Lonely Planet: Beijing City Guide [Paperback]

Damian Harper (Author), Phil Weymouth (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

Lonely Planet City Guides are written by experienced authors with an intimate knowledge of the city. They are smart, streetwise guides with a strong, contemporary design and focus. They feature detailed insights into history, culture and city life, with opinionated reviews.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lonely Planet guides are a must-pack” --Toronto Star, February 2006
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 6 edition (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740597826
• ISBN-13: 978-1740597821
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #67 in Books > Travel > Asia > China > Beijing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does the job, September 2, 2005

By 

Jared M (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet: Beijing City Guide (Paperback)

The latest edition of LP Beijing follows the new formatting that LP introduced in 2004 for its travel guides. There are inserts of colour photography for those of you so inclined. The Language section is OK, and chinese is used on the maps to assist you when dealing with taxi/bus drivers.

Generally speaking, the LP Beijing City Guide will do the job for short term visitors to the city, and these short term visitors are the target audience for these books. Those staying long term as ESL teachers or in other capacities will find it lacking after a while, but there is only so much you can squeeze into these books anyway.

Just a note to those planning on visiting the city in the next few months. A lot of the major sights, such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, are under restoration as part of the city's preparation for the 2008 Olympics (see the Olympic countdown clock outside the main entrance of the Museum of Chinese History), with scaffolding and workmen all over the show. You can still get into these places, but may not be able to see all the sights mentioned in the guidebook. But be sure to get a photo of the Starbucks which is slap bang in the middle of this historic city. Commercialism at its finest...

I'm normally a devoted LP customer, but I have to admit to making an impulse decision to purchase the Insight City Guide to Beijing. I found the Insight guide to be almost as good, particularly where maps are concerned. The Insight guide was also cheaper than the LP book, although I think the LP listed more activities. For me though, Lonely Planet still sets the standard for Travel Guides.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Travel Guide, More Useful than others, Needs Update., August 18, 2004

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Beijing (Paperback)

I found this travel guide to Beijing to be very useful and nicely put together. Lonely planet always has nice graphics and pictures. The information was short and sweet. There was enough information to be useful, but not so much that it was overkill.

As has been pointed out, the chinese characters are included which is very helpful. Also, it is true that with development being what it is in China it is impossible to write a guide that is totally up to date. Clearly, being published going on 2 years ago, this book could use an update.

All that being said, this is the best guidebook to Beijing that I have seen out there. That is why I am giving it 4 stars. Happy Travels!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing major component, August 21, 2006

By 

J. Tu (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet: Beijing City Guide (Paperback)

The information is good but there are no Chinese characters of locations/names to show to taxi drivers. The pronunciations are just too difficult for some one not adept at languages or who has not studied some Chinese. I have taken over a dozen trips to China and find books with Chinese characters far more useful.