Customer Reviews

Crete (Lonely Planet Crete)

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

 

 

Let me start by saying I have been to Crete before.

I bought the book, rented a car and drove around Crete in 2005 using this guide only with the objective of looking for value for money accomodation and places of interest to me for this trip ie. beaches on the south west: Paleohora, Elafonissi, Plakias etc. The accommodation I stayed at was picked from the book and was superb. The prices (in 2005) were completely accurate. I am not a backpacker (such as the previous reviewer) and I had different aims from the guide and had a different experience. (Other guides are more informative if you are looking for more culural experiences). For me, I can't wait for the next edition to come out to plan my next trip to this beautiful place.

This book was decent, but it could have been much better. It is not very big considering it is covering a very large destination, and they could have devoted much more detail to some of the rural areas of Crete. We spent most of our time in the Plakias and Spili areas which we loved. This book only had 1.5 pages of information about this area, and there were many things in these areas that the book should have covered in more detail. I am sure the same can be said for other areas as well. Perhaps an additional 100 pages would help to give the detail lacking in some of the areas. Having said all of that, it was the best of the three Crete travel guides that we purchased. I would recommend it based on that but with the caveat that it should have been better.

I appreciate the Lonely Planet format which makes finding recommended food and lodging easy to refer. I also appreciated the detailed boxes on agrotourism, wineries, and the island's other cultural and geographic features. The "our pick" notations were helpful and the selections excellent and accurate for the places I visited with my wife (Chania Prefecture, Iraklion, and Elafonisi). The writer's/editors' love of Crete come through in the writing, steering you away from tourist traps and towards a more enriching Cretan experience. They seem to know the island better than most other mainstream travel guide publishers that I have read (possible exception of Rough Guide). My only suggestion for improvement would be to provide some more background detail/history for certain sites and cities than the brief description in each section currently provide. Overall, the LP Crete guide is a very helpful traveling companion for either a brief or extended trip.

The book is just a little more than a turist guide. Maybe it can be usefull when making a tour with a small suitcase and a credit card, but backpackers and budget travelers shouldn't lean too much on it. Do your own research when planning the trip and talk to your kind of travelers on the trip. I guess the author did't do any researhes on her own but just copying the previous text. Maybe just some prices that are different than in the previous edition.
Manos hotel in Chania is (let say) recomended by the book and it advertises that in the street proudly. When i asked for the room the price was double than written in the book and not negotiable. The hotel was dirty and the owner arogant. This was just one of my experiences on the trip that don't fit into the guide. But O.K. this can happen. The problem are missing information. For instance that you can sleep half price in the turk part of the historic centre of Chania etc.
Overall: It is O.K. to have a guide on a trip but after visiting Nepal, India and Turkey with Lonely Planet is this one quite a dissapointment to me.