Customer Reviews

Australia: The Rough Guide, Third Edition (3rd ed)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a lifesaver for us on our three week vacation to Australia. The maps within it were fantastic especially on our four day drive up the coast. It was very helpful with regard to accommodation, and finding tourist information offices. We didn't leave our room without it on any day of our trip.

As with many things Aussie, this book has an outdoorsy bent. There's far less history and social content than some other Rough Guides but that said, this book is typical Rough Guide density with encyclopedic coverage. The best thing about this book is that you're not likely to find a place in this vast country without at least a few words written about it. The chapters about particularly remote sections of the country are well done and fascinating to read. A good guide book should make you more anxious to get on with your trip. This one has that effect on me.

I'd like to see a bit more narrative about significant architecture and important institutions, and the book needs a nice new set of maps. There are few really good ones in here.

This is another guide written in the same sort of format as Lets Go and Lonely Planet. It is a lot thicker than the Lets Go version and believe me, weight and space are important when lugging the thing around a whole continent. Let's Go also has a fair bit more information than Rough Guide in fewer pages. I also don't like the paper the pages are made of in this book as it's not a nice texture, is very thin and the pages stick together when the book's been inside a hot backpack and just don't feel nice turning the pages when it's a bit humid. Rough Guide is also rather opinionated on everything from each hostel to local information booth staff friendliness. I must say I do agree with some comments but a lot I never had the same experiences. That's the thing about travelling one person can have a great experience with a tourism operator and the next not so good. It depends who else is on the tour, in the room, which staff member you get and so on. If this was a constantly updated website that encourages feedback and changed the information regularly than I would see a place for it but not in a guide book. If you follow the author's opinion you'll miss out on some great experiences and even the places he recommends you may still have a bad time at. That's just the way tourism is. I'd recommend Lets Go over this for backpacking around Australia.

I was in Australia for 2 years. I was based in Perth, but traveled to Exmouth, Melbourne, Sydney, Hervey Bay and the Gold Coast.

Initially, I looked at Lonely Planet WA and could not understand why Rough Guide's section on Western Australia was so much smaller. When I used L.P. I realised it was because it contained a lot of stuff that was irrelevant to a tourist.

Rough Guide has all the salient points (and directs you to the right place when necessary) and is pretty user friendly.

I would certainly recommend it for your travels.

Wow, it's a steal at $6 - I paid about $20 originally. It covers quite a bit of ground, seems to be fairly current, and gives more focus to the touristy things to do (which makes sense). It was definitely the guide I most used while on the vacation but if it was 100 pages lighter I would have been grateful!

Rough Guide is quite good but I actually used Lonely Planet Australia as my primary guide (they vary from country to country as to which is better). Rough Guide has, naturally, a few things the Lonely Planet guide doesn't (I used Rough Guide as a complimentary guide).
If traveling a fair amount by train "Australia By Rail" (Colin Taylor) is truly excellent (as are the Austrail passes).
For Queensland alone the Lonely Planet Queensland guide is outstanding.