Lonely Planet Crete (Lonely Planet Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Jeanne Oliver (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Travel Guides | Publication Date: April 2000

Includes a colour section on Cretan art; details on a huge range of activities - from exploring archaeological sites and trekking the interior to relaxing on the beach; hundreds of options on where to sleep and eat for all budgets; comprehensive notes on history, culture and the environment; and an illustrated mythology section.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1864500743
• ISBN-13: 978-1864500745
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,056,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent upgrade to a tired guide, February 9, 2002

By 

Robert Jones (Portsmouth, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Crete (Paperback)

Lonely Planet has finally got its act together and upgraded the badly flawed and messy 1st edition of its traveller's guide to Crete. The 1st edition while 75% there just had too many inaccuracies and inconsistencies to be considered a good guide: directions were often 180 degrees out, maps were incorrect, recommendations were strangely pitched at travellers with more money than taste and that front cover ...urrgh!

All that has changed with the new edition of the Crete guide, published in February 2002. This book, after an initial review by this critic, is a stunner and a winner. With a striking Minoan fresco painting as a front cover the book looks immediately tight and controlled. The two new special sections on the 'Minoans' and 'Back to the Hills' - a guide to outdoor activities - are well written and informative. Restaurant reviews now recommend dishes and give prices and hotel listings give much more useful information like email addresses and web pages. There is a whole new selection of sidebars that range from the funny to the cerebral. Some chapter re-structuring is now in evidence and information is that much easier to follow. New destinations are in evidence including the hitherto 'undiscovered' village of Mochlos near Agios Nikolaos. I thought only I knew about that place! Hats off to Greece specialist and veteran Lonely Planet author Paul Hellander who updated this guide: the expertise shows. I for one will be looking forward to my annual vacation this year with the Lonely Planet guide to Crete as my companion. Thank you LP!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unusually disappointing, June 7, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Crete (Lonely Planet Travel Guides) (Paperback)

Lonely Planet, for me, are "the" tried-and-tested guide books. Usually very thorough and accurate.

This Crete edition is therefore somewhat of a let-down. I can only put it down to having a single author rather than the multiple authors in most editions.

It does remain a very useful source of information but it seems to be more targeted at the casual holidayer rather than people looking to get off the tourist trail. Some areas are completely uncovered, or only very briefly mentioned.

Worst is many mistakes along the lines of "16 km west of..." where if you went 16 km west you'd be in the sea, and 16 km EAST is where you need to be. I'm OK as I have other books and maps, but the fact that these errors are repeated throughout the book is quite unacceptable.

You may still find this a useful companion guide, but don't depend upon it alone. I'm off to buy the Rough Guide and hoping it will be better or at least fill in some gaps. I also have had to buy a 1:100k map and a hiking book for the region.

An ok book, but a let down as far as LP books go.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lonely Crete, June 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Crete (Lonely Planet Travel Guides) (Paperback)

With some regret, I have to say this book is disappointing. Lonely Planet has taken a long time to find Crete, but on the evidence of this it could have been written from reviewing all the others. I bought it yesterday and got a third of the way through before reading anything useful about the island rather than Greece. On the plus side, the website references are useful, and the prices are reasonably accurate still - except for the buses (I arrived back from this year's visit three days ago). Crete is still crying out for a guide that tells you how to get about in a practical sense - not everyone is pretending to be an explorer in a land with no tourists. For example, getting to anywhere in the south west by bus from Chania/Rethymnon areas requires careful planning, but it's safer and cheaper than the extortionately priced car-hires in Crete. The benchmarks for guidebooks to Crete are still the blue and yellow German one (can't remember the publisher) and the Greek one 'Unexplored Crete', pub 1996, and now about 4500 Dr. Not a bad guide, just disappointing from Lonely Planet.