Customer Reviews

South American Handbook 2009, 85th: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint South American Handbook)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a good book, lots of detail, but it just wasn't the book for me. One major complaint was that the book prices were all in US Dollars. Which is fine, but who knows what the conversion rate was when it was calculated (especially with the economy now). It would have been better if it was in the local currency also so you could convert it yourself if needed. The pages of the book were also very thin and I found myself tearing them when I was flipping through quickly.
There is a ton of information within the book, but it was too much info to deal with sometimes. Would be great if I was at each place for months at a time and I wanted to see everything, but I only had a few days so it was just a lot of info. Would have been nice to have some pictures.
Just as a minor note, there are ads spread throughout that are somewhat annoying.
But overall, it was a good detailed book if that is what you really want, but it was just too much for me.

Hey
This was my first Time using the South American Handbook and while I had used their individual Country/City Guide Before with little complaints I was highly disapointed with this Edition.I felt alot of the information needs to be updated I have done some research and have found they dont change alot of the info year to year.Their Maps lacked alot many times and while they did Great Job on certain chapters like Lima,La Paz,Buenos Aires
I felt they did a Crummy Job with their Paraguay,Salvador,Caracas Chapter.Some of their Restaurant/Hotel/Bar suggestions had closed years before leaving you many times with no option but to go find your own accomadation.This especially happend in smaller cities/towns where only 2-3 establishments were listed and totally dispointing to find all of them closed.Yes I understand they cant keep up month to month but c'mon they supposely update yearly then this should not be happening.
I will say I think the book did particurly well in Giving you the Basics of a country Like Entry/Visa requirements,Airline options into the country,Brief History Plus I loved the small size of the book..so due to these positive features the book didnt totally suck and gave it 3 stars.So Buyers Beware youre getting a mediocore Guide!

This book is no good! I hate to say it but you need to get the Lonely Planet guide for South America. Footprint printed this edition without proofreading their maps. They have a description for hotels and restaurants but they don't appear on the map...as if there was a printing glich. This has happened for just about every map. The information is stale...don't buy this book!

If you read the travel blogs and websites, Footprint has the elusive title of best of South America travel books. For some reason Lonely Planet and Let's Go slack in an overall guide for South America. When I spent a summer there in 2009, it was the only guide out within 3 years of my travel date, an important distinction when traveling to out of the way places.

I went to Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and (almost) Bolivia. Footprint got me around, and included useful transport info like the fact that people all over SA take colectivos, these collective public taxis and buses. Also, there are all these luxury levels of bus travel as hardly anybody takes trains in SA. At first I worried that the book would be too heavy to schlep around since it's hardback, but the pages are like Bible pages and very thin so the weight of it wasn't noticeably different. I didn't have a problem with things being out of date except for one hotel in Puerto Montt, Chile. But if you go to South America thinking there won't be one hotel out of business or, I don't know, an entire labor strike in Peru that shuts down bus travel in half the country-then think again.

My only complaint about Footprints in the general lack of graphic design prowess. I wish there were a better visual symbol guide for separating items and sections, instead of basic bold font choices. Also, I wanted a metro map of Buenos Aires and Santiago, but instead there were only neighborhood maps and the colored topography maps which are helpful, but not everything. Other than that, Footprints is a really practical and inclusive guide to South America.

I used the 1973 edition way back in 1975. It was then known as "the Bible" for travellers in South America. I am about to go back for another visit, so I bought this latest edition and it appears to be just as good now as it was then. A lot of useful information for travellers of every price range. Highly recommended for anyone intending to spend time exploring this wonderful continent.

Very helpful book. Definitely a must have for anyone wishing to see those whole continent.