Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete Guides) [Paperback]

Lesley S. King (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: February 3, 2009

America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series

• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides

• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries

• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Frommer's. The best trips start here.

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer.

• Insider tips ranging from the best of Santa Fe's galleries and Native American pueblos to favorite white-water rafting trips and scenic drives.

• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.

• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.

• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

About the Author

Lesley S. King grew up on a ranch in northern New Mexico, where she still returns on weekends to help work cattle. She’s a freelance writer and photographer, and she’s a columnist for New Mexico magazine—as well as an avid kayaker and skier. Formerly the managing editor for The Santa Fean, she has written about food and restaurants for The New York Times; the Anasazi culture for United Airline’s Hemispheres magazine; and the environment for Audubon. She is also the author of Frommer’s Santa Fe, Taos & Albuquerque, Frommer’s Great Outdoor Guide to Arizona & New Mexico, and New Mexico For Dummies, and she’s the co-author of Frommer’s American Southwest. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; 10 edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470371862
• ISBN-13: 978-0470371862
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lesley S. King grew traveling to the beaches of Mexico and herding cattle on her family's ranch in northern New Mexico. She is author of King of the Road, a book of travel essays, along with many travel guidebooks including Frommer's New Mexico and New Mexico for Dummies. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Audubon Magazine, and in a monthly travel column for New Mexico Magazine, among other places. Most recently, she coauthored By the Way: A Guide to New Mexico's 25 Scenic Byways. Check out her Spiritual Travel & Food Writing Workshops.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was the best guidebook I found for New mexico, June 25, 2000

By 

Al B. (Rome, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's New Mexico, 5th ed) (Paperback)

I browsed many guidebooks in bookstores and read several from the library before settling on this book to take with me to the Southwest.

The writer writes well and she is not afraid to offer candid opinions of hotels and tourist sites. She's a New Mexico native and shares her passion for the state with the reader.

** I especially liked the lists of top attractions by type in the front of the book: Best of Natural New Mexico, Best Scenic and Historic Drives, Best Outdoor Activities, Best Family Experiences, Best Historic Hotels, etc. (there are 12 of these lists).

These lists helped my companion (my 13 year old son) and I get our hands around the diversity of this state and plan just what we most wanted to do during our one week in the Southwest.

Once we narrowed down what we wanted to do, the book was arranged by region, listing all the other things we could do while in that area.

Other good companion books for this trip were Tony Hillerman's novels set in Navajo country and the book, Roadside Geology of New Mexico.

The Frommers book for Arizona has the same organization and is very good, but not quite as good as this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what all guidebooks should aspire to., October 19, 2009

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

There are at least two kinds of travel guidebooks. Good ones, I mean. Most useful guidebooks are primarily fact-oriented. They tell you what's available to the traveler and the details necessary to take advantage of them -- restaurant addresses, and the hours a museum is open, that sort of stuff. When the selection is useful, we're all glad to turn to such guidebooks... even if they don't have a lot of personal style.

This Frommer's guide to New Mexico, however, is in the better classs of travel books; it's really a personal guide. It's abundantly clear that the author, Lesley King, really knows and loves New Mexico, and the suggestions reflect King's affection for the state and its attractions. It's as though you have a friend accompanying you, giving you personal advice, like "This store has too many cheap trinket-like items for me, but many people find some novelty items to take back home. You'll find everything from salsas to tortilla chips..." or "For as long as I can remember, my family and many of my friends' families have scheduled trips into northern New Mexico to coincide with lunch or dinner at this fun restaurant. [Rancho de Chimayo]" -- the latter of which has a two-inch description of the restaurant's history, menu, and location.

I spent a week on the road in the Four Corners area, primarily in New Mexico, with five books stuffed in my bag. Even though four of them covered the same area, the Frommer's Guide was the one I turned to first. Some of the reasons were purely pragmatic; this book has the COMPLETE information, with telephone number, website, and the days and hours they're open. (One book on Santa Fe omitted the later bit regularly.) Others were qualitative; we never went to a restaurant or chose a hotel from this book that was a bad deal. It also actively encouraged us to visit places we'd otherwise miss, such as a lunch stop in the El Rancho hotel in Gallup ("This restaurant has fans all across the Southwest. They come to experience the Old West decor...and the sense of the many movie stars who once ate here"), often places that are local favorites. You'll find the expected high-end destinations too (such as the long list of excellent restaurants in Santa Fe), but this book does a particularly good job at helping you distinguish between them.

Speaking of Santa Fe -- I'd also gotten a guidebook specific to that city. Unless you're going to spend a lot more time in that one town, I don't think you need the standalone book. This one does an excellent job at Santa Fe attractions; I ended up taking the advice of this book more often anyway.

Oh, the book also has a full sized state map that easily can be torn out. So you don't need to buy another one.

If you're planning a trip to New Mexico, this is the book for you. You don't need to do more comparison shopping.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good guide!, March 3, 2008

By 

Edith Miller "mom of 2 boys" (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

Well researched and plenty of information. Gives details on what to expect, how much you may pay, when to go etc. I hope that it had more pictures but other than that, this is the only book you'll need.