Lonely Planet California (Regional Travel Guide) [Paperback]

Sara Benson (Author), Alexis Averbuck (Author), Amy C. Balfour (Author), Andrew Bender (Author), Alison Bing (Author), Nate Cavalieri (Author), Beth Kohn (Author), David Lukas (Author), John Vlahides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009 | Series: Regional Travel Guide

Lonely Planet knows California. This 5th edition guarantees adventures across the Golden State, whether you're tasting small-batch pinots in Sonoma, reliving the Gold Rush or cruising the last leg of Route 66 on the ultimate beach-bound road trip.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Expanded Outdoors chapter covering 21 activities to get you closer to nature
New Food chapter showcases California's best drinks and delicacies
Green Index directs you to sustainable listings

Editorial Reviews

Review

…Lonely Planet, the intrepid traveler's bible...' --Los Angeles Times, April 2005
--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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 760 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 5 edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741047390
• ISBN-13: 978-1741047394
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From a Californian: don't buy it, January 11, 2006

By 

Stockstradr "Stockstradr" (Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet : California : Life Is Great in the Golden State (Lonely Planet California) (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Los Angeles native - not happy with purchase, March 31, 2010

By 

D. Schwartz (LA, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet California (Regional Travel Guide) (Paperback)

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps you see the whole state, January 18, 2007

By 

N. Madsen "N8Ma" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet : California : Life Is Great in the Golden State (Lonely Planet California) (Paperback)

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.