Lonely Planet Taiwan (Country Guide) [Paperback]

Robert Kelly (Author), Joshua Samuel Brown (Author)

Book Description

Series: Country Guide | Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Lonely Planet Taiwan

Take your tastebuds touring around the buzz of food stalls at Taipei's Shilin Night Market
Soak yourself in the steaming, smooth waters of the Taian hot springs
Hike the Walami Trail to the sound of monkeys crashing through the jungle canopy
Emerge from the temples of Penghu straight onto some of East Asia's finest beaches

In This Guide:

Two resident authors, 42 helpings of stinky tofu, 15 swims in waterfall pools, 1 run-in with the police
New coverage of places and activities along the east coast and a fresh chapter on Taiwan's islands
Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-date information

Editorial Reviews

Review

Best for curious and independent-minded travelers' --Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travelers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

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* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
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What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 7 edition (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741045487
• ISBN-13: 978-1741045482
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #722,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Travel > Asia > Taiwan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2007 Edition significantly improved, January 7, 2008

By 

Jah Lynnie (Taipei) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Taiwan (Country Guide) (Paperback)

All the other reviews for this book are for the previous edition. I'm very happy with this updated Taiwan 7th edition which came out a month ago. The two writers live in Taiwan and have added an extra focus and assembled detailed information on a range of Taiwan's attractions like hot springs, mountaineering, river rafting as well as the more well-known things like eating out, temples, museums etc. that bring people to Taiwan. At the same time, the urban attractions of Taipei and more established destinations like AliShan, Taroko Gorge, Kenting beach and other areas have been updated and more obscure areas have been added since the last edition. Despite its small size and reputation as a junkyard, Taiwan has a wealth of things to see and do and this Guide, for my money, has been successful in showing how to get the most out of it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide book for Taiwan, January 12, 2008

By 

David Reid (Earth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Taiwan (Country Guide) (Paperback)

For the seventh edition of their Taiwan guide Lonely Planet didn't just stick a new cover on an old book. The guide has been extensively updated and includes some new places. The east coast section has been expanded with details of many of the interesting places between Taidong and Hualian as well as the expected coverage of these two cities. There is also more detailed coverage of Taiwan's islands such as Penghu and Kinmen.

There are always a few places that will get left out of any guide book. Nanzhuang and Taipingshan were two that I thought were notable for their omission. However, I don't think this is such a bad thing. It still leaves a few interesting places for the traveller to discover and adds an element of surprise. There are also a number of places listed in the book that I had never heard of but am certainly curious to visit. The Danayigu Ecological Park is one. I suggest you read the book if you want to find out more.

The coverage of hiking is great and there a range of hikes covered from easy walks that take a few hours to multi-day expeditions. I like the writing style of the with its many interesting little anecdotes.

There are plenty of maps, as is the standard for Lonely Planet guides. The map keys have place names written in English/Pinyin as well as Chinese characters. Names in the text also have pinyin with tone marks which should be useful for getting the pronunciation right.

Overall, this is an excellent guide that would serve any traveller in Taiwan very well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Throroughly updated, and now very good!, May 26, 2009

By 

Laszlo Wagner (Hungary) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Taiwan (Country Guide) (Paperback)

For a long time, Taiwan was rather neglected by Lonely Planet, and their guide to the country used to be awful - many reviews here still refer to old editions! That has changed with publishing this edition, which is very good. Completely rewritten by authors resident in the country, it now covers diverse attractions with accurate, detailed practical information of the sort LP specializes in.
If you simply want to tour the main tourist sites of the country, aided by prior knowledge of prices and the like, this is pobably the best book to take.
However if your interest extends to exploring further off the beaten track and especially to hiking in the national parks, or would love to know more about Taiwan's culture and history, get the Rough Guide, which is even better!