Adventure Guide, Panama (Adventure Guides Series) [Paperback]

Patricia Katzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2004

Mother nature has bequeathed Panama with some stunning spots, rich soils and a vast bio-diversity. White- and black-sand beaches alternate with mangrove mazes along the coast. Sparkling wild rivers overflowing with trout run through jungle-clad canyons filled with colorful flowers. Mist-crowned Baru Volcano towers above them all. This book explores every region from tip to toe, including the San Blas Islands, offshore Barro Colorado, and urban Panama City, gateway for visitors. Walking tours visit historic forts, gold museums, classic city parks and bustling crafts markets. Special attention is given to the country's national parks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

What a wonderful surprise! This is by far the most useful and well written guidebook I have ever read. --A traveler

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: Hunter (September 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588433684
• ISBN-13: 978-1588433688
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and useful guide to Panama, December 15, 2004

By 

Captain Clam (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adventure Guide, Panama (Adventure Guides Series) (Paperback)

What a wonderful surprise this guide book has been! My wife and I are off to Panama for a couple of weeks in 2005. We stumbled upon this book while searching for reference material for our trip. Patricia Katzman has a terrifically engaging writing style that makes one want to read the entire book, not just sections that one is traveling too. There are 73 pages of detailed introductory chapters, how to get there, what to expect. Then each province is discussed in details, including places not to miss, along with those narrow dark streets to avoid. There are 4 sections of full color photos depicting the fascinating people and stunning countryside of Panama. This is by far the most useful and well written guidebook I have ever read (and I have read many dozens).

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Panama Adventure Guide, December 14, 2005

By 

Jo Ann Blink - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adventure Guide, Panama (Adventure Guides Series) (Paperback)

I am the travel editor for a national travel magazine and have recently had the priviledge of using Patricia Katzmans excellent guide book to Panama. First, the cover is outstanding, one of the best I have seen. I loved all the pictures...they added so much. Second, the print is readable. Third, and most important, I found this guide to be extremely helpful to the average tourist planning a trip. The various areas and activities and the way to reach each destination were well researched. I consider many guide books to be useful only to those who know exactly where they are going (probably with a tour) and want to read about what they are going to see. Pat writes with a touch of humor and a sense of history that brough each area alive. I had the feeling she knew her subject well and I would be inclined to trust her judgement. Her chapter on the Darien, even included a few "reasons not to go" or at least, to not go alone. Great resource material. Mary Jo Plouf

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only take along this book as a companion to another guide., May 8, 2005

By 

Jenny Steeves (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adventure Guide, Panama (Adventure Guides Series) (Paperback)

Not wanting to burden ourselves we choose to bring just this guide book to Panama on our 2 week long vacation. It was published recently, in late 2004, so we felt it should be sufficient. We were wrong. While it is packed full of good information and recommendations, it also misses a lot of essential points. For instance, there are very few maps and the ones they did include, have hardly any street names or even neighborhood names that they are rendered utterly useless.

The Panama City map was especially frustrating and we were very fortunate to have picked up a tourist pamphlet that helped us figure out the city.

The Index is pretty awful. It appeared to have only the major items and didn't index many sights. You had to thumb through to the town or area and find it yourself.

A lot of the information in the book is already outdated. I think this is just a symptom of how quickly Panama is changing, but we found many hotels and restaurants to be shut down.

A final fustration is that sometimes places would be written in their Spanish name in the book and other times as their English translation.