Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest Trips (Regional Travel Guide) [Paperback]

Danny Palmerlee (Author), Mariella Krause (Author), Bradley Mayhew (Author)

Book Description

Series: Regional Travel Guide | Publication Date: February 15, 2009

52 of the Region's Best Trips!

Whether you're a local looking for a long weekend escape, a visitor looking to explore or you simply need some ideas when family and friends come to visit, Lonely Planet's Trips series offers the best itineraries - and makes it easy to plan the perfect trip time and again.

Theme icons make finding the perfect trip simple - no matter what your interest

Easy-to-use maps for every trip, plus driving times and directions

Explore the region with trips ranging from two days to three weeks, and day trips around Seattle, Portland and Vancouver

Local experts share their favorite trip ideas, including a cheesemonger's cheese tour, a ghost hunter's ghost tour and an Olympic snowboarder's best Whistler runs

Iconic Trips chapter covers must-do trips across the region, from Highway 101 and the Lewis & Clark Trail to microbreweries and hidden hot springs

Tune In

on the road with our regional music playlists

Family-friendly and pet-friendly listings throughout

Green Index lists the region's most environmentally friendly options


Travel America with Lonely Planet
Since 1984 Lonely Planet USA has published over 100 guides to America, working with over 200 American travel writers. For this Trips series our authors drove more than 100,000 miles, visited 230 diners, stopped at 810 roadside attractions and rediscovered the country they love. Visit Lonely Planet online at www.lonelyplanet.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 1 edition (February 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741797322
• ISBN-13: 978-1741797329
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Handy Little Day Trip Planner, April 22, 2009

By 

Terri J. Rice "ricepaper" (WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest Trips (Regional Travel Guide) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I live in the Pacific Northwest wine country and prior to that in the Portland area so I was curious if this book would be helpful to send along with visitors to our area. If the Washington wine section is any indication of the others, the areas covered are very cursory which maybe they have to be when covering an entire region. The book is a great idea but would benefit from a few tweaks to it.

This book does well in the more remote areas of the northwest where sites are fewer and therefore the book can be all encompassing. For example, the Prehistoric Trip is one we took a few years back and this book does a good job of covering that area thoroughly.

If you are heading to Portland or Seattle and have a very short time to see as much as you can, this book can be a real asset. If you want a lot of detailed information, you need a book that covers that city more specifically.

The biggest problem with this book is that a lot of the places the book recommends visiting require another resource to find. The maps in the book might get you to the general area but you definitely need a better map or a computer to access the locales website for directions. The book directs you to its own site at www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner but I found the site difficult to use for specific trips; searching "Wenatchee, Washington," one of this books trip destinations, resulted in "0 results" likewise with "Prehistoric Oregon Trip" another trip suggested in the book.

Also, I am a visual person so a picture now and then in the book would make it more appealing.

It is a handy little resource that would work well for day trips but it has its limits.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wouldn't want it to be my only guidebook, June 22, 2009

By 

alpha_grrl (Olympia, WA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest Trips (Regional Travel Guide) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Living in the region covered by "Pacific Northwest Trips" gives me the perspective to be aware of what's NOT in the book as well as what is. My take on it is that it is geared toward the young, "we're too hip to do do what all the tourists do" traveler. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want to see all a region has to offer, you probably want an additional guide or two on top of this one. Especially if you're looking for lodging along the way!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not very family-friendly, May 19, 2009

By 

HardyBoy64 "RLC" (Rexburg, ID United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest Trips (Regional Travel Guide) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

The back of this guide claims "family-friendly" listings throughout, but I didn't see many at all. In fact, many of the recommended tours are wine tasting tours, pub tours and brewery tours (in other words, not for families!). In fact, for the "48 hours in Portland" tour, it says "We'll start with the obvious: handcrafted beer...". Then, the 48 hours in Portland includes trips to pubs, clubs (one even being a strip club "with history" LOL) and walking on bridges. No mention of the great Portland Zoo? Again, my complaint is that it's not family-friendly at all. On a related note, I didn't see mention of tours and their facilities to accomodate persons with physical disabilities. In a way, this guide assumes you're young (the music playlist suggestions are silly, in my opinion. I don't need a travel guide to tell me what to listen to on my car stereo), without family, and physically strong.

What I like about the guide is that it has beautiful photography, has some quirky and amusing quotes from locals about their regions, towns and cities, and while the guide has a lot of information, it still retains a laid-back style in tone. It doesn't come across as being really overwhelming with too much information.

I will use this guide with reservations I'm afraid.