Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Venezuela

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I have been using Lonely Planet guides for years. However, I was surprisingly disappointed with this guide for Venezuela. To me, both writers seem so enamored with the country that they could have been writing for the national tourism office. Much of the info is out of date, and important details -- for example, about less-traveled bus routes, or warnings about dangerous neighborhoods -- were missing entirely. For this country, I would recommend that you consider another guidebook, preferably one which has been written more recently. (Note to Lonely Planet: consider updating your guide books more often for countries that are in as much transition as VZ).

I went with Global Exchange so I didn't need to lean too heavily on the guidebook. Good thing, because the guidebook was either useless or worse. On money issues especially, it actually misled me into thinking my debit card would work if I followed their formula. Lonely Planet for some reason thinks it's necessary to give you a lecture on why paying children for sex is not a good thing to do (it's not good for the children and can even lead to long term mental health problems), but not necessary to tell you (accurately) how to obtain cash.
Lonely Planet's inadequacies were somewhat explained by our guide and interpreter. He apparently provided them with much of their Caracas info. They just spent a few hours in a room with him rather than visiting the sites. He was paid with a brief plug on page 74. I will say that the absolute best advice anybody can give you about visiting Venezuela is to hire Leo Lameda as your guide. He's fluent, informed on matters both great and small, and he really cares and looks out for his 'gringo' parade.

We took two guides with us to Venezuela during our July 2006 trip. One was Fodor's, one was Lonely Planet. Both were valueable for their insights into culture and customs, but only Lonely Planet offered practical information such as names and phone numbers for hotels and attractions. That said, much of the information was outdated or deceptive. For instance, food and taxi service in Venezuela is very expensive! (not the $5 a meal lonely planet represents). Caracas is not set up for tourists and many of the areas are unsafe to travel without a local guide. Also, finding an offical place to change money can be challenging, I recommend using taxi drivers who are readily available. Good luck! You may need it.