Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Hawaii: The Big Island

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I prefer <i>Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed</i>, by Doughty and Friedman. The Lonely Planet guides seem to mention just about everything, but they generally fail to make value judgements, i.e., Restaurant X sucks or Beach Y is fantastic.

If you have time to explore and to make mistakes, then this book is a good bet. It's pretty exhaustive, and you'd need a year to see *everything* listed. But if you have, say, only a week on the island (like 95% of visitors, I'm guessing) and can't afford to eat a crummy dinner, then I would recommend Doughty and Friedman's guide.

Also, in general, I feel that this guide is geared more toward the hostel crowd, relative to Doughty and Friedman. Pizza parlors and other cheap diversions versus the best places, regardless of price.

I just returned from 5 super days on the Big Island. I brought along two books to guide me and this one was by far the best. It is professionally written with lots of spunk, good snorkeling recommendations and hisotorical tips. The only negative comment is that the maps are too small to read. The other book I attempted to use was The Big Island Revealed and primarily chose it because it had 70 reviews. It was very inferior and I donated it to a local thrift store.

On the spur of the moment I took off for Hawaii for ten days of vacation with two guidebooks in hand. Lonely Planet ended up as the guide with the most clout. I drove the entire circuit from KailuaKona to the Volcano National Park to Hilo and it was never dull. It turned me into a petroglyph junkie. There was always something interesting to stop off and see or find. I felt as though I had been away for a month. This one doesn't waste space business bashing and fills its pages with toothy recommendations and selections worth sharing.

I wish I had consulted the book before I booked my room as their Kona listings turned out to be in much better locations than the one I ended up staying at.

whatever you do, don't substitute the Hawaii Revealed guide for this book. Lonely Planet Hawaii has everything in it. It contains no fluffy puff stuff or downer opinions. Our copy is worn from four weeks on the road and although pretty beat up, we deem it gospel. Traditionally the Lonely Planets are written by real travelers who are objective and write really well. They have no bones to pick. This is no exception.

I used this book and especially liked the writing style. It was witty and intriguing and led me to corners I would have never explored. The authors are opinionated but know how to keep their descriptions in check. Many helpful tips and facts kept it interesting. There are very few good guidebooks for this area. This one outclasses all the rest.

What a supremely great vacation. Lonely Planet reigns for this island. Their off the wall advice took us to places where we unbelievably found ourselves alone. The places they recommended to stay were just perfect and so cheap compared to the big hotels. Every morning at breakfast we had a chance to meet other travelers and exchange information. You will only need one guidebook for this island and this is it. The only thing they could improve on is the size of the book. A little bigger would be nice.

We visited the Big Island just three months ago, and plan to go back. I have purchased and enjoyed Lonely Planet guides before, so I had high expectations for this book. I was disappointed.

This book is little more than a list of activities, restaurants and places to stay in each area of the island.In an effort to keep the book short (304 pages), the editors have cut the magic. The lodging and restaurant lists barely scratch the surface, which is a real disappointment. In addition, they've made many errors. Some examples of why I've given only three stars:

Page 42: "How can you know which Maui businesses are genuinely eco-friendly?" If this was a book about Maui, we might care. Unfortunately, this is a book about the Big Island.

Page 43: "Symbolic of Hawaii, the green sea turtle is a protected species." Unfortunately, the half-page photo shows a large land tortoise, which does not fare well in the ocean. Whoever edited the book has never seen either. This is kind of funny, but also sad, given the effort the book makes to be eco-aware.

Page 60: Watching the Manta rays: Here is a good section recommending specific outfits to take you on a night dive with the manta rays. But nowhere in the book does it tell you that you can view them from dry land at the Sheraton Keauhau Bay (page 75), which has a huge terrace overlooking the water. And it's free, and there's a bar. Again, did the authors actually visit the island? Everybody in Kona knows about this, and a cool free activity like this would be a natural for a Lonely planet guide. We had a lovely time, talking with lots of new people, watching the manta's from an amazing vantage point that the people in the boats couldn't share.

Page 145: An accurate paragraph on the free stargazing at Onizuka Visitor Information Station says the map is on page 143. It is actually on page 140. This may seem like a nit, but combined with other errors, it is indicative of a general lack of care in the writing and editing process.

Page 103: Kohala section (starts on page 103) We stayed in this area for a week, and my memory is fresh. This section of the book is absolutely inadequate and incomplete. There is precious little information about the wonderful beaches and the amazing diving and snorkeling, and little to help you find the true Hawaii hidden among the heavily-built resort areas. The material looked suspiciously like the authors did not visit the area, as they covered so little of interest. If you stay in Mauna-lani as we did, you will have to look around to find non-resort activities. Not much here to help.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The book is a disappointment. I would have given it two and a half stars if Amazon allowed. Actually, I decided to switch from three stars to two as I was writing this review, but I cannot make the change.

Summary: buy one of the better books.

When I received the, I thought one of most remarkable things about this book (compared to other tour books) was its compact/condensed size (5"x8"x3/4") which will easily fit in most purses but is a little large for some hip pockets. It is printed on glossy paper which could be hard to write notes on with certain pens/pencils/hi-liters and has a retail price of $19.99 which seems a little pricey for what you get. The book appears to have been printed for people with young/good eyes since many of the maps are very difficult to read without a magnifying glass due to the color combination of the small print and backgrounds. brown print on a light brown background / blue on light blue / green on light green / etc.

The listings for various things in the different towns/areas leaves a lot to be desired as it lists only a portion of what's available. For example, I have stayed in a very nice hotel in the Kona area that is not listed. I think they were probably trying to keep the size of the book down but they could have listed many more than the 3 hotels in Kona by putting a chart in the book (like so many tour books do) instead of the write ups. The list of B&Bs/condos is pretty good. One of the main activities in the Kona area is deep sea fishing and they list only 4 contact phone numbers. Only 3 watering holes (bars) are listed, why? I found many more inexpensive good watering holes when I was there. In the Waimea (Kamuela) area Parker Ranch does not receive the attention it deserves. Also, Koa (expensive, popular wood only grown on Hawaii) receives very little mention --- Koa is very popular with both tourist and locals, high quality boxes and furniture are made from it.

On a positive note, the book does have a lot of high quality color pictures if this is what you are looking for but I would prefer less pictures and more information.

Bottom Line: I would not buy this book. This appears to be a cross between a picture souvenir book and a tour guide. I would opt instead for one that is printed on paper that is easier to mark up and had maps that were easier for old eyes to read. Also, I would like a tour book that listed more hotels in various price ranges, more activities, more options for the most popular activities (ie: deep sea fishing) in the various areas, etc.

I've been a frequent visitor to the Big Island and plan on moving there soon. The 'Lonely Planet Big Island' and 'Hawaii the Big Island Revealed' are your two must have guides to the Big Island.

Bought this book for a week-long trip to the Big Island in July 2011. I believe a newer edition of this book is coming out in Oct. 2011, but we had to go with the older edition. Provides recommendations and ideas for a mix of different activities. Sampled a number of their restaurant recommendations and enjoyed them. Packs a lot of information in about the different parts/cities of the Big Island.