Customer Reviews

Moon Handbooks: South Korea (2nd Ed.)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Last year, I lived in Korea for 10 months. I took two guidebooks with me, Lonely Planet and Moon Handbooks. Moon handbooks was by far the superior book. It has everything in it. The first two hundred pages give an introduction to the history, culture, and important travel tips. This was very useful if you're going to the country to learn about the culture as well as see the sights. This book gives a lot of history and even myths and stories about the sites around Korea. Lonely Planet didn't give much information on the cities and sites(Kyoungju, one of the cultural sites of the world, had only a couple of pages on it, whereas the Moon guide had 50); many of the places I went weren't even in Lonely Planet. It tended to focus on hotels and places to eat. I didn't stay in a lot of hotels while I was there, but the ones I did stay at were in the Moon Handbook and were everything they said they'd be. If you're going to Korea and want to learn about the places you're going to, take the Moon Handbook. I never used my Lonely Planet handbook, and left it there when I came home. I still have my Moon Handbook and hope to use it if I get the chance to return.

I have visited South Korea several times and have always been disappointed by the paltry selection of guidebooks. That all changed when I found this little jewel. Nilsen's "South Korea Handbook" captured my heart because it describes the things that really matter about a country--its cultural treasures, architectural wonders, scenic sights, and natural history. It skips the usual fluff about hotels and restaurants that bogs down other guidebooks. Nilsen covers only the things that are permanent about Korea, and I thank him for it.

The Handbook was so useful that I found myself carrying it in lieu of a map. As a student of architectural history, I was pleased to be able to locate so many out-of-the-way treasures using Nilsen's detailed and useful maps.

If you absolutely need hotel and restaurant information, buy a guidebook like Fodor's, but take along a copy of this as well. You'll sure to be well pleased.

I travel to Korea on business trips lasting 2-3 weeks, and the many sightseeing days mixed into those frequent trips has allowed me to evaluate this and several other Korea guides. While Lonely Planet's guide covers Korea efficiently, in 400 pages, by including details you'll need, and leaving out details on obscure cities rarely visited, I found that Handbooks' South Korea includes too many sections of rambling historical notes, and coverage of rarely visited cities. For example, Lonely Planet covers Busan's Geumgang Fortress in less than half the text used by Moon Handbooks; however, Moon Handbooks fails to provide adequate directions on getting there, and forgets to warn of the maddening crowds found on holidays, and weekends - important info included in Lonely Planet Korea. Faced with the challenge of Busan's tens of thousands of restaurants, Moon Handbooks chooses to review NONE and only suggests city areas to look for them, while Lonely Planet Korea gives us helpful reviews of specific restaurants. If like me you plan on spending more than a few days in Seoul, you'll find it useful to combine Lonely Planet Korea with Lonely Planet Seoul, because the latter includes far more detail for your Seoul visit. Be sure to visit the tourist information centers (found in major airports) upon your arrival and get the free city maps. I suggest you withdraw extra Won from the ATM's in Seoul (or Busan's Gimhae airport) because you'll find ATM's that accept international cards very difficult to find in cities outside Seoul. Don't buy Moon Handbooks' South Korea unless you're planning a Korea trip length of over a month and need details on obscure cities, and want pages of historical info on every city.

This is a good general reference book for what is available to do in South Korea. While the "attractions" mentioned are mostly "tourist traps" or information available from the tourist kiosks in Korea, this guide provides an excellent overview. It really shines in the cultural aspects, providing useful information on the culture and the history of Korea. The worst part of this book is that it doesn't have as many hotel listings as other guides. Nothing is worse then not having a place to sleep.

I took the first edition of this book with me when I went to Korea a few years back. I referred to it often over the course of the year or so that I lived there. I found it to be remarkably thorough, usually quite reliable (one of the yeogwans recommended by the book, a place in Pusan, was not what I'd been led to believe by the wonderful writeup in the book...) and totally useful. I recommend this book enthusiastically, and after paging through the second edition in a competitor's bookstore, found it has been improved upon. A must-have if you're headed to Korea for any length of time.

The Moon Travel South Korean Handbook is one of the finest travelbooks and despite its age remains the best guide to seeing anything of interest to see on the peninsula. I am Korean and I use this guide when I tour temples or others attractions here.
Posters on this forum complain there are not enough refence to hotels and restaurants but dont realize that in Korea restaurants and many hotels come and go so fast that this information would be useless before the book hit the presses.
This is also true of bus numbers etc.
The information with regard to Cultural Attractions has super attention to detail and this is true when Nilsen describes out of the way more hidden treasures Korea has to offer.
Get this book !!!

If you draw only one thing from this book, it must surely be the conclusion that Robert Nilsen has a deep love of Korea. The historical, cultural and practical information he provides is certainly not lacking in detail and for the most part is very useful. However, his partisan attitude is also the root of many of my critisisms. I travelled for 3 weeks with a Japanese friend and found that Japanese (nor English for that matter) is not particularly widely spoken at all, although Mr Nilsen appears to think it is. Some of his descriptions of historical events read like propaganda, somewhat lacking in objectivity, which also applies to some descriptions of places to visit. His tendency to wax lyrical can raise your expectations and leave you a little disappointed. At one point, he compares the: half dozen temples; one worthwhile museum; couple of peculiarities and seemingly several million burial mounds and buddist statues/paraphernalia, which all look exactly alike, of Kyong-ju, to the hundreds of temples, castles, palaces, zen gardens, museums etc, etc of Kyoto, in Japan. My other major critisism of this book is that it is badly in need of an update. Korea appears to have suffered from horrific inflation since the last time Mr Nilsen was there and prices quoted in the book may have risen by as much as 50%. If you use this book to budget your trip add AT LEAST another 30% onto your total. So, in conclusion.... Worthwhile reading, generally useful and informative, but take it with just a little pinch of salt - you've been warned!

Huge book, full of great insights into the culture and broad descriptions of surrounding points of interest. However, there is no useful information on hotels, eateries, modes of travel between places (other than comments like: 24 trains per day between puson and seoul [paraphrased sample, don't have book in front of me]). Very dense and difficult to navigate the book to find what you are looking for.

If you want Korean cultural information, in depth, on wherever you plan to go in Korea, this is the right book. Otherwise, steer clear.

I've lived for Korea for the past five years. I've looked at all the guides and books about Korea. Well, most of them. This is the best book I've encountered about Korea. I always use. It's much more thorough than the competions (you know who's) guide book. If you're going to Korea, this is the book you need.

The South Korea Handbook is the best guidebook available for Korea. It's coverage is much more complete than its major competitor, Lonely Planet.