Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Tiny on a map, Central America packs in more diversity than any comparably sized area on the planet..." (more)
Key Phrases: shows currency exchange rates, finca headquarters, northern cayes, Parque Nacional, Guatemala City, San Salvador (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

For sheer global reach and dogged research, attention must be paid to Lonely Planet…' --Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Scale Mayan pyramids, worship the sun on palm-fringed shores and chill out in the shade of a smoldering volcano. Whatever your passion, Central America is jam-packed with possibilities. Written by experts who travel on your budget, this guide lets you go further, stay longer and pay less for the adventure of a lifetime.

• EXPLORE IT ALL - in-depth coverage of all seven Central American nations, plus Mexico's Yucatan and Chiapas

• FIND YOUR WAY - 120 user-friendly maps plus detailed bus schedules and crucial border-crossing information

• REST EASY - lodging and restaurants that offer bang for your buck...plus the occasional splurge!

• TALK THE TALK - comprehensive Language, Culture and Conduct sections keep you street-smart and clued-in

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Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 5 edition (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741040299
• ISBN-13: 978-1741040296
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #578,488 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Use with Caution, September 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring (Paperback)

Although a solid guide overall, I would recommend that travellers to this region of the world consider the Footprint guide and/or the Let's Go. LP looked to me to be up-to-date, but sadly this was certainly not the case when I hit C.A. last summer (especially in Costa Rica). Busing and transportation information were generally accurate. Costs though were often way off the mark. After looking through the Let's Go guide at the end of my trip, I noted that their prices were much more up-to-date. Don't be fooled into thinking that the LP online updates for this book are helpful.

Also, the LP book lacks serious detail about hotels. Their wording is scant and weak, and I often found myself wondering why they couldn't just get to the point. The Footprint guide is considerably better in this area, as their writers seem to be not as afraid to say what they really think of these places (i.e. they will tell you if a hotel has a reputation for petty theft - LP won't bother).

Overall this book has some good points, but I would recommend that you take another book along with it as a backup (or use this one as a backup). I should point out that this is a great book for someone with a very limited amount of time in each major place, as their agendas are solid. Also, I highly recommend their Latin America Phrasebook. Easy to use and it got me out of a few jams.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vastly overrated, April 27, 2006

By	William J. Fickling (Columbia, SC, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I recenty returned from a month long trip through Central America, during which I visited all 7 Central American countries, in this order: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. I brought two guidebooks with me on my trip: this one and the Rough Guide to Central America. I soon found myself using the Rough Guide almost exclusively and this Lonely Planet Guide hardly at all. This was a surprise and a disappointment, because for the last 17 years I have consistently found the Lonely Planet guides to be the ones most consistently most useful for adventurous travelers. But not this one. Here are some of the problems I had with this guide:

--The maps are among the hardest to read and most unintelligible I have ever seen, anywhere. They are all in black and white, with shadings in gray. There is very little variation in font size. It is hard to find anything without poring almost microscopically over the maps.
--The book consistently focuses on the cheapest, most bottom end places, especially when it comes to lodging. Now I suppose I should have been warned by the title, but I honestly didn't expect the book to be so relentlessly downscale. So this is a book only for the truly impoverished. If you want to splurge a little, look in the Rough Guide.
--Like all LP guides, it is not well-organized, so a reader must take his time to get used to finding out where to look for information.

On ths positive side, it is chock full of information for overland travelers and those seeking to venture into the remote areas of the countries visited. But overall, this one is not one of LP's finest publication. Use the Rough Guide instead (see my review there).

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Take Two Books, August 8, 2002

By	Katie (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring (Paperback)

The Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides are great for backpackers: cheap hotels, restaurants, bus schedules, etc. This book was no exception. The information included was generally very up-to-date and thorough. That said, the LP writers must have been directed to gild the lily whenever possible. More than once I decided to visit a place that LP gushed about only to find myself in either a backwater or a noisy charmless city playing cards until the next day's buses rolled out.

Halfway through my trip I found a used copy of Fodor's UpClose Central America Guide (used to be the Berkeley Guide, remember those?) and bought it. The UpClose Guide, while incomplete, provided much more honest commentary on the places I wanted to visit. The book is no longer in print but you might be able to dig up a used copy somewhere.

I'd still recommend the Shoestring Guide: you need to know where to catch your bus!