Customer Reviews

Footprint Brazil, 4th Edition (Footprint Brazil Handbook)

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

 

 

I originally selected this guidebook because it seemed like an adequate alternative to Lonely Planet, which are great guidebooks that I have depended on for years. However, I was in search of a guidebook that's a little bit different and more detailed for my trip to Brazil. On its face, Footprint fulfilled this requirement. However, I was quick to find out that I was dead wrong. Simply put, the guidebook was a total disappointment. The writing is absolutely awful and I'm still sitting here wondering whether Footprint has an editorial staff. The guidebook literally contains sentences that are incoherent and incomplete. While it's historical and cultural description of various Brazilian cities and towns are adequate, the remaining components of the guidebook fail to meet the demands of a practical traveler. Most notably, it's departure and arrival times, and directions in getting around a specific city are impossible to understand and, in some cases, dead wrong. Thank god someone I was traveling with brought her Lonely Planet. A side-by-side comparison revealed that
my purchase of Footprint was a waste of hard-earned money.

I am currently traveling in Brazil with this book, and it frustrates me so much that I'm actually paying money at this internet cafe to prevent others from experiencing the same pain.
I bought this book because it was the most recent guidebook for Brazil, and because several people referred to Footprint as "the Bible for South America." I suppose that analogy is accurate--like the Bible, this book is awkwardly worded, cryptic and useless for day-to-day logistics. But I have several more specific complaints. Open to the very first page, and you encounter a theme for the entire book: a featureless, useless map and confusing editorial errors. Maps, if you're lucky enough to get one, rarely contain more than 2-3 recommended hotels and restaurants (even if the text refers to several), and almost no other landmarks like travel agents, banks, airlines, etc. As a result, we walked 45 minutes across Rio to a travel agent because a) the guidebook didn't show us the airline office two blocks in the other direction and b) the map left out a significant chunk of land--we thought the walk would be only 15 minutes. Then we paid for a taxi to a restaurant only 5 blocks away because neither our hotel clerk nor the cab driver knew the address given in the guidebook. Of course the restaurant wasn't labeled on the map, DESPITE that it was recommended twice in the text, and well within the map's margins. These things would never happen with a Lonely Planet.
In Praia do Forte, one of the only 14 places the guidebook recommends throughout Brazil, no map was given, and no address and phone number were listed for the only budget accommodation listed. As a result, we spent 15 minutes at the tourist office while the clerk called around town to see if anyone knew the hotel. We finally gave up and found our own (more expensive) lodging, only to learn that a nice hostel has been in business there for years. I could go on and on with examples like these.
Which leads me to another complaint: I no longer trust this book's recommendations. They are incomplete and in many cases wrong--more than a few times, places listed as excellent lodging/restaurants or good places to meet travelers are crummy, vacant spots.
I have two final complaints. One, the Language section is an absolute joke. For pronunciation, it basically tells you that letters are said differently throughout Brazil, but it doesn't guide you in any way. It also fails to list many common things you'll need to say as a traveler, including "yes." Unbelievable. And two, this book contains advertising!
I gave this review two stars because the book does have decent Directory sections. But of course there's rarely any indication where the locations in the directory can actually be found. In summary, using this guidebook means you'll need to visit the tourist office in every town for maps, hotels and restaurant listings... in which case you don't need this guidebook at all.

This year (Sept/Oct 2007) I spent a month traveling through Brazil. I took three guides: Footprint 5th edition, Lonely Planet and Frommer's. Footprint would have been my first choice, BUT, it has some weak areas that need improvement.

First, what works. The maps in this guide are plentiful, they are easy to use and read. It has excellent full color maps at the front and the back of the guide. Footprint rivals Lonely Plant with it wide sweeping coverage of Brazil. Kudos. If you are going off the beaten path, this is a outstanding guide to take with you. If you are going to go just to the Amazon, then this is the best guide available (70 pages). Also, Alex Robinson's descriptions of cities, significant locations and sights to see are top rate. His sidebars, and highlighted information sections, are excellent.

However, if you are looking for a guide to help you with the Carnival (Rio/Salvador/Recife) keep looking. This guide has an abysmal 2 pages on the event (The best Brazil guide for Carnival is Frommer's). Robinson's restaurant choices are disappointing and his descriptions are very terse and often trite: "Excellent seafood in a street side restaurant", or "Hamburgers, juices, sandwiches." Other guides have restaurant write-ups that make you want to try the food, i.e. Frommer's, "We tried the filet of mignons in cassis sauce and grilled figs and the lamb in tamarind sauce on a bed of cassve puree."

Robinson's bland descriptions continues with the accommodations:"Good value for the category." Hum. What category? Like the restaurant choices, the accommodations recommendations are hit or miss. One of the worse hotels we used was highly promoted in the guide (Recife Monte in Recife - Avoid! - see TripAdvisor) .

About money: Brazil is not `cheep'. This guide incorrectly states that the prices are "about a third of those in the USA". NOT. The dollar's fall makes Brazil about as expensive as the USA. In Rio, a decent hotel (not great a hotel, just decent) is at least $100 and up. A good, not great, meal is at least $20 to $30. I traveled during the "Low Season" and I found that I needed $100-$150 a day to travel at a 3-4 star level and eat OK (not including my airfares). You should add at least 20-30% in high season and at least 60% at Carnival.

Finally, I found Culture Shock! Brazil 2007 by Volker Poelzl (highly recommended --see my review) to be a `must read' if you want to better understand this dynamic and diverse country. Overall, Footprint Brazil 2007 is a good guide, but Frommer's is better for restaurant and accommodation recommendations. 3.5 stars

I purchased this guidebook because my much trusted travel store 'highly recommended' the book. I have traveled all over the world and I have never been more frustrated, and annoyed, at a guide book than I am with this one. It has been completely worthless - from a useless and incomplete language section, to poorly edited maps (or no maps given), recommended Pousadas with no address and no phone number, to sections that go on-and-on about what to do while in a town only tell you to hunt down the local paper (which is in Portguese)to find out where to go for a "do not miss" experience. A three year old Lonely Planet has been far more useful and accurate than this latest edition. My question - who writes and edits for Footprint and what are they smoking?

After Lonely Planet the dense Footprint format gets a bit of getting used to but the information within the guide is far superior; especially if you are looking to understand the country rather than just pass through. I found the listings better too - with a higher quality of hotels and restaurants, especially in the middle and upper ranges.

This is one of Footprint's better books - covering this vast continent sized country with real love and understanding. I found it a great companion on my journey in Sao Paulo, Rio, Bahia and Central Brazil - where it helped me find places in the Chapada dos Veadeiros and Pirenopolis just not listed anywhere else.

Footprint makes decent guidebooks, such as Footprint Brazil, but but unfortunately, they tend to do a lot of political editorializing that makes unnececssary reading for someone seeking out a travel destination (see their blatantly Anti-Israel guide to that country for an example of this tendency) Until they change their editorial policies, socially conscious and culturally respectful consumers should spend their money elsewhere.

As someone who has taken a walk around the block a few times in my lifespan, I have read a few travel guides to pave my way. I bought this one as it was the most recent available as a fresh publication, and on the positive reviews this series has scored on Amazon. I prefer to have cultural sites and restaurant information listed separately.

This book jumbles everything you may see by neighbourhood in the larger cities, and one might not choose to go a location if one doesn't know what is there to see as far as museums and historical sites. Also, i like to search for restaurants by type. It is convenient for people with special diets or preferences (vegetarian, seafood, certain ethnic types).

If you have time to read the WHOLE book, including the other chapters where information on other Brazilian cultural information is hidden (football, food and drink), then you may get more out of it than I did. As for myself, I found another publisher's guide that had been printed back in 2003 more useful.