Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Middle East (Multi Country Guide)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When one takes the initial steps of such an exotic trip as the middle east, a guide is needed to educate yourself on everything. Even the experienced traveler will find their trips to Europe did little to prepare them for the Middle East. This is why this guide does so much for the independant, and is so invaluable. Lonely planet has a history of helping people travel on a meagre budget, however gives a warm and caring introduction as to why indulging yourself occasionaly in the more expensive treasures can make your vaction. The authors expell the myths of all around violence in the region and firmly warns you where not to go. The religion and customs sections are so informative that I found myself prepared for the basics of Islamic life and ready to learn more. This book inspired me to take the unbeaten path and to still take in the wonderful tourist draws. Ive browsed through the two other major guides on the middle east, they dont compare to the thorough down to earth writing that Lonely Planet produces. Occasionaly, there could be more entries on Long Distance Travel (getting there and away) and there could have been more mention of the smaller budget tours that are offered in the region, however I still contend that this is the best pick for Middle East travel guides for all traveler of all Budgets.

This book is great. We used it for travel in Egypt, Jordan and Israel during June 2011. We found it to be accurate for suggested lodging, eating places, transportation, Visas, and suggested activities, although some prices had risen since publishing. My only complaint (a small one)is that sometimes prices listed for taxis were ambiguous as to whether cost was per person or per vehicle.

Traveling to Egypt and Jordan and wanted a single guide to take with. This one will fit the bill, but missing some detail on the smaller sites we are going to see. I'm sure the individual country books have had more info.

I like the additional tips scattered throughout that point out curiosities as well as practical information.

First of all, let me say I always travel with Lonely Planet books (even in my native Pacific Northwest) as there is no better product on the market for the independent traveler. Others may have their niche: Let's Go! for the college party crowd, Footprints Handbooks for the snooty, Frommer's and Fodor's for those who don't know any better, etc etc etc.

With that said, I cannot believe that LP's definition of the "Middle East" contains Egypt and Libya, but not Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The nerdy geographically conservative will certainly protest that those are part of Africa. But even they would not defend the omission of virtually the entire Arabian peninsula from a book on the Middle East. That's right, Lonely Planet's guide to the Middle East does not include Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, or any other countries located on the Arabian peninsula. They might say it's due to space constraints, but I doubt it. This book has 716 pages. Yet my LP Mexico, which costs $1.00 less according to the SRP on the back, has 1028 pages. And we all know that whenever and wherever LP has a more specific guide covering an area, it always errs on the side of excessive skimping on info in the wider guide. That is certainly no exception even in this half of a travel guide. Since Algeria is off limits to travelers, I am sure they could have covered the rest of North Africa (Tunisia and Morocco) in 100 pages. And 200 more pages to cover the Arabian peninsula (how many non-Muslims venture to Saudi Arabia anyways?) would have been a cinch for information-pinching LP editors. Such a tome would still have had less pages (1016) than LP Mexico, as well as leaving an extra buck for profit. As it sits now in order to get LP's take on the whole Middle East you need to buy four books and shell out around $100 bucks.

One might be tempted to blame LP founder Tony Wheeler directly for such extravagance, but I think slurking corporate insiders might have more to do with it. Mr. Wheeler has made enough dough to keep his whole clan in the sauce for at least a few more generations. As his company has developed and he has grown more distant from day to day operations, he has probably succumbed to more and more "professional" business types who invent scams like this one to make more money in order to justify their salaries. Here's hoping that the Rough Guide and Moonbooks start getting their products up to snuff ASAP so we can all stop subsidizing this type of underhanded customer abuse.

I only have looked through this book once, and I have to say it is a good book to use when visiting the following nations and cities it points out which include: Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Cairo, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Tel Aviv, Eilat, Bethlehem, Amman, Petra, Beirut, Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Maaloula, Baghdad, and Latakia.

The book gives me very good information for my travels, sometimes not enough, but always accurate and reliable.