Customer Reviews

VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I was looking for information about lodging and activities in the Central Highlands area of Ecuador and was having a difficult time obtaining a great deal of information from other travel guides. This guide has 46 pages of beneficial information about this area of Ecuador.

I recently returned from a trip to quito and the galapagos and found this book to be very helpful and in depth for trip. it had very detailed information on each island of the galapagos, different ships that toured the galapagos, different landing sites on the islands etc. it was amazingly detailed. I was thoroughly impressed. I was also impressed with the information on quito.

the book also had a huge section on language schools if anyone is interested in that. considering the large sections on these subjects I dont
know how good the information is on the rest of the country because I did not travel outside these two areas. but since the information was so good for these places I assume the quality should be just as good. They also have a website where they are supposed to keep updates and people post reviews. I bought this book right before i left so I did not have time to check out the website. But i think that is handy useful for anyone who may be traveling for awhile.

As a Naturalist living in the Galapagos, I always like to keep up to date with any new guide books coming out, and this one is a real gem. Not only is it full of the most up-to-date and accurate information, but I also found very entertaining to read, full of interesting asides and great anecdotes. The author obviously really knows and understands the Galapagos, and I find myself turning to this book to recommend places to stay and visit to friends and family coming for a visit. It clearly explains the different options available to explore the islands, and lists both the pros and cons of each one. He also explores the full range of economic possibilities, from travel-on-a-shoestring, to the most luxurious of the cruise liners. How great it is to find someone who has really done all the groundwork!

I was very excited to hear about the VIVA travel books. They seem like a such a great idea: up-to-date content, created by real travelers, kind of a group made travel book. Call it the Firefox of public domain travel book creation.

Unfortunately, it has a long way to go. As background: I travel frequently (over 50 countries now) and have used a variety of travel books (Let's Go being my far and away favorite). I spent 3 weeks in Ecuador. I am an independent traveler, who takes local transport and stays in more common accomodation. I also speak Spanish.

VIVA is based in Ecuador, so you would expect that it would be up-to-date and accurate. Instead, I sometimes found errors, and was often frustrated with the lack of detail that you need when you are somewhere completely different. It often seemed like they had spent so much time there, they forgot the simple things that people need to know.

Some of the other people I traveled with were packing the Lonely Planet and the Moon Guide and found these to be more useful for our trip.

Pros:

Lots of hotels. Especially in Quito. Descriptions were decent. Couldn't get email to work for those that were listed.
Lots of restaurant listings
"What to bring section was good"
Lists lots of travel agencies. (I used one or two with good results)
When they used their "strongly recommend" mark, it was usually very good
Prices were pretty close to what they said.

Cons:

Very weak on "how to get around" which I consider the number one thing for a book to tell me.
Bus schedules, routes, times were poor or non-existant.
No transport prices.
How about recommended taxi prices when you're in town?
Lack of regional/countrywide maps
Despite being a 2008 edition, and being there in 2008, things were wrong.
Restaurants, esp the recommended ones, were too "international" focused and expensive. Where's the great cheap eats?
Many things were geared towards people with a car or on a tour, such as expensive places on the outskirts of town. You think those people buy books?
Lack of "on the ground local info"

All in all, a good start for these guys. They need to figure out who their market is. If they're going after backpackers, they'll need to move it a little more into the budget category. Until they do, I'll stick to my Let's Go when I can (they sadly are paring back) or the Lonely Planet

It seemed to have too much "classified ad" content for restaurants and hostels. I was looking more for a guide of the area.

The book may be long on suggestions, but it is also short on detail. I thought the suggestions for restaurants to be quite under-presented ... there are so many goods ones not in the book at all.

Lots of good information for those wanting to travel to Ecuador. It gave me a lot of information as food for thought but is not the book for potential living/retiring there...which was what I was seeking. Perhaps that book hasn't been written yet(Nov 2009). It does however identify the four regions of Ecador, gives lot of info on restaurants, getting about etc....everything the traveller may need.