Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Central America on a Budget 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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

 

 

Just returned from a 2-week trip to Central America. I previously used Lovely Planet guides in a number of countries, but this time Lonely Planet did not have an exact analog, so I decided to try the Rough Guide.

My main complaint is that the book misses very important details that Lonely Planet usually provides. For example, departure times of most buses are not listed. Where Lonely Planet would say something like "Departures at noon and 8pm", Rough Guide says "2 departures daily". This is not really helpful!

Also accommodation prices are not quoted, instead they provide the number-coded price category. Why generalize, when you can provide actual prices? Lonely Planet gives actual prices and even though they sometimes go up between the moment of publication and your check-in, it is still more informative than a number-coded category (which is by the way also off in about 1/3 of the cases).

Other than that, the book is usable. So you might want to opt for it, rather than buy separate Lonely Planet guides for all the countries covered here.

With Lonely Planet in corporate ownership and skewing upmarket, budget travelers need alternatives. Rough Guides' "On a Budget" series meets that need. I used their Central America guidebook on a month's travel through northern Central America. Overall, the guidebook served well. Written clearly and with humor (but blissfully free of LP's jaded attitude), it covers all the high points as well as more off-the-beaten-trail adventures.

This is the first edition, so there are a few kinks: maps with places shown out of place; some awkward phrasing (e.g. describing Copan as "infamous"); listing only high-end places when budget options are available. I also have a beef with the two-tone (black/orange) text; in low light (i.e. most budget places), the tiny white/orange price circles become illegible.

One thing I miss from Lonely Planet is the info on population and altitude given with each town's listing. This gives an immediate snapshot of likely climate and level of services, and Rough Guide does not include it.

Most guidebook reviewers complain about the gap between a guide's stated prices and real-world prices. I was happy to find the situation reversed: traveling in low season at the recession's end meant prices were often lower than listed. Most guidebooks list high-season prices, so that was part of it; but shop and hotel owners did tell me business had been dead and prices lower as a result.

Slip Rough Guides' Central America On a Budget in your pack and you're in good hands. Happy trails!

Guatemala experience was crazy!! This book was very accurate in Hostels and attractions to visit. I went in 2009. So make sure u buy the most updated version. But I will definitely buy this brand for the next trip I go on.

The last time I traveled in Central America, it was with a Frommer's which gave a very good range of accomodations, restaurants, and activities. The big drawback is the size of the book, which is why I thought it might be nice to try Rough Guides which was smaller, newer, and would only include affordable sites. Definitely the wrong choice.

Having spent quite a bit of time in some of the locations in the books and reading about what the Rough Guide has to say, the guide falls way short of what I would expect and hope for. Am thinking that a low-budget traveler would be better off with a Lonely Planet but using the Frommers.com site to access more information online.

First, the book itself is very cautionary - it sounds as though the authors do not actually enjoy traveling in Central America and certainly do not enjoy meeting locals. Their take on life in some places is condescending at times and passive at best. Their humorless take on the amazing sites and exciting things to be done throughout Central America did not make me at all excited about traveling to certain places that ended up being wonderful!

My main goal in buying a travel guide was to buy something that was very recently published. This was only 1+ years old at the time I bought it, but either the prices are just plain incorrect or have gone up exponentially since the authors traveled there.

Am really disappointed.

Also, would it kill them to set the orange tabs up so that each country is separate. Trying to find the country when I needed it involved a lot of flipping around.

the text is informative, though being a visual person I need pictures of the place I am considering visiting, and this book has no pictures. I went online to search for more about a country and found clearer info on another travel guide site.

I will be going on a 30 day cruise including several ports in Central America. My ports of call are not even mentioned!!! I bought several different books on the areas we will be visiting (Mexico,South America)and this one. I recommend this one not for cruisers. For all others it appears be good,as it lists one of my interests in many areas of the book--history & archaeology.Lousy index.