the author. However, it's probably a classic for the latter items rather than the former. I can see why people like it so much, and it is very well written and timeless, but it's not my cup of tea. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

A good rough one!

This is a great book to get the juices flowing when planning a round the world trip. It highlights some countries you may never have thought of and has fantastic pictures to represent each of them. It makes you wish you were going on holiday the next day!<br />The downfall of this book is its lack of information that is given. It is something nice to browse through a few times for a bit of daydreaming but is nothing too helpful on the information front.

Not as comprehensive as it could be

I have used a number of Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books over the years and have always found them pretty comprehensive. The towns and cities detailed in this book are generally up to the usually high standard of Lonely Planet with maps etc. However, this book lacks a number of towns and historic sites in Tuscany, some of which are actually less tourist-crammed and more attractive than those listed.

Funny and endearing cricketing reminiscences,s

Fatty Batter is another of those books written by people with a deep love of cricket but no real ability to play the game. None the less they spend every spare waking weekend moment playing at a level that could be described as enthusiastic but amateurish . And when they're not doing that they are either watching cricket, talking about cricket or busy organising games or events based around cricket. <br />Michael Simkins is an actor( He has also written a book on acting) and the book eloquently describes how , as a child of portly girth , he became fixated with cricket after watching Colin Milburn( He too was rather rotund ) on TV hit a lusty seventy odd for England against the West Indies. Heartily encouraged by his father his obsession grew through games of dice cricket and finally seeing live games at Sussex. <br />The book describes his fluctuating affair with the sport culminating in him forming a team -"The Harry Baldwin's"(Named after a picture of a fat Victorian cricketer Simkins came across) who ply their trade against other amateur teams. This leads to various anecdotes about village green cricket that have been covered exhaustitively in numerous other books. That said , Simkins avoids the smug middle class revel in our wackiness and incompetence tone of most of those books instead relating tales of the relationship strife caused by his commitment to the team, the struggle to raise eleven fully functioning players half the time and how one game saw one of the players picked up by Kate Winslett. <br />Fatty Batter is about more than that though. Its an eruditely and wittily written account of childhood, a paean to how sport can give someone focus and belief (And at the same time can also become a stifling obsession) and a tacit admission that there will eventually come a time to stop. And it does contain some cracking stories with the one about his trip to the members area of Lords being especially memorable. All in all it's one of the betters efforts on cricket outside the heady glamour of the professional game( Though reading this you quickly realise if you didn't already know , that first class cricket is rarely glamorous) though I was once again left with the feeling that the definitive"Fever Pitch" of cricket remains to be written. <br /><br />