Customer Reviews

Fodor's Mexico 2006 (Fodor's Gold Guides)

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2 star:		(1)
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In the world of travel guides there are guides for travelers with money and guides for travelers on a budget. Let's Go, Rough Guide and Lonely Planet are in the latter group, while Fodor's and Frommer's are guides that target those with money; clearly Frommer's is the best.

On the positive side, what Fodor's does well in all of their guides is recommend the best restaurants and hotels. Sadly, this is the only aspect of Fodor's that is commendable.

Reprehensible is the complete absence of history, politics, environment, culture and customs of Mexico! This may be the first major travel guide that says nothing, zero, zilch about the country that the guide covers. Go figure. A serious shortcoming.

The maps are bland and not reliable for locating eateries or accommodations. Fodor's only includes restaurant and accommodations maps for a just few select cities - for the rest of cities you're on your own. Not good.

The cumbersome system of dollar signs to represent prices, i.e. three dollar signs -$$$- equal this much, two - $$ - equal this much, which causes you to flip back and forth trying to remember what $$$ meant. Frommer's, on the other hand, just tells you the cost in dollars. Your room will be $120-$175. Yea! for Frommer's.

Finally, the writing of the guide is blase and hackneyed. "The island of Cozumel is a kinder, gentler version of Cancun" (a kinder island?) and "The average Mexican eats nearly a pound of tortillas a day" (compared to a pound of french fries in the US?). This unimaginative writing continues on to the hotel and restaurant descriptions, for example, one hotel had, "Rooms aren't very inspired" (yes, I want an inspired room!). One restaurant was recommended for its "Home-cooked Mexican food... tacos and quesadillas and you can also get hamburgers," (great, a home cooked Mexican hamburger). A good travel guide should be enticing and engaging in its writing.

Save your $21.95. There are much better guides on Mexico. Try Frommer's, or if you are on a tight budget get "Let's Go - Mexico" or "Rough Guide". 2 stars.