Customer Reviews

Colombia (Bradt Travel Guide)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I just got back from my first trip to Colombia. This book has a lot of breadth and helped us in the early stages of deciding where to go and what to do. We didn't have any security problems whatsoever, sticking to the author's recommended areas in Medellin and Bogota. We visited many of the places that the Bradt book recommended in these cities. I felt like the book was well-researched in general.

I gave the book only 3 stars because it wasn't sufficient on its own. There weren't enough maps to really be helpful to us. Often, I felt like the book pointed out that a destination existed, but didn't provide enough information to actually get there. I was also surprised to see no information on tipping (restaurants, hotel staff, etc). I don't really blame the author -- I think she had to choose between breadth and depth, and admirably tried to cover most of the country.

We supplemented the Bradt book with city and transport maps we got for free in Colombia from the tourism kiosks, and two Spanish-language guidebooks we bought in Bogota: El Tiempo's guide to Bogota (El Tiempo is a newspaper)"Guias El Tiempo Bogota" and "Medellin Turistica" (bilingual, but the Spanish section is better). El Tiempo's book was especially useful with excellent maps, pictures, etc. I highly recommend it and I think it would be helpful even if you don't speak Spanish. The Medellin guidebook we used was just okay -- but necessary considering the Bradt guide's short section on Medellin.

Thank you, to Sarah Woods, for having brought this insightful, inspiring publication to the market. Beforehand, there was very little on offer, and this guide is crucial for travellers in this remarkable country. It is more than a travel guide. Right from the word go, this book draws you into Colombia, giving an invaluable historical synopsis which puts the current climate of renewed national confidence, passion and pride, into context. This is a publication which should be read properly, not simply flicked through for advice on which hostel to stay in. It gives detailed, descriptive accounts of places, and I absolutely love the local quotes which run through the guide, and the boxed sections which offer snapshots into a whole range of even more specific, localised traditions and knowledge...from folk-lore and explanations of peculiar cultural practices and sentiments, to descriptions of specific people you may encounter along the way, to conservation projects, to recipes and detailed descriptions of certain foods, and random anecdotes.... All this serves to create a book with a real and raw sense of depth of place. This book does not spoon feed, but tends instead to give varying options, and a lot of food for thought. It does not dictate your travel path, but educates. And all the information is there; clear and comprehensive. Naturally, things are constantly evolving and changing, and as would be expected with any travel publication, there are one or two minor inaccuracies. I think anyone phased by a restaurant going out of business after it has been featured in a guide, must have issues with travelling. I am a huge fan of this book, would recommend it to anyone, and whole-heartedly agree with its statement: it gives the tools to get 'under the skin' of Colombia. Thank you!

just got back from colombia. i brought this and my friend brough the lonely planet. this book is horrendous, even compared to the LP. both are weak, but the LP is by far the better of the two. the most important thing about a guide is safety, in a place like colombia. this book, it seems, just copied the LP for everything but history. it's supposed to be the most recent guide, but has nothing really new on the LP. it recommended the same hotels in the area by the cathedral in medellin. so did the LP. no one happened to go there or check with the police, quite obviously, because it's one of the sketchiest neighborhoods i've ever seen. transexual hookers who mug people on the blocks all around it. one simple check with the police and they will tell you it's a critical zone. it also mentions how safe a city it is. i really wonder how much research was done. in the day we got there we saw and arrest, someone tried to get into my daypack while walking around, and then we were walking in in broad daylight, in the very crowded Parque San Antonio, and my friend and i, both having grown up in brooklyn, and being bigger than most colombians, were jumped by 5 guys with knives, who were going for my camera, and i was STABBED IN THE BACK! we talked to the police who said exactly where to go and where not to, and that it's not nearly as safe as the guides lead you to believe.

more specifically to this book. the maps are absolutely useless, the second most important thing a book can contain. and the recommendations are few and far between for both food and lodging, and are barely located on the useless maps, so they're really no help at all.

my advice is to get the Lonely Planet, despite it's flaws, be careful in the big cities, don't carry anything that looks expensive, and take cabs at night anywhere that looks sketchy. that all said, colombians in general are some of the nicest people i've met and the country has a lot to offer. i have travelled 35 countries all over the world and grew up in nyc in tougher times. i had no problems in any of my previous travels, including brazil, mexico, guatemala, indonesia, or otherwise. i would just warn anyone going to colombia to be on your toes, and ask a lot of travelers where they stayed and where to avoid. things do happen there, and though it's a wonderful country, well worth a visit, don't walk around blind to the realities.

I purchased this book a few weeks before my fiance and I were to take a four month trip all over Colombia. We just returned from our trip last week and had the trip of a lifetime. This book however did not live up to the expectations it should have. This book was published just last April 2008 and we were startled by the amount of innacuracies confirmed by locals in many of the towns we visited in the guide. The author recommends restaurants that have been out of business for at least 3 years, and some of the hostels recommended to stay in are located in very unsafe areas of the major cities.

The most frustrating and ridiculous part of the book were its reviews. The author, Sara Woods, took the liberty of vividly describing various towns in the country that were clearly contrived from her imagination or plagarized directly from a previous much older guide book. The best example of these false descriptions can be found in her description of the entire city of San Gil in Santander. Everything from places of business, to addresses are way off.

Sara, have you ever been to San Gil??

In conclusion, about 50% of the phone numbers provided in the book actually work, most of the hostels are still in existence but be sure to check whether they are safe or not - The hostel "Casa Vieja" in Cartegena is one of the worst - and most importantly, make sure your research extends way beyond the info in this so called guide book.

The right guide for those looking to get the 'real Colombian experience'. Good references and all the off beaten track places you have to see when visiting this amazing country. The authour truly reflects all different elements that make this a special place in the world.
Well researched and reliable. Excellent starting point to prepare your trip.

No puedo creer que haya comentarios desfavorables para este excelente libro.

Dear Mss. SARAH WOODS,

Hi, We had the good opportunity to read and enjoy this excellent book through my brother and my sister-in-law. It contains a lot of good experiences in Colombia, in our country, this book contains a lot of information that we do not know as well as you know, and this information is very interesting, new, easy to understand and helpfull to travel where ever somebody wants. In fact in a couple of places we were, like in los LLanos Orientales, in a restaurant...el Manchego, the people will always have fond memories of you. It was well described. Thank you very much for this valious book. With all our thanks. Greetings,

Blanquita, Dorita, Albert, David and Lucy.

I don't know why this book has gotten some awful reviews. I have travelled in Colombia several times over the last few years and I find that this book is the best-researched, most thought-out and generally the most reliable guidebook available, especially for those who like to veer off the beaten track. A must-buy for visitors to this great country as far as I'm concerned. And it truly is a great country!
Dave

If you have a zest for more adventurous travel, you want to understand and explore the heart and soul of Colombia, not just visit its pedestrian tourist sights, discovering endless cafés and restaurants, then this is the book for you.

Read it from cover to cover, enjoy its vivid narrative; some of it so descriptive that only a photograph could have prepared me better. I frequently felt as though I was following in the footsteps of the author, reminiscent of reading a travel writer's journal. Take it with you for reference as you explore Colombia's hinterland, enjoying this author's personal sense of humour as you go.

This book has been well researched from a wealth of personal and detailed knowledge of Colombia, from the inside. Not just the usual factual tourist information but a highly informative under-the-skin account of Colombia, its people and its diversity of cultural differences.

This book represents an essential guide to understanding the heart and soul of Colombia, which I have found invaluable. It prepared me well for what to expect and what to take; for all eventualities.

Yes, it has the obligatory wealth of facts, as all travel books do, but they will change over time as cafés go out of business and restaurants close. Not so the essence of Colombia, the enduring part that, in places, this book describes so vividly.Colombia (Bradt Travel Guide)

I found the Bradt Travel guide for Colombia to be a useful and accurate reference on a recent trip to Colombia. It was useful on tourist information as well as providing cultural context and anexdotes.

The strongest positive commentary I can give it was that I traveled with some native Colombians, who occassionally used the guide to double check what they had heard about sites and resorts in the coffee region of Colombia. They were that impressed with the content. I can also add a few Colombians I showed it to said the slang section was probably the best list that had seen of that kind. In terms of a viewpoint of Colombia's culture and politics, the book was balanced as well. All in all, I'd recommend it to any traveler to the country.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found this book a thoroughly researched and detailed guide to traveling Colombia. No travel guide to a rapidly changing country can be 100% perfect, but this one hit the mark more than not. I`m also pleased to see it includes lots of personal insight to stuff that`s off the beaten track. Good stuff.