Customer Reviews

Let's Go 2003: Thailand

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

 

 

A friend and I took this book and Lonely Planet to Thailand. By the end of the trip we using only Let's Go. It was simple and easy to use. While Lonely Planet it stacked with history and information and about twice as heavy, it takes twice as long to find what your looking for. The index was horrible, it didn't list anything.
I found Let's go maps and all around book layout to be a lots more user friendly. I recommend this book over Lonely Planet anyday!

I have used Let's Go guides to travel since 1989 and I have to say, they are excellent guides for the independent traveler. They give you all the information you need. For instance, when you land at an airport and you get off the plane, how do you get to town? Do you have to pay 50 bucks for a cab or can you take a bus? Do you have to negotiate the price before taking a cab? Their guides give you information such as "take bus #x from terminal y, get off at abc station...". For places to stay it usually tells you the pros and cons or what the catch is when the place is too cheap. I can't compare Let's Go with Lonely Planet or Rough Guide because I don't use them, but Let's Go seems to have more practical information. It doesn't have any pictures as Lonely Planet or Rough Guide, but what I prefer doing to make my itinerary is to read about the places that seem more interesting and then browse the web to see pictures. Let's Go also tells about places that are usually off the tourist circuit, such as an awesome Camel Market in Kom Ombo Egypt or the city of Ostia Antica near Rome.

I've carried both Let's Go and Lonely Planet guides while visiting Thailand, and found LP much more usable and informative.

The maps in Let's Go are relatively few and far between. The Lonely Planet has a lot more maps, and with a lot more detail than the LG maps.

LG used college students to research and write the guide, and it felt to me as if they hadn't been to many of the places described in the guide. It seems as if the basic info might have been taken from other guides, then couched in pseudo-hip language. I don't think any of the student authors had ever been to Thailand before, much less written a travel guide.

After using Lonely Planet and Rough Guide I wanted to give Let's Go a chance. Although it did give most of the information needed, it's writing style was annoying and opinionated. It also did not have all the maps needed, nor were the existing maps very easy to find. Although I liked the smaller size, I felt they cut too much out and gave too much useless information on pages that could have been used more wisely.

I'm plannig a trip to Thailand so naturally I looked for some guides to help me out. I found this one and it initially looked very promising. The book does contain some good information, but the authors attitude does put me off. There are more than several instances when the author makes judgements on the different breeds of travlers often lableing them as ignorant or somehow not worthy. An example is if a tourist enjoys shopping the local goods as much as the local culture. Somehow this is beneath the author who seems very self righteous. I would like to send a reminder to the author that people travel for different reasons.