Customer Reviews

Frommer's Peru (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

This is an update for the latest edition which was released in 2008. I took this guide with me to Peru 9-09. For the last nine years I have lived in, and traveled throughout Peru. Frommer's keep surprising me with new relevant information about Peru. Kudos. Especially informative is Frommer's first section: "What's New in Peru". In Frommer's the Cusco, the Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail section alone take up 100 pages and the information is excellent. If you are going only to these locations then this portion of the guide is reason enough to buy Frommer's. Also, for ornithologists (bird watchers too) Peru is one of the greatest countries on earth and Frommer's has good coverage on how, where and with whom.

In the world of Peru guides (this year I have reviewed five) there are two types of guides; those guides that are written for the wandering/explorer/backpacker who wants travel to the normal visitors' sites, but will also go `off the beaten track' (Footprint, Let's Go and Lonely Planet [the best is LP, see my reviews]), and then there are the guides for the traveler who like comfort, have money and will visit only the main tourist attractions: Cusco [Machu Pichu], Puno [Lake Titicaca], Arequipa [Colca Canyon], Lima, Iquitos and the lines at Nazca ... this is where Fodor's and Frommer's fit.

Frommer's is much better than Fodor's in many aspects, and in comparison to all the guides, Frommer's excels in providing you with the important and essential information needed to plan your trip (entry requirements, health, travel resources, when to go, suggested itineraries, recommended reading, etc.). Thus, if you are staying on the tourist route then you will do well to have this guide in your knapsack.

Frommer's recommendations of restaurants in Cusco is much better than the 2005 guide but still not what it should be. 'Cicciolina' restaurant is a must, but on the other hand the 'Inca Grill' is expensive, so-so food and targets the tourist trade. Check out tripadvisor online for current eateries or ask a local professional where they eat. Take care when asking the local guides for restaurant recommendations, as they will normally direct you to a tourist restaurant and thereby get a free meal and commission from the restaurant.

If you are NOT exploring Peru or going off the beaten-path this is a very good guide. For those that desire to go down the road-less-traveled get Lonely Planet. Frommer's Peru is Strongly Recommended 4.5 Stars

It appears to me that the first reviewer may have a chip on his shoulder and ought to have stayed home, wherever that is. As someone who was raised in Perú and return often, I believe that the author of Frommer's Perú did a very good job, especially considering that most guidebooks don't include much about how tourism is endangering many heritage sites in the country. Neil Schlecht obviously cares and let's readers know, politely, that they need to walk softly through this beautiful nation.

I loved the fact that I recognized many of the places he recommended - La Casa de Melgar in Arequipa is indeed a marvelous place to stay, for example and it was a thrill to read his section on Cajamarca, my second favourite Peruvian city, after Arequipa.

I liked his Best of Perú section, although I believe that he missed on the best markets/shopping section and would have liked to read more about how tourists are also endangering the textile and folk art traditions given that they want cheap shopping. For example, more and more textile artists are using synthetic yarns and dyes because they're fed up with visitors bartering them down to pennies for an object that took weeks, if not months to make. Take a moment to consider that the folks who make authentic Peruvian textiles and folk art need to eat, feed and educate their children and have a right to have their work and themselves treated with respect and dignity - heads up to the first reviewer!

Perú is, in many ways, like India in that one could travel there every year for the rest of one's life and not see everything. Personally, I would follow Schlecht's advice and get off the "tourist trail", into the north, the central highlands - the Mantaro Valley, Tarma, the Chanchamayo Valley for a taste of the *real* Perú, not yet the flavours of the month.

Good for you, Neil Schlecht and good for Frommer's. I hope that you will continue to publish Frommer's Perú and update it frequently.

I just got back from my trip to Peru and I purchased the 2008 edition to have the most up to date tourist information about Peru. This book was very helpful, as well as the blogs and forums in the Frommer's website. However, I was dissapointed to find that even though this was the latest edition the prices published for a lot of the things were already obsolute or not completely accurate which sort of threw off our budget for the trip. One good example is the "boleto turistico" that can be purchased in Cusco to visit a lof of the tourist attractions around the area. The book published a cost of S/70 and it actually cost S/130 per person. Unfortunately prices for turist attractions and transportation have gone up drastically in Peru. It was just unfortunate that I paid extra to have the most up to date information and prices about traveling to Peru and we came to find that the price information was inaccurate in some ocassions. Other than that I give a positive review to this travel guide.

This book has been very instrumental in helping us plan our trip to Peru next May. The descriptions are well written and the and accompanying recommendations have provided us with some insight into the country, its culture, regions, and people. The maps have been essential in allowing us to get a better understanding of the distances between the places we plan to visit and climate changes we can expect in Peru.

You can never go wrong with a Frommer's travel guide. I borrowed this book from the library when I went to Peru hiking. We where not disappointed in any of the suggestions. I highly recommend Frommer's when you are planning any vacations.

Frommer's Peru, First Edition; is a comprehensive and informative guide covering all the main tourist destinations in the country. The new star system helps in zeroing in on the best hotels, restaurants and attractions. I particularly like Chapter 3, The Active Vacation Planner. It lists the best places to go according to various interests. The book also lists various tour companies which specialize in that area. Highly recommended.

I have no idea what the other people who wrote these reviews were thinking. just got back from a wonderful trip to sacred valley, cusco, and lima. on 3 separate occasions i was muttering to myself that this book is so stupid, when someone with the same book interrupted me and said how angry the book made them too! if anything we bonded with fellow travelers about the ineptitude of the the editor!To name a few problems: multiple maps for the same area of town. no index for maps. maps are many pages apart and do not reference the text they are near. restaurants and hotel reviews do not reference the map or number they correspond to. hotels listed my price range, yet alphabetical on the map. general descriptions of an area have references to things or places that are not in the main list, hence you have to remember what section you read about a cool thing to do - the main overview, the city overview, the city listing, or some other text blog. i could go on and on, but this thing is crap. the recommendations might be decent if not somewhat outdated and incomplete, but the layout makes you want to tear your head off. we literally were ripping pages out and "cutting and pasting" the old fashion way.

We used the chapters on Cusco and Sacred Valley-Machu Picchu on our last trip to Peru and we found many outdated information and incorrect addresses. I understand there's the 2008 edition is out so buy the new one instead or consider another publisher. Friends of ours had the Fodor one and liked it a lot.

I thought that Frommer's Peru was very helpful and quite accurate with the exeption of one restaurant in Cusco, Greens, which had moved and become vegitarian. It's descriptions and opinions were enlightning, if not at points overcautious. I would have liked more on Lima. The bood discouraged travelers from going there, but I thought it was very nice in Miraflores. Highly recommended for anyone considering going to Peru.

This a good book for a first timer to Peru. Especially if you want basic information on hotels & restaurants, etc.