Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fun to read before the trip; extremely helpful during it, March 27, 2000
Randy Peffer's book inspired our family to tour the entire island, not limiting ourselves to a resort where we would be isolated from life on "la isla." With Peffer's advice, we selected paradores, inns, and small hotels on the coast, deep in the mountains, and in Ponce and Old San Juan. In every case, Peffer described the travel, accomodations, culture, recreation and dining options so well that we felt we had a personal introduction to each locale. With a sense of humor and great respect, Peffer prepared us for everything we encountered. His book encouraged us to appreciate and enjoy the differences of another culture. We would definetely have missed out on some great towns, night spots for music, snorkeling, restaurants, and local color without the guide. I would recommend Peffer's as the one must-have book to read when planning the trip as well as consulting daily when touring. By the end of our vacation we were referring to "Randy sez" as if he were in the car with us helping us get the most out of our trip.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very UNHAPPY with this book, May 3, 2006
This review is from: Lonely Planet Puerto Rico (Regional Guide) (Paperback)
We just came back from a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico (04/21 - 05/01, 2006) and we have to COMPLETELY disagree with the previous review. In fact, we were thinking about burning this LP copy. Don't get us wrong, we own several copies of LP for China, Eucador, South America, Guatamala, and etc. But we have serious reservation about recommending this one to anyone else. Here are some of the reasons:
1. Several budget restarurants in Old San Juan no longer exist. They include St. Germain, Brenda's Cafe, and Los Amigos. It became very frustrating after going to several places and finding out 3/4 of them were closed.
2. The same happened in Ponce, but for hotels. Two out of three hotels listed on pg. 166 (center of Ponce, by the Plaza las Delicias) were not there - they simply don't exist.
3. Now, telephone numbers. we can't say that all of them in the guidebook are wrong, but the ones we called are either disconnected or a wrong number. This goes for the UA Cinema 150 in San Juan (pg. 105), which we found out at a Holiday Inn in Isla Verde that it was torn down a year ago. Or the Museo de Art Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico, which doesn't open on Monday, as the guidebook indicated - in fact, no museum in San Juan opens on Monday!
4. We can list more annoyances, like the lack of good maps for most of the cities described, or bad driving directions...
We are not saying that this book has no value, but when you finds enough inconsistencies and errors, you has to wonder what else is wrong, and more importantly, whether or not you can actually trust and rely on the guidebook. And in that respect, our answer is NO.
The take home message: carefully compare this book with another. If you do decide to buy this LP, always call the places ahead to see 1) if it still exist, and 2) if the number is correct.
On a side note, at one point during the trip, we thought that we would probably have had more luck with a coqui as our guide than using this guidebook! =)
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly accurate and reliable, with a few oddities, March 16, 2006
This review is from: Lonely Planet Puerto Rico (Regional Guide) (Paperback)
In general, this Lonely Planet "Puerto Rico" (there are more than one; this one is by Ginger Adams Otis) is overall reasonably accurate and up-to-date as of February 2006. There are a few oddities within, however:
One is the pronounciation of the word for chicken, pollo. As many times as I've been in Puerto Rico, I've never heard it pronounced PO-lyo, as indicated on page 67. It is PO-yo, or sometimes more like PO-djyo. I never heard any Puerto Rican pronounce the "l" sound in this word.
Second, some of the hotel classifications seemed to based on the hotel's self-classifications (or wishful thinking) more than anyone's actual experience. For example, although the author's description is reasonably accurate, on page 95, Otis lumps Hotel El Milano into the same midrange category as El Convento. El Convento is truly upscale, and always has been, both in accommodations and in price. El Milano is very firmly mid-scale in all dimensions.
Of course guides like this are very hard to keep up-to-date, especially in countries like Puerto Rico where businesses are easy-come-easy-go, and change owners constantly. We found big differences in restaurant qualities in several cases, and in others, eateries she recommends were dark and locked the whole time we were there. My advice is to check with your hotel concierge or call ahead rather than depending on any guidebook when making dining choices.
The author also exaggerates the wonders of the Ruta Panoramica and various state parks in the central mountains. Some of the reservas forestales were total junk yards with burned out auto hulks literally every 300 yards for miles on end, and loads of roadside litter (alas, typical of Puerto Rico.) This is not to say that a drive through the mountains of Puerto Rico is not a must-do, because it is, but just be prepared for a big dose of reality that the author choses not to mention. Lift your chin high and enjoy the flora and fauna (mainly roosters wandering all over the road, with the occasional paso fino horse, with a long-leggedy bareback rider on board) and the gorgeous views in the distance.
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