Customer Reviews

Frommer's Southeast Asia (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

- Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos.. Get the highlights of frommers books in one edition. As all Frommers, great recommendations on itineraries (Best of lists) and opinionated. Not for backpackers who want to know more details (lonely planet is best for that) but great for those who want a range of options and strong guidance.

This guide is one of the best guide books. It has everything you need to know before going to Asia. From currency, weather, attractions, shopping, beaches, bargain accomodations to the best local dining experience. I liked the various highlights that were given for each city in asia. This way if you are pressed for time while traveling, you can pick out the sites that were listed. Very helpful with the information provided for getting arounfd the city. It lists various modes of transportation, and the approximate costs. A must have if you are traveling to asia.

I purchased this book in May 2011 to do reserach on my upcoming trip to southeast Asia. Frommer's Southest Asia has a good general descriptions of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bali/Indonesia (Philippines is not included) in 654 pages. Each country has a very good description of things a traveler should know(eg best time to travel, when important holidays are, historical information and facts, information on the political situation, safety precautions, tips on getting visas to some of the countries, sites to visit, getting around, shopping suggestions, overview of foods and poular dishes, restaurants, etc). Much of this information was very helpful and will help a travel plan a itinerary. One gripe I have is that there are no photos. The book includes some small maps of the main city a visitor is likely to travel to. I would have been nice to have an idea of recommended places or sites, especially in a travel book. The other gripe I have are the suggestions for hotels that were mentioned. The book assumes that the reader is willing to pay top dollar for a 5 star resort hotel in SOUTHEAST ASIA. The hotels that were highlighted were few and were very expensive establishments; the prices listed were costly (hundreds of dollars per night). This was a big disappointment since there are many very inexpensive, but good quality sleeping establishments all over southeast asia! The book should give the reader more hotel options, especially hotels with websites so the reader cna get a preview.

False Advertising: The preview contents show coverage of Myanmar but the current edition has excluded any coverage of the country. As Myanmar is on my itinerary I am disappointed.

The book is complete easy to read and full of information about the Indochina area. It is up to date, gives ratings of things to see and is lightweight enough to carry in a backpack.

A good representation of what's there. The maps were extremely accurate and the price gauge was great and very useful. I enjoy Fommer's books.

I find it odd that this book had only 80 pages on Malaysia, compared to about 140 for Vietnam. Furthermore, what information it contains on Malaysia was sparse. Most of the accommodation mentioned was high-end. There wasn't even a map of Kuala Lumpur in it!

(I confess that I only spent a couple of ours with this book. After skimming through it, I took it back, and exchanged it for another that concentrates on Singapore and Malaysia. There is a Frommer's, but it was out of stock, so I picked up the Rough Guide, which is delightful so far.)