Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet California (Regional Guide)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a Californian, and know several cities reviewed by this guide very well. While I love Lonely Planet guides, I cannot recommend this book after spending an hour looking through it one day at a Borders. (We were headed so San Francisco and I needed a good CA guidebook.)

I live in San Diego and so - as a test case - I graded the book on its coverage of San Diego. I gave it a "D" because every time I checked what it had to say about a location/restaurant I knew, this book got it wrong or missed the fine points. An example? One of the finest restaurants in La Jolla (or all of San Diego, for that matter) is George's at the Cove, but dinner entrees start at $30. Restaurant-savvy Sandiegans know this pricey restaurant has an upstairs open-air sister restaurant, Ocean Terrace Café, with a fabulous view of the bay - and offers a chance to sample a limited selection of George's entrees, at - relatively reasonable - prices ($14 to $20 for dinner entrée). LP Californian seemed to always miss helpful little tips like that, and Frommer's seemed to include many of them. Now maybe Lonely Planet California book has great coverage of all the other cities besides San Diego, who knows? If that's the case then my review is inaccurate. However, if their San Diego coverage is representative of the rest of the book, then I suggest don't buy it! We ended up buying Frommer's California 2006, which I'll give a lukewarm endorsement to because at least its coverage of CA cities I know was better than LP California. Of course, Frommer's guides are so dry and boring, lacking the character that LP guides sometimes have.

I am a Los Angeles native and I found this book to be very difficult to use and with very little useful information. If there is too much information in California to include enough information about a site, perhaps LP shouldn't publish the title. Listing every potential site without adequate information is not helpful.

I have used the LP Turkey, Bali, and Greece books, and while I think most of the problem with this book stems from LP's confusing and cluttered format (which was a problem for those books as well), this book was less useful for my California traveling than those other books were, although I cannot put my finger on why that is.

I am thinking of getting the Fodor's guide instead. From what I have seen on Amazon's preview, Fodor's format looks like it is more user friendly. If only Rick Steve's published a California guide.

Most people can say they know San Francisco/Bay Area, Los Angeles/Orange County, or San Diego. These are the places people typically hit up when they plan a trip to CA. Having lived several years in SoCal, I found this book opened my eyes to all the state has to offer. It balances the sections on the large cities with other destinations and activities. You can easily stay with friends in LA or SFO and get a better tour of the town than the book can offer, but what about Death Valley or the Redwoods or PCH? This is where the book has been of great help to me.

This guide is a very well-written and inspiring guide to California - also for non-US tourists. It maintains a fine balance between background infomation and suggestions for sights, locations and places to stay and eat worth visisting.

I also fancy the small embedded maps including city maps. One obstacle, however, is that the maps, due to the thickness of the book, are somewhat difficult to use while driving. I would welcome more expandable maps.

Just used this book for a two-week road trip through California. I also had a few other Cal guidebooks with me and this one was the best. It was well organized, in depth and consistently gave good recommendations.

This is a fantastic book. I read it from cover to cover, even though I didn't go to every place in California. The information was relevant, and it was handy to have the book with me as I travelled about.
Having an idea of food places in a country you are not familiar with is great.
Lots of advice was useful, and I know that if I return to Califorinia, I can use this book again.

Have a few of the Lonely Planet series, always tells you the hidden gems, a summary of what to do and has great maps. Glad be bought this for a work/mini vacation on my first trip to Cali

There is very good information about attractions and money saving places recommended. On just one nights stay, we saved enough to pay for the book. Amazon was very prompt with shipping.

In this wonderful new edition of Lonely Planet California, featuring a field of California poppies on the cover, you will find 131 detailed maps and lots of new features, sidebars, recommendations, and spotlights, improving the book over the last edition. It's the ideal book for any Californian or person visiting California, whether you're looking for an extended excursion or a quick trip somewhere. The book features a detailed table of contents laid out by location, or there's the quick-reference full index immediately taking you to where you want to go.

Lonely Planet California has lots of features and sidebars on not just the "top five" places or towns to see, but entertaining items like "top five trendy SF restaurant ingredients" or "top five star-studded SOCAL socials." Descriptions feature some entertaining creative writing along with crucial details about specifics of a town or location. The best thing about the book is the cross-indexing, where if there's an entry about it, the page number will be next to it so you can find it right away. I know I'll be keeping Lonely Planet California within easy reach on my shelf, for whenever I leave the home and head off into the wilderness of this great state.

Originally written on May 22nd 2009 ©Alex C. Telander.

Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.

Really great book, the only problem, the pictures are all in black & white, its an overview of the Californian State, but if you want a more detailed focus on each city you may need additional guides.