Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Turkey, 9th Edition

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My wife and I just returned from a two-week trip to the Aegean coast of Turkey. While we were certainly better off with the LP than without it, we found the sections on the Aegean coast to be unreliable.

What I need from a guide book like LP is solid information on places to stay & eat and realistic assessments of cities. This is not the case. The LP consistently praises cities that have few if any redeeming qualities. Their recommendations for pensions are hit or miss. Here are a couple of examples.

In the first, LP's overly optimistic assessment of a city wasted our time. We spent two nights each in Kuşadasi and Bodrum. In both cases the towns were described as laid back, low key and charming during the off season. While the Bodrum entry does say that it is a bit nicer than Kuşadasi, we were left with the general impression that the two towns were similar. (Note that criticism of Kuşadasi should be under the entry for Kuşadasi not Bodrum.) The two could not be more different. Kuşadasi is a bloated, dirty place whose urban core is made of that lovely concrete and re-bar construction. The streets have few signs. Driving is, therefore, difficult. There is simply no real reason to stay in Kuşadasi. One can reach sites from either Selçuk or Bodrum. Both of these cities are far nicer than Kuşadasi. The highlight of our visit was the kindness of our proprietors and our departure from the city. Bodrum, by contrast, was a nice sea-side town filled with white houses and good restaurants. The city is walkable and drivable. It was a truly enjoyable place to stay. LP's editors should criticize a town where it is warranted and not pretend that all Turkish towns are equally nice.

In the second instance, we were left wondering if the editor had bothered to visit the Bergama pension that was recommended. For most of the day the lobby was inhabited by "friends of the establishment" who appeared decidedly strung-out. For the rest of the day, they rattled up and down the stairs flipping on lights. Unwashed louts, loud noises, bright hall lights and glass room doors do not make for a pleasant sleep. (Hint: the map for Bergama is wrong. If your pension is not where it is supposed to be, choose another pension.) This is in contrast to the lovely place, Homeros' Pension, in Selçuk that was also recommended.

In short, with the LP you will sometimes have good recommendations and other times you will not. Do not trust the city descriptions. You could end up spending part of your vacation in a dump. If you are relying on it for good places to sleep you may or may not get what you wanted. Shop around.

But, this, for me, defeats the purpose. Reliability in a guide book allows me to get more out of my time in another culture. I do not want to spend a bunch of time inspecting rooms at pensions; I want to drop my stuff bedside and head out to see the country.

Lonely Planet's guide strikes a good balance between providing a "plan of attack" to deal with the logistics of accommodation, transport, and food, and providing good historical, architectural, and archaeological site reviews to make the experience more enjoyable. I recently used it, along with the Blue Guide, on a month's visit to Turkey, and aside from the inevitable discrepancies between prices at the time of writing and the currently higher costs, it was very good.
The suggestion in a preceding post that the Blue Guide, and the other mostly-glossy guides recommended, would be better substitutes, shows an appalling ignorance of the Blue Guide, at least. It's a good source for information about historic sites only, with very little in the way of dining or accommodation recommendations. When you get off the bus in a strange Turkish town, the LP guide will provide a serviceable map, good orientation informtion, and strong logistical support, while if you had only the Blue Guide, you'd generally be fumbling around on your own except for a couple of vague recommendations.
Although some LP guides are weak (Fiji, for example), the Turkey Guide is very good, and is all you really need.

As a disclaimer, I am a huge fan of the Lonely Planet travel guides. I like to travel, and have lately traveled to quite a few countries following recommendations from Lonely Planet. Just before going to Turkey, I was in Greece "with Lonely Planet".

Compared to other Lonely Planets, this book on Turkey is weak and the part about Istanbul in particular has been a disappointment.

My comments apply to the 9th edition published in April 2005. I have sent very specific comments to Lonely Planet, and I do certainly hope that future editions will improve on the weaknesses of the 9th edition.

The bottom line is that if you are looking for a travel guide to Turkey, you might still want to consider getting the Lonely Planet, but I recommend you shop around and also look closely at other alternatives.

This book provides a well rounded view of the country, from its history and culture to the best places to stay, eat and shop. It's easy to read and navigate and a great help in planning a trip.

If you are traveling to Turkey, this book is a must. It has an excellent chapters about Turkey's history, culture and environment. The detailed descriptions of the towns and cities are very good.