VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands [Paperback]

Crit Minster (Author), Paula Newton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

This April 2010 edition is the most up-to-date guide to Ecuador available anywhere.

Ecuador has everything travelers comes for in South America:

beaches, mountains, cloud forests, meandering jungle rivers and charming colonial cities. It also has something you won't find anywhere else: the otherworldly Galapagos Islands. VIVA's Quito-based team will point you in all the right directions.

With this guidebook, you can

-Navigate the magnificent Galapagos Islands by land, air and sea

-Trek through the alpine valleys and misty cloud forests of the Andes

-Hang your hammock at wild, hidden beaches or in steamy jungle villages

-Party like a local during the Fiestas de Quito, Guaranda's Carnaval or any Saturday night in Atacames.

Why settle for an outdated guidebook? The VIVA community of on-the-ground travel writers, local experts and travelers like you are continuously updating and improving this guide at

vivatravelguides.com. Join them, and together we'll make the best

guidebook to Ecuador even better.

Product Details

• Paperback: 510 pages
• Publisher: Viva Publishing (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979126428
• ISBN-13: 978-0979126420
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #625,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Ecuador & Galapagos Islands

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, August 30, 2007

By 

J. P. Barnes (Novi, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (Paperback)

Really extensive information. Light on the photos but strong on content. Very up-to-date, much more so than most of the bigger name guide books. Maps were extremely useful while traveling around Quito and the restaurant reviews helped a lot. It's also really cool because you can visit their web site and add your own content on stuff, like if something changes or you had a bad hotel or whatever.

Highly recommended.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Ecuador guide!, December 21, 2008

By 

April Handtke "endless books" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (Paperback)

Of all guide books I have used for various trips this by far is the best. I just wish the guide series was available beyond Latin/South America(hopefully in the future as I know they have been expanding)! The idea of having fellow travelors contribute as well as their website with resources, is a gift for those exploring a new country. This is the way all guide books should be written, it just makes sense to have many reviewers not just a small crew reviewing a country. In particular, I really appreciated the guide's references for hostels and restaurants. We found them to be very accurate and extensive. They guarantee this guide book to be the most up-to-date and it was. My daughter who had already been in Ecuador traveling for 4 months learned things along side me who had just arrived. I found other guide books on Ecuador to be good but only this one would I characterize as excellent.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Content But Lacks High Quality Maps, January 18, 2009

By 

Chris Luallen (Nashville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (Paperback)

Viva has recently entered the crowded field of budget travel guides. Their angle seems to be having the most up to date information. This may be the case as the guide I bought for Ecuador was the most recently published. I used it during a recent trip and it served it's purpose well enough. But still I found myself missing Lonely Planet's superior maps and more readable format. On the plus side, Viva doesn't have LP's self-righteous tone and seems like a good bunch of kids trying to write honestly about their travel experiences. I wish them well. But the next trip I will probably choose a different travel guide.