Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Singapore Encounter (Best Of)

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My husband and I took a week long trip to Singapore. When we landed, we realized that we had no idea where to go and what to see, all we knew was that Singapore was supposed to have great food. We were staying near Orchard Road and stopped by the Borders Books, and after looking over the extensive travel book section decided upon this one for it's compact size. We then began exploring each neighborhood one at a time while we ate our way through the city! Every restaurant recommendation did NOT disappoint! We literally ate 4-5 meals a day and used this book to guide us to all the Hawker Stalls that sell AMAZING food! I've bought a Lonely Planet City Guide, which is a little more extensive; however, we have found the Encounter series a lot more user-friendly as all information (eating, shopping, sites) are broken up by neighborhood instead of by category. The only downside is that a few of the timings were off -- we ended up going to a restaurant that wasn't open although the book said it would be -- but from my experience that's normal for travel guide books. I highly recommend Lonely Planet's Encounter series...I've now bought about 10 (literally!) and refuse to travel without one!

The LP "Best of" series are first class, small pocket-size city guides. They typically contain around 100 pages and are high print-quality, full-colour publications.

This "Best of Singapore" guide contains 96 pages and is authored by Rachael Antony. The soft covers double as handy fold-out maps: the front cover a map of the whole of Singapore Island, and the back a street map of the city centre. The book is then divided into colour-coded sections:

Introducing Singapore; precincts, itineraries

Highlights

Sights and activities

Out and about

Shopping

Eating

Entertainment

Sleeping

About Singapore (history, environment, government etc)

Directory

Index

Every page has colour photography and mini-articles inserted into the main text in coloured text-boxes (for example brief bios of Stamford Raffles or Lee Kuan Yew, how to speak Singlish or on the "teen scene"). The layout is very user-friendly and the information accurate and useful.

For a visit of a few days, which is all the time most visitors spend in Singapore, there is no point in buying a bigger, heavier guide book when this LP "Best of" guide contains everything you need in a handy pocket-sized volume. The only down-side might be that due to its brevity it is a little short on detail for the visitor with specialist interests, such as the history or the architecture, and such a visitor might be advised to seek out a guide more focussed on his/her specialist interests.

I found this guide handy and helpful and easy to stick in my back pocket for quick reference. The Accomodation section is weak and very limited and seems more like a random selection of a handful of places rather than a well-researched list of good deals. It still provides a decent overview.