Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Seoul (Lonely Planet City Guides)

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

 

 

While I usually never go anywhere without an LP guide in my pack, this one really disappoints. Detailed descriptions and directions are totally lacking. I was able to find out more from my own exploring and using the Korea National Tourist info, than from this guide. If you go to Korea, buy the Insight Guide to Korea for a very informative introduction, and not to mention a great read.

I have been to Seoul several times, so my primary interest in using this book was to find places I haven't seen. For that, it was no help whatsoever. In the "places to see" section, it missed a number of interesting sights such as Tongmyo shrine, the Royal Tombs, and a number of others. It also gave threadbare descriptions of excursions outside Seoul. For example, I wanted to know how to get to nearby Kanghwa island. The book gives a few directions but then tells us to "ask how to get to such and such place." Why buy a guidebook with that advice? Even more infuriating, I noticed in the map section that it shows exactly how to get there, but the author failed to refer to his own map. I think this book needs to be fattened-up and re-edited.

Being first time travelers to Korea, we wondered what it would be like. A friend recommended that we order this book. We found it very helpful in answering many of our questions. We also referred to the book on several occasions while in Seoul, confirming our memory of its contents, such as the custom in tipping for services and to remind us of the below ground shopping experiences available within the city. We would recommend the book to others. We also ordered the Korean Phrasebook which we did not use at all -- it was not necessary or helpful for our use.

Lonely Planet Seoul is poorly organized and riddled with inaccuracies; unfortunately it is the only comprehensive, recent Seoul guide (in English) on the market. I used the book to get an overview of Seoul, but shockingly, found the tourist information office maps and guides more useful and accurate. The website Seoul Style offers much more interesting eating, entertainment, and shopping suggestions, but very occasionally I'll refer to the Lonely Planet for further ideas.
The book ought to be organized by neighborhood rather than subject; it's aggravating to visit an area of Seoul and flip between different chapters, looking for the two inches of print on a given activity in a particular area. Other Lonely Planet and Fodor's guides usually integrate all suggestions by neighborhood and accurately portray those suggestions onto maps. One can get an overview of the different areas when the descriptions are integrated, especially if the author writes an introductory paragraph about a neighborhood's feel; to Robinson, it seems that places are just places, with no 'there' there. In reality, each area of Seoul does have a unique feel and meaning.
In the LP Seoul guide, the maps' numbered descriptions are often mis-categorized (e.g., under 'Shopping' the author suggests the bookstore Seoul Selection, but when you look for the location on the map, it is listed under 'Entertainment'; when poring through dozens of suggestions in tiny font, it is frustrating to check all the categories to compensate for his carelessness). The layout and selection of maps in general is mediocre, and leave little sense of the scale or organization of Seoul; for instance, Robinson devotes two pages of maps to Jamsil to depict just a few activities, and leaves the bottom half of those two pages devoid of suggestion, but gives the large, very happening area of Gangnam / Apjugong just one page. Adjacent Cheongdam, which a favorite hangout for younger Koreans and in 'feel' and location is much closer to Apjugong, he places on the Jamsil map, but doesn't provide any activities.
The transliteration between Hangul and English is frequently bizarre, which makes it difficult to decipher the names of neighborhoods and places. It is better to use the Tourist Maps (in other cities I've never relied on tourist maps, but Seoul is different), for the transliteration and neighborhood names are more commonly understood by Koreans. His language guide is also transliterated ineffectually; a traveler trying to follow his phonetics would never be understood by a Korean. For vowels pronounced 'e' he writes 'i'; the number 1 is correctly pronounced like eel; he writes 'il', which is perfect if he means the French pronunciation of 'il'; same for 2: pronounced e, he writes i - again, great for French, but he's transliterating to English, so it's wrong.
LP Seoul needs to be rewritten by a very organized, clear thinker who possesses a current understanding of Seoul and Hangul-English translation, yet who recalls the needs of a first-time visitor to this dynamic city.

This is one of the only travel books on Seoul that is easy to get. I have taken it with me on three trips to Seoul so far, and have found it almost useless. I got a better idea of places to visit from the map I got from the hotel and searching the internet than I did from this guide.

Having never been to Seoul this book was very helpful for finding attractions. I did not use the book for accomodation or dinner recommendations though. A particularly convenient aspect of the book was that it told you which subway exit to leave from for a lot of the attractions. When subway stops commonly have many exits it makes it that much quicker.

Lonely Planet's guides are getting worse to worst, especially for Asia. I wish they would stop employing solely former English teachers as writers, since alot of them dont know the local language very well or at all. Hello LP, ever thought of asking a Korean American/Australian/Canadian to write for your Korea guide? There are people in the world who are truly bilingual, binational. . . . and would be able to 'guide' better than a foreigner guiding other foreigners.
I bought the Seoul book because unfortunately there weren't many options out there for English speakers, but actually the Tourist offices in Seoul has better information and it's free.
The maps in the book are confusing; when you are on the streets looking for places there are street names but on the map there are not. It would help to if LP would include the places' names in Korean 'Han Gue' since LP's phonetic are not 100% anyway, and if you want to ask a Korean for help then it's better to have it written in Korean. The language section could use a couple more phrases like like 'not to spicy please.' The Seoul book is out of date, lots of places went out of bussiness. I also bought LP's Korea book and it has more up-to date info. Since all the writers in both guides are males, information for women travellers is pitiful. The layout is confusing and not easy to find, I had buy post-it tabs for different sections otherwise it would take more time find it again. THis is not a concised guide, there are two many overlaps, like there are two sections on food, but in the food glossary doesn't have some of the names of food mentioned elsewhere that takes up a whole paragraph.So buy this guide if English is the only language you can read.

Like many other disappointed reviewers of the Seoul Lonely Planet guide, I'm an avid fan of the series. But the Seoul guide is without a doubt the very worst I have encountered. It's not just useless, as many of the other reviewers have said; buying it is not only a waste of money. It's also a waste of time and can actually, by failing to mention some important pitfalls of travel in South Korea, cause considerable difficulty.

The Guide buys into the cliché that South Korea is an economic and technological powerhouse. This is, of course, true but one would assume, therefore, that it would be easy to get cash from an ATM machine, as one can in even considerably less developed countries. The Seoul LP does not mention that the large majority of the ATM machines in Seoul take only Korean cards; a few take US credit cards, but not European credit cards or any sort of bank card. Only a very, very few will take a bank card. So you have to make sure you locate the machine that will take your card, and have enough cash on hand to use until you can make it back to your machine. The Seoul guide is totally silent on this matter.

I neglected to rent a cell phone at the airport upon arrival, not having been informed by my LP Guide that a prepaid SIM card is impossible to buy in Korea. Prepaid SIM cards are available the world over, even in the most remote places, but the writers of the Seoul LP Guide didn't think that it was important to tell its readers that it was advisable to rent a cell phone at the airport, since contrary to justifiable expectations, prepaid cards are not available in South Korea. Because of this omission on the authors' part, I incurred astronomical roaming charges.

Also, maps are inaccurate, restaurants are impossible to find because of inexact or non existent addresses or location indications. Many of the listed restaurants have their name on the street sign in the Korean script (Hangul), which the authors don't see fit to give you. Hence, finding them is impossible. That is, of course, providing that the restaurants are still there and haven't closed. Although this is supposedly a new edition, many of the entries are seriously outdated. Also, it gives you the impression that Seoul is a moderately priced city; Seoul is, in fact, one of the most expensive cities in Asia, and competes with places like Venice (where I live) for outlandish restaurant prices.

Seoul is a difficult city to negotiate, and Korean culture is complex and frequently puzzling. The Lonely Planet guide only adds to the confusion.

After reading the negatives reviews for this book, I went to B&N to judge for myself. Conclusion, stay away. That is all that I have to say....I can't really add upon the negative comments herein, yet that they are indeed valid.

That's all.

This is the classic example of a tour guides that misleads, confuses and infuriates due to the inaccurate pictures. The pictures portray Seoul as dancing people in traditional costumes. It makes Seoul look like a cheesy movie prop. Seoul is an ultra-modern ultra-hip city. S. Korea is also a newly developed economy, so most of the skyscrapers and buildings are brand new and ultra-modern. Seoul is a lot like what most ppl expect Tokyo to be: the chic Asian city on speed. Seoul has a bumpin' nightlife, amazing food and unique shopping. I was totally irked by the portrayal of Seoul as some old-school, traditionalists, formal city stuck in the past. Seoul looks nothing like the pictures.