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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Usefull, lots of good advice and accurate guides, June 10, 2010
This review is from: Lonely Planet Peru (Country Travel Guide) (Paperback)
Bought the 2010 edition of the Lonely Planet Peru right when it came out, just weeks before my trip to Peru. Before leaving for Peru I also read the Moon Handbook and Eyewitness Travel, but this was the only book we carried. We did a typical trip from Lima to Cusco, Pisac, Ollanta, Machu Picchu, and then on to Puerto Maldonado & the Amazon Basin. The only issue we ran into, that wasn't the fault of Lonely Planet, was that the major flooding in early 2010 that wiped out the railroads for several months from Cusco to Aguas Callientes (Machu Picchu) caused a lot of unknowns when dealing with Perurail. This edition was not without its inaccuracies though. For example, at the time of our visit, you could not buy entrance tickets at the entrance to Machu Picchu; you had to buy them below at the MP ticket office in Aguas Callientes (which is only a recommended option by Lonely Planet). They should also point out that the ATM's in Aguas Callientes seem to never have cash, so have enough beforehand.
We tried several of Lonely Planet's "picks" for restaurants and hotels, and definitely agree with their recommendations. Price guidelines for hotels and food were useful and fairly accurate too. Knowing what a bus or cab should cost before getting onboard was very helpful. The book also had some good recommendations for hikes and side-trips that I didn't see in the other books I read. I will say that the Moon Travel book has a lot of good recommendations that we took as well. Traveling in Peru is not very complicated, but we made good use of this guide and I would recommend it. Peru is an amazing place to travel and the 2010 Lonely Planet guide helped a lot.
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41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed with this Guide, November 23, 2005
This is the first Lonely Planet guide my wife and I have ever been disappointed with. We were in Peru in November of 2005 and relied on this guide to plan hotels, excursions and restaurants in Lima and Cusco.
The big problem with this guide was with the information on Cusco -- prices and information were out of date, and we were constantly surprised to find that things the book lists as free cost money, and the costs of tours, trips, and entrance fees were much more than what the book stated. I would go as far as to say that the book was wrong more than 80% of the time. Consequently, we eneded up spending much more money that we had anticipated, and ended up not going to several sites to avoid blowing the budget we set for this trip. An added drawback to this book was, when walking around Cusco with it in hand, having guides and other tourists go out of their way to tell you what a bad guidebook this is. (I wish I was making this up.)
I also found that the information on hotels in Lima was not very good. The hotel I stayed at was excellent and not even listed. However, the hotel next door, which was not nearly as nice, was listed and given high marks. I would have been upset if I relied on the book and stayed at the place next door.
I believe these problems are all because this guide has not been updated. And until it is, I wouldn't recommend relying on it to plan a vacation.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Practical advice, cultural perspectives, good maps, March 4, 2005
I never visit a country with just one guidebook. For Peru, with its diversity of places and wildlife I got several. However if I really had to pick my favorite for Peru, I would chose Lonely Planet. The city maps are fairly good for the larger, more visited areas. The sections on history and culture are interesting and insightful without being too lengthy.
I particularly liked the section on health issues. This guidebook did a better job with altitude sickness, and some of the jungle diseases than any of the other guidebooks I have read. To my chagrim, I read that the two most commonly used medications for altitude sickness were contraindicated for me. I found out that I would have to plan well before my trip so that I could get all of the the proper immunizations for the jungle part of our trip. Based on the book, I decided to get a travel medicine consult--a very good move that probably saved me a lot of potential problems.
The sections on social customs and conveniences were helpful. You wouldn't buy a guidebook just because it has a section explaining Peruvain toilets and toilet paper, but things like this are really really useful if you are traveling with kids.
The climate charts for different sections of Peru only occupy a page or two, but are actually quite helpful in planning vacation dates.
I would have liked for the guide to include more information on the beautiful and remote Manu National Park. I had to buy another book and go on the Internet to get much information on that area.
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