Customer Reviews

Fodor's India, 3rd Edition: Expert Advice and Smart Choices: Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore On and Off the Beaten Path (Fodor's Gold Guides)

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Hello to fellow travellers to India.

I bought this 2000 edition of Fodor's India because I got a deal online, but found the book to be of very limited use.

One of the best features of this book is the recommendation of itineraries based on the number of days that you might spend in a neighborhood. For example, if you intend to visit the state of Tamil Nadu, the book recommends specific itineraries if you have 4 days, 7 days, or 10 days at your disposal. If such a feature is important to you, this may be a very satisfactory book for you. The section on travel tips is also a good one.

I found the book to lack in comprehensiveness. For example, if you intend to visit any places in Maharashtra other than Bombay (Mumbai) or the Ajanta, Ellora caves, you wont be able to find it in this book. The hotel and dining recommendations were also disappointing. We stayed at the beautiful Park guest house on the beach at Pondicherry and ate at wonderful Annalakshmi restaurant in Madras (Chennai). Neither was listed in Fodor's.

Another helpful feature that you find in other guides such as Footprint is the location of money changers (for foreign exchange) in any given city - a feature that you will not find in Fodor's.

If you are looking for historical details about locations, it is hard to beat the Blue guides. I was also impressed by the Rough guide and Footprint guide. The latter is especially good about including detailed maps of cities. (I got a chance to look at these various guides in a local library and would recommend to others that they look at as many guides as available in your local library before buying one to take with you to India.)

No matter which travel guide you use, I hope you have a great time in India!