Customer Reviews

Fodor's Caribbean 2005 (Fodor's Gold Guides)

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Still the best. Comprehensive, well organized, easy on the eyes, easy on the hands, and compact enough to take wherever you go. None of those fancy-schmancy pictures and other graphics that just distract you from what you're looking for. Of course, as with all guidebooks, sometimes the ratings make you wonder what they were smoking at the time; also I could do without those advertisement pages in the middle of the book. DON'T RELY TOO MUCH ON OUTDATED EDITIONS, because of how often places open and close, or are affected by construction, hurricanes, and whatever else, or just change hands (which means the quality can change).

Fodor's Caribbean is different from other Fodor's guidebooks; in most cases (Fodor's London, Fodor's Paris) the traveler is beginning with the specific destination in mind. Those guidebooks are geared to get as much as possible out of a given city. Fodor's Caribbean is designed to help the reader to DECIDE where to go.

The Caribbean is a vast area and each island is different from the next. There is something there for everybody. It runs the gamut in terms of cultures and prices. The first sixty-six pages of this book are filled with general information about the Caribbean to help you plan your trip. The "What's Where" section is especially helpful; it gives a paragraph breakdown on each island. This is followed by the equally useful "Island Finder" chart: this is a graph with all the islands arranged vertically and every possible category of interest (price, beaches, golf, night-life, etc.) arranged horizontally. Each island's price and activities are rated to help you determine which one is best for your interests and your budget. The introduction also has a ton of other useful information, such as when to go, currency, events, and various other travel tips.

The bulk of the book (and it is a bulky book) is like an encyclopedia of islands; each island (or island cluster) has its own chapter that tells you everything you could possibly want to know about it: history, location, size, population, activities, events, etc. Of course, all the restaurants and hotels are rated according to quality and price.

For my money, the best islands in the Caribbean are the smaller ones that take more trouble to get to. St. Barth's used to be the best and most inexpensive island; now it is the best and MOST expensive. Then, little-known Anguilla became the "new" St. Barth's; now, it is almost as expensive as the old St. Barth's. Believe it or not, there are still islands in the Caribbean that you have never heard of, which are unique and authentic and make for the best vacations. Take Saba, for example: this is an island so small that the islanders only go by their first names. Saba is simply a volcano rising out of the ocean. There are no beaches on Saba, but it has some of the best diving around. There are other islands out there - this book will help you find them.

We just pulled out this book again to plan a trip in 2007. It is jam packed with lots of useful overviews and info of the whole Caribbean.

Truly can not plan a trip to paradise without this book. Fodors is IMO the leader of the genre of tropical travel books.

This 2005 edition is thoroughly up-to-date and crammed full of useful information.

Best of breed!