Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet India (Lonely Planet India, 8th ed)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used the 98 edition while travelling in Sept/Oct 99 and found it extremely informative even though the prices were outdated. Prices may change overnight but 1,000 year-old temple ruins probably won't. It did seem as though every other traveler (and hotel owner and rickshaw driver...) owned a copy, yet it provided an excellent orientation to the places I visited and served as a great reference tool for further exploration.

The maps were better than anything I found locally and the cultural info was very helpful.

The book is bulky/heavy but tearing out key sections can easily solve this. I cut my book in half this way and got lots of envious stares from others lugging their entire LP or Rough Guide around and actually referring to maybe a third of it.

Get this book, get the LP Hindi-Urdu phrase book, but skip the LP travel atlas unless you want to walk across India.

I was in India earlier this year and as it was my first trip out of my own country I made the mistake of presuming that the Lonely Planet guide would be the best as it is the best known. After struggling with it for a few weeks, I pretty much stopped using it. My criticisms of it would include - poor maps and outdated information on things such as banks and costs. These are not things that particulaly bothered me after I had worked out that The Lonely Planet wasn't actually a bible, but just a tool for travel. I think the Lonely Planets biggist problem is that everyone has a copy and is out there doing exactly the same thing as everyone else. In parts of India such as Calcutta, Darjeeling and Sikkim, this wasn't such an issue because there were'nt so many tourists. The hotels I stayed at were generally how they were described in "The Book" , the prices were right and the people unaffected and friendly. Sometimes I was the only westerner staying in a hotel. But the places that were unaffected were few and far between. Most places I would go the Indians were all obsessed with the power the Lonely Planet had over travellers. For example, In Agra, there has been a sceme going where a resturant will purposely poison a tourist and then get a cut from the hospital from the unfortunate victims travel insurance. This is good advice and I must admit that I didn't risk eating at any other place other than that recommended, but the Indians had taken full advantage of this and all the resturants were incredibly expensive as a result. While this is not a direct fault of Lonely Planets I would definately suggest getting a lesser known guide, such as The Rough Guide, so that you don't spend your whole trip surrounded by Lonely Planet readers.

I cant believe how previous reveiewer criticized this book by staing "wrong map, description...etc."!!! This is not true! Those wrong reviewers must be working for other travel guide publishers or must be the ones just laid off from LP. HAHAHA

I have travelled India three times. I travelled there more than six months. I had three guidebooks with me since I was bagpacking alone. LP is the only one with exact map, right price, description..etc. LP is updated with newer editions alomst every year. SO almost everything in the book is up to dated unlike other guides. It is very informative and even fun to read.

If this is not the book you need for travelling India, there must be nothing else!

I'm a little amused by the number of reviews, both for and against this book... I'd just like to say that, while a great number of people regard this book as a precious object, it doesn't mean that it's automatically the most horrible trendy thing ever. I like to go against the flow as much as the next "rebel" but LP's India guide is very helpful to someone who has never been to India before. Everyone has it -- so what! It must be good, then... The book is large and full of information, a great place to start, even if you don't want to haul it along.

The information about the cities, states, regions and religions is excellent. I am still using this book as a reference guide two years later. The explanations of how the cities such as Bombay came into existence, how the culture has developed and how the locals go about their business are engaging.

However, the maps are very disorientating to the point of being un-usable (I found). We tried to travel round Bombay using the guide and we kept getting lost. If you are travelling about a bit on a schedule and can't afford to get lost or very delayed then you should take a proper map of every where you will go and take a compass.

The Lonely Planet descriptions of the entertainments like the Beaches in Bombay was spot on but their judgment of the hotels was difficult to gauge. Hotels that sounded good ended up being unworthy of a mention, in our opinion, where as right next door smart clean places were not included. The difficulty is that the Guide-Book doesn't make comparisons to anything you are already familiar with so it takes a while and a bit of expereience to know what they are talking about.

When you buy this book check that all the pages are included. We only noticed when we were in India that about ten pages in the centre and a few here and there throughout were completely blank, which could have been disastrous.

The Lonely Planet came into it's own when we came back to Bombay from Goa and had to find accomodation for one night before going to Hyderabad. We spent the journey to Bombay reading the guide and knew where we were going to go for a hotel. It was already getting dark when we got to Victoria station and opened the Lonely Planet again and began to telephone the hotels. We found a room within minutes.

This book had me lost in Bharatpur, stranded in Rajasthan, and completely confused in Cochin. The maps are mediocre, and the bulk of it generally not very useful. The only useful parts the ones that tell you how to get into and out of major cities, and where you can change your money. Otherwise, do not follow this guidebook--not only will you be following the tracks of every tourist in India, but also because you will be as lost as every other tourist in India.

spent 5 weeks in many dif regions in India. Very impressed by the details from the book in rural towns. The book may be a bit bulky, but pays off in effectiveness. A must have!

While bulky and ubiquitous, this tome is a must for explorers interested in getting more out of their journey.

One thing that's worked well for me is to prepare photocopies of key pages from the guide in advance (especially the maps) so that I can keep them handy while travelling light!

Anyone know how different this new edition is from the previous one?

The insight into the tourist attractions in a place like Varanasi has been carefully illustrated. The authors seem to have taken a lot of pain to satisfy the tourist's spiritual and traveller's instinct.Special mention must be given to the "Yoga Clinic and Center for Meditation" where Guruji Shri Prakash Shankar Vyas blesses and graces the wandering, restless, inquisitive mind. I personally visited him and have been associated with him since then for the meditation taught by him stands a world apart from the rest of the institutional claims that we come across in various parts of the world. The most remarkable feature here is the belief of achieving your goal on your own and not through any so commonly pronounced magic. For all those who wish to know in this area this place is the temple of understanding and experimenting till one does not realize his aim. Edword.

Don't have time for a "proper" review now,but as another Independent traveller,sitting looking at the Taj in the sunset,said,patting the LP in her lap,"we couldn't do it without this!"I make my own forays "off the beaten path"the 1st reviewer referred to-am going on my 3rd visit in March,to stay with Indian families I met on previos trips. I was disappointed to see there is still no coverage of Kashmir,as I was there in Oct '98,staying on a houseboat & going on a water trek up the Jellum river for 3 days,in solitary splendour,as I couldn't find anyone to go with me-I spend 6-8wks each time.The Buidings in the Shalimar Gdns were being restored preparatory to having the Sound & Light Show there again in the summer,as they were expecting more toutists to start coming back to Srinigar.I told everyone I met that it was perfectly O.K up there-Not on the road to Leh,of coursebut it was the end of the Season & too cold to go after Oct.,I'd think.I'm going to stay with the families of a Kashmiri cple I met in Jaisalmer in '96.I haven't had a chance to read the whole book yet,but noticed under the Drinks section Masala Chai not mentioned or Ginger tea.I too was very dissapointed with my 1st taste of Chai as I don't like sweet tea or coffee,& when I saw how it was made (very aptly discribed!)no wonder it tasted so dreadful!But then I was offered Masala Chai in Jaisalmer,which can be made with alittle or no sugar,I was a fan!Cinamon,cardamon & ? are added, & can be bought as a mixture to bring home.Just adding chopped ginger root to any tea is so simple & delicious.Then there is Kashmiri Chai.which has saffron added to the other spices! Anyway,suffice to say,there are plenty other choices.A gracious Indian lady ordered chai for me,sans sugar,from an open train window,which I'd previously not been able to do,& she tossed her clay cup down on the tracks,just as I'd read in LP -Very hygaenic,don't you think?shesaid.