Customer Reviews

Frommer's Singapore & Malaysia (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

Frommer's info is well-written and clear but 228 out of 299 pages deal only with Singapore and this book has no information at all about Sarawak and Sabah, the best places in Malaysia in my opinion.The info on Taman Negara Park and it's activities, such as rafting were scanty and there was no info on the islands of the eastern peninsula.

I just purchased this book in anticipation of a trip to Malaysia....so my review is written without having yet been on the trip.

However, this book lacks some basic information on Malaysia that I expect in a travel guide in order to plan a trip, for example, more fleshed out information on safety, health, exercise (and more) that is usually found in Frommer's guides and is found in the section on Singapore.

The *ONE* map of Kuala Lumpur is inadequate to even find the things mentioned in the accompanying text.

And when trying to figure out what to do with a few extra days from Kuala Lumpur, there is no information on how to get to the sites suggested, nor how long it takes! No web sites or email addresses listed for the outfitters mentioned - perhaps they don't exist, but I doubt it.

There were other inadequacies I noted in the section on Malaysia as well, but these suffice as examples of why I find this book of poor quality compared to most Frommer's books.

For the first time ever, I have to say I am very disappointed in a Frommer's guide.

Other reviews have mentioned that Malaysia (especially Borneo) is given short shrift. I agree. The Singapore section is helpful, however. In planning our trip we relied on Lonely Planet more for peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

I was very disappointed in this book. Frommer's guidebooks are usually pretty dependable, but this one is the exception. Planning to go to Malaysia, I purchased the book and it has only a brief (about 100 pages) on the entire country of Malaysia. Have to buy another book. The Singapore section seems ok for someone going there.

Frommer was very deceptive. If it were an automobile, they would have to issue a recall!

Although the title of this book would make one think that both the CITY-STATE of Singapore & the COUNTRY of Malaysia would receive coverage equal to their size, think again. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to tiny Singapore and the rest to huge (in comparison) Malaysia. I guess it's not so surprising when you learn that the author lives in Singapore and is married to a Singaporian! Frommer should be ashamed of their title. It should more accurately be "Singapore with a Section on Malaysia"!

Living in Singapore, we have a collection of guides for visitors to use and most seem to find this by far the most useful. It's engagingly written and covers a wide choice of hotels, places to eat and things to see and do. As others have said, Singapore is covered in more detail than Malaysia, but we find that suits our needs, since most of our visitors aren't planning to visit Malaysia for more than a couple of days.

Frommer's info is well-written and clear but 228 out of 299 pages deal only with Singapore and this book has no information at all about Sarawak and Sabah, the best places in Malaysia in my opinion.The info on Taman Negara Park and it's activities, such as rafting were scanty and there was no info on the islands of the eastern peninsula.

As most other reviewers have noted, this book's title is completely misleading. It is a mediocre travel guide to Singapore with a small subsection on Malaysia. To put this into perspective, Kuala Lumpur's metro area has a population of 6.9 million yet gets 15 pages of coverage in this book. Singapore, with a population of 4.5 million, gets 167 pages. Most of the Malaysian island sections only have hotel reviews which cover large all-encompassing resort hotels.

I got the feeling from reading this book that it is targeted to tourists whose primary priority is finding a large hotel room just like back home. No walks are included. Many unhelpful comments are included like "The [train] lines don't seem to connect in any logical way" (KL Rail) without suggesting solutions. We ended up barely touching the book and cribbing from another traveler's Lonely Planet guide, which was more helpful overall.

Luckily, we did have The Rough Guide to Singapore which was much more useful for the Singapore leg of our trip and had better maps and suggested agendas. Eating recommendations were hit or miss, of the places we tried in Singapore many were nothing special or seemed to be catering to timid palates.

I just spent a month on business in Singapore and couldn't have made it without this book. Everything was right on, from restaurant reviews to prices for hotels. Jennifer has a great sense of humor and is right on with her recommendations and insights. I travel a lot and will buy Frommers from now on.

This book should not EVEN include Malaysia. Way over half the book is about Singapore. It barely mentions any destination in Malasia besides KL. The few large cities it does mention, little to no relavent travel info is covered by this book. Oh, maybe if you're a museum nut! That's not my kind of travel. The hotel references are made from a rich elitest snob point of view. I don't want to, and can't afford to stay at $400 hotels every night! My advise to you....BUY ANOTHER BOOK...NOT THIS ONE