Fodor's Belize 3rd Edition (Travel Guide) [Paperback]

Fodor's (Author)

Book Description

Series: Travel Guide | Publication Date: August 26, 2008

Fodor’s. For Choice Travel Experiences.

Fodor’s helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. Although you’re at the helm, Fodor’s offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. It’s like having a friend in Belize!

•Updated frequently, Fodor’s Belize provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available in a guidebook.

•Fodor’s Belize features options for a variety of budgets, interests, and tastes, so you make the choices to plan your trip of a lifetime.

•If it’s not worth your time, it’s not in this book. Fodor’s discriminating ratings, including our top tier Fodor’s Choice designations, ensure that you’ll know about the most interesting and enjoyable places in Belize.

•Experience Belize like a local! Fodor’s Belize includes choices for every traveler from diving, deep-sea fishing, and bird-watching to just lounging on the beach.

•Indispensable, customized trip planning tools include “Top Reasons to Go,” “Word of Mouth” advice from other travelers, and tips to help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common travel pitfalls.

Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In terms of comprehensiveness of coverage, the very accessible format, and the enthusiastic tone, this series remains one of the best on the market." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's super-informative guidebooks are known for accuracy and attention to detail…" –The Sacramento Bee
 
"The Fodor's guides are notable for their ratings of sights, restaurants, shops, accommodations and attractions." –Chicago Tribune
 
"The great detail, infectious spirit, and attractive format are distinguishing traits of these guides, which are entries in one of the top series in the business." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's can help you plan the perfect adventure" –The Arizona Republic
 
"Always thoughtfully written and easily readable, Fodor's travel guides have become a must-have when traveling to unfamiliar destinations" –Mid South Magazine
 
"Widely recognized as the gold standard of mainstream travel" –Honolulu Advertiser

About the Author

Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by resident experts. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Fodor's; 3rd edition (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400019419
• ISBN-13: 978-1400019410
• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lan Sluder is a writer who specializes in books on travel and retirement, especially in Belize and the Southeastern United States. He is the author of more than a dozen books and eBooks on Belize. Among his Belize books are Fodor's Belize, Living Abroad in Belize, Adapter Kit: Belize, Belize Island Guide, Easy Belize, San Pedro Cool and Belize First Guide to Mainland. Sluder is also founder, editor and publisher of Belize First Magazine -- Web edition at www.belizefirst.com.

A former business newspaper editor in New Orleans, Sluder has contributed articles on travel, retirement and business subjects to publications around the world, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Where to Retire, Globe and Mail, St. Petersburg Times, Bangkok Post, The Tico Times, Newsday and Caribbean Travel & Life. In addition, he also authored the travel guides InFocus Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Frommer's Best Beach Vacations: Carolinas and Georgia and co-authored several editions of Fodors's The Carolinas & Georgia. When not in Belize or traveling elsewhere in the world, he lives on a mountain farm near Asheville, North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing drop in quality., December 20, 2006

By 

Ed Dinty (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fodor's Belize 2007 (Fodor's Gold Guides) (Paperback)

I have always considered Fodor's travel books to be the best. They covered the highlights of each country in terms of a brief history, what to expect, places to visit, restaurants and where to stay. Their reviews were concise, accurate and covered a range from moderate to expensive. Most refreshing was an absence of the pretentious attitudes that often characterized other guides. (Frommers being the worst offender.)

I've visited Belize before, but since it had been a few years, picked up Fodor's Belize 2007 guide. First thing I noticed is it is now one complete book devoted to the country, where in the past it was grouped under the title of "Central America". In this case, more does not translate into better. Much of this book is irrelevant filler.

Most disappointing however is that the writers seems to have "phoned it in" while lounging by the resort swimming pool. In short, if you love expensive hotels or trendy restaurants, this is the book for you. If you are interested in visiting more of the real country, try another publication.

For example, Dangriga is a fascinating part of Belize, but lacks traditional tourist infrastructure. While it may not be the most popular part of the country for the Fodor writers, I would expect at least an update of hotel descriptions. Sadly, some are easily two years out of date.

Yet another example is seen in the coverage afforded to Belmopan, the capitol of the country. Belmopan is also not a major area for tourism, but people do visit. There are some small hotels and B&B's available, nothing fancy, but clean and friendly. Yet the only listings shown in the 2007 Guide are for resorts located many miles away (One suggestion is at least a 45 minute drive from Belmopan. Its a beautiful air-conditioned jungle lodge but so far away, to list it is absurd.) Again, the writers may not like having to stay in a small hotel, but they should at least list them for others who may visit.

Not surprisingly, the only place this book excels is when it comes to Ambergris Caye and San Pedro. It does give a very good listing of hotels, restaurants and activities. While the focus is on the more expensive, it does cover a representative range.

I hope this guide does not mark a new direction for Fodors. I personally enjoy staying in more upscale accommodations, but would not avoid a section of a country simply because there are no 4-star hotels. A good travel book should give a complete range. I stopped using Frommers because of this arrogance. I hope Fodors is not following in their footsteps.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, although more $$ recommendations, October 20, 2006

By 

Michelle R. Parker "rohana81" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fodor's Belize 2007 (Fodor's Gold Guides) (Paperback)

My husband and I just returned from a 16 day trip, and this book was definitely worth the money!! It is the most up to date Belize guidebook you can buy right now, and almost all of it's information was right on. We also bought the Belize Moon Guidebook, and comparing the two, I would say that Fodors is more upscale. Usually, it's assuming you're going to rent a car and hire guides for your trips (both of which cost $$$), and it does a better job of describing more expensive hotels and restaurants. This is great if you have the money, but we were on a budget, so this info was useless for us. The Moon book did a better job covering places and topics for a budget traveller (like what to do if you get a GI bug--something no one wants, but when it happens, you're glad it's covered in the book!). That said, Fodor's was still really helpful because it's the most up to date, so it's maps, attractions, restaurant, and lodging recommendations could usually be relied on (Kudos for the Fodor's recommendation for Tradewinds in Plancencia--this tip alone made me glad I bought the book!). Overall, it's the perfect book if you are planning a more upscale trip, but it's still very helpful (4 star) if you're a budget traveller and I would defintely recommend purchasing it along with the Moon Belize book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great travel helper, June 30, 2008

By 

D. Rethman "Ohio wine enthusiast" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fodor's Belize 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides) (Paperback)

Great book! We booked the accomodations through a travel agency but found that they were both Fodor's choice. The resorts were well described, and using their recommendations on where to eat on Ambergris Caye were spot on! The only thing I would have liked would have been more detailed maps of the different areas (Cayes in particular) but that may be out of the scope of this book. Highly recommend!