Lonely Planet Guide : Israel & the Palestinian Territories [Paperback]

Andrew Humphreys (Author), Paul Hellander (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Israel & the Palestinian Territories | Publication Date: August 1999

Provides in-depth background material on Israel's diverse people, and the myriad historical and spiritual sites; details on outdoor adventures; tips to help plan sidetrips to Petra (Jordan) and the Sinai; recommendations on where to stay, eat and drink; and up-to-date information on border crossings and visas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 4 edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864426917
• ISBN-13: 978-0864426918
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,367,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If only they spent more time on research..., November 27, 2002

By 

Andrius Uzkalnis (Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lonely Planet Guide : Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Paperback)

...and less on campaigning, it could have been an excellent guide. Alas, alas. It would be unreasonable to expect neutrality and even-handed approach from Lonely Planet (although they almost manage it sometimes; the best I've seen was Canary Islands, by the way). Israel guidebook is one example where they feel their political opinion is so valuable that it has to be offered on almost every page.

I am no Middle East expert and I do not know who is right and who is wrong in the conflict - but in any event, I do not want my guidebook to preach to me. I buy guidebooks for travel, accommodation, eating and sightseeing information - and this part is only so-so. The guide has some helpful info (for example, about passport stamps and about beating the bureaucratic system - or at least minimizing its impact). The book has not been researched sufficiently and choices of hotels, for example, often feel they have been picked at random.

There is one thing you realize after reading about a dozen Lonely Planet guides: a very large part of the book is actually cut and pasted from one book to another. When you are paying for a Lonely Planet guide, you are paying for much less particular destination information than you imagine: there are pages and pages of generalities of no practical relevance. Why insult intelligence of a reader with gems such as "pack as little as possible but take everything you need"? I can think of no other reason but to artificially increase the volume of the book so it seems a better value for money.

As usual, information about "Getting there" is very, very poor. Same tired "advice" about buying tickets from discount travel agents (and you thought about buying them from your dry-cleaners, didn't you?), same behind-the-times feeling when it comes to internet (although now there is a reluctantly compiled list of travel sites, which conveniently excludes some of the biggest and the most helpful on-line travel agents, to which the authors are presumably opposed on ideological grounds).

Where sightseeing is concerned, the guide lack focus, descriptions are uninspired and don't feel particularly tempting.

There are many other guides to Israel, take your pick - but Lonely Planet is best left on the shelf, unless of course you want to have a full collection.

71 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you buy only one guide, this is it!, February 8, 2000

By 

Michael McDaniel (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Guide : Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Paperback)

I purchased the Lonely Planet Guide, the Knopf Guide to the Holy Land, and the Insight Guide for Israel. All are excellent resources, and really seem to serve different needs.

The Lonely Planet Guide is way ahead in providing helpful info about the day-to-day details of your trip. It has more restaurant and hotel listings and tells you about the feel of the place. It provides suggested iteneraries, which I find especially nice. Finally, it gives details on getting from place to place, which can really help reduce vacation stress.

The Knopf Guide to the Holy Land is a truly beautiful volume which manages to capture the people and history like nothing else. It has fold-out views of the Via Dolorosa and its coverage of all the sites is amazingly detailed and really prepares you to get the most out of your visit.

The Insight Guide's color pictures are nice and I like their presentation of the history, but the Knopf Guide really excells in this, so I find myself using the Insight Guide just as another opinion on which sights to see.

We'll be carrying the LPG to get places, but the Knopf Guide will be our reference once we arrive.

All in all, the Lonely Planet Guide is the must-buy book in this category. Buy the Knopf Guide second.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Political opinion VS visitors guidebook, January 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Guide : Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Paperback)

I have a number of Lonely Planet guides and this is the only one that goes out of its way to make political statements about the country. Along with that is the poorly researched information about what to see and where to stay.

Shame on Lonely Planet. They are unquestionably the best guide books around except for this one.