Customer Reviews

Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Frommer's guidebooks remain consistently the most useful of all the guidebooks. This one is no exception. Recommended without reservation.

I was disappointed with this book and don't think I'll buy another Frommer's guide again. Restaurants that had rave reviews were mediocre at best. I like these reference books to find the hidden treasures of an region but Frommer's just skims the well known and obvious choices for travel. Save the money and do your own research online.

We have been to New Mexico many times. It has been quite a few years though. Using your guide was frustrating. There were no specific directions to wineries. We circled around to find a correct street. It seemed like the writer's hadn't added much new in five years at least. There are so many beautiful drives and interesting hidden places, but we didn't find them using the Frommer's book. I think someone just mailed it in.

I am a loyal customer of Frommers Travel books for several years now and I highly recommend them to anyone planning a vacation. However, this book on New Mexico is not as good as I had hoped. It lacks the things I like best about Frommers (the things only the locals really knew about). This book has a minimal amount of that, otherwise, everything else in the book is just basic and average tourist info. I have also ordered another book that I will be reading in a couple of months and I am hoping that book is more like the Frommers I once knew.
This book except for the tourist warnings, had nothing that I could not have found on line. I am happy to have it and although I would not recommend it as a travel necessity to others, I will be bringing it along, just in case I need it.

I went to Hatch NM for the Chili festival. Frommer's helped me figure out what to do in the surrounding area. Restaurants in Las Cruces, things to see on the way to White Sands. The book is broken up into geographic areas which helped me figure out day trips after attending the festival. I found it very helpful in planning and for finding restaurants and scenic sights. The map included of New Mexico was not detailed enough for driving use and a few special events (apple festival) listed were long gone but overall this book helped make my vacation a success.

I do research online along with the guide but the guide is what helps me organize the trip and I carry it with me in the cab of my pickup.

I just ordered the Frommer's New Mexico travel book from Amazon. The book arrived promptly but the fold out pocket map that should have accompanied the book was not in the package. Both Amazon's website and the book back cover clearly stated that the book should have a pocket map.
I went on amazon's website to complain about the missing map. However, none of the options are suitable for my complaint. I do not want to return the book for a replacement because I will need it very soon. But there is no option provided anywhere just to receive the map that should have been packaged with it.
This is a reflection of poor customer service. I think I am stuck now.
The moral is, think about online orders before you execute them. You may get stuck with a faulty product and have no way to turn to a live human being to explain the predicament. You are stuck in the maze of electronic options that are not suitable to resolve your problem.

I just took a week-long trip to New Mexico and gave up using this book after the first day. I found my free AAA New Mexico Tourbook far more complete and informative.