Lonely Planet Tunisia [Paperback]

Anthony Ham (Author), Abigail Hole (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Tunisia | Publication Date: April 2004

Includes accommodation and restaurant listings for all budgets and tastes; useful information on getting around, including 4WD desert tours; the lowdown and what to buy and where, from birdcages to silver jewellery and carpets; special features on Tunisia's Roman, Berber and Islamic architecture; and language sections.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lonely Planet guides are a must-pack” --Toronto Star, February 2006
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

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

What We Do
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What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 3 edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741041899
• ISBN-13: 978-1741041897
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,889,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Travel > Africa > Tunisia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, December 22, 2005

By 

wanderlust (Istanbul, Turkey, NA Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Tunisia (Paperback)

All in all, I was very happy with this guide. It was the right size (not too thick, not too sparse), was very informative, and had great maps. I even liked the recommended routes (since Tunisia is small, it's very possible to "do" the whole country in a month), if one can "do" a country at all without living there.

Two recommendations I had for them. The first is that I did miss the recommended itineraries if you have 4 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc. It would have helped.

The second and more important issue I had was with the authors. Yes, they had a token female author but she reviewed the more women-friendly places such as Sidi Bou Said. The amount of harassment we received wasn't surprising, as I didn't solely rely on Lonely Planet and read up on those issues; but it really wore us down over the three weeks (I was traveling with a female friend and we are both attractive women in our 20s and 30s.)

My friend and I found ourselves in hysterics when the male author
recommended that we sit down with men in a cafe and talk to them about their lives. Yeah right!! I come from Turkey, so I am in no way ignorant about Muslim tradition (although North African culture is obviously different than Turkish), but nearly every single man we talked to hit on us.

That's ok, that's life. But I was infuriated to read that covering our heads would invite ridicule, because finally, in our last week, I started covering my head in Jerba and I felt an IMMEDIATELY positive difference. Yes, if I had been a tall blonde perhaps the reception wouldn't have been the same, but is Lonely Planet only geared towards men and tall blonde women? What about Mediterranean types like myself who can easily pass as native Tunisians? I wish I had known beforehand and would have covered up the whole time (by the way, we dressed EXTREMELY modestly and after seeing how some tourist women acted in Tunisia, we are definitely sympathetic to the stereotypes the men have there towards women like us).

Tunisia is a great place to visit and I still have to admit that this is a good guide but ladies, read up on your own. Or should I write my own guide for women? :)

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Laid Out and Easy to Use. Useful Maps, September 27, 2004

By 

M. Sprague (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Tunisia (Paperback)

It's light and compact and has some useful maps. We used the hotel suggestions but in most cases the ratings were off, if it says 3 stars assume 1.5-2 stars. Take ear plugs. Almost all of the hotels were in noisy areas. Many of the suggested eating places were also off the mark. Extensive menus would be met with three or four options available. The guides to sights and towns to visit were very good. We used the walking tours and maps to navigate through the country quite comfortably. Assume you'll be ripped off by every taxi driver and you'll be ok. It's still very inexpensive to travel in Tunisia. And this book is very handy to have along for the ride.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tunisia (Country Guide), July 15, 2008

By 

Helen Quinn (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

This is one of the few guide books I have read and not had to buy others for the same country by other authors/publishers. A guide book is just that - a "guide", and nothing should be considered set in stone. The content is wide-ranging, appears to be thorough, and covers most of the places I will be visiting in the fall. I am wearing the pages thin from constant reading, and still find it very interesting and informative. Great book!