Lonely Planet Tahiti & French Polynesia (4th ed) (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: noa noa, airport transfers cost, fare potee, Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Nuku Hiva (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From Antarctica to Zimbabwe, if you're going there, chances are Lonely Planet has been there first. With a pithy and matter-of-fact writing style, these guides are guaranteed to calm the nerves of first-time world travelers, while still listing off-the-beaten-path finds sure to thrill even the most jaded globetrotters. Lonely Planet has been perfecting its guidebooks for nearly 30 years and as a result, has the experience and know-how similar to an older sibling's "been there" advice. The original backpacker's bible, the LP series has recently widened its reach. While still giving insights for the low-budget traveler, the books now list a wide range of accommodations and itineraries for those with less time than money.

If the magical islands of French Polynesia are on your itinerary, here is the perfect traveling companion. Its 29 maps highlight 4WD vehicle tracks, walking routes, and dive sites. The guide features a thorough history section, food section, accommodations for any budget, and useful Tahitian and French language sections. This book also includes all the archipelagos: the Societies, Tuamotus, Marquesas, Australs, and Gambiers--with extensive information in inter-island travel. The authors have personally tested all of the dive sites. --Kathryn True

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…Lonely Planet, the intrepid traveler's bible...' --Los Angeles Times, April 2005
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 4th edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864422873
• ISBN-13: 978-0864422873
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,170,698 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but needed more, May 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Tahiti & French Polynesia (Lonely Planet Tahiti and French Polynesia) (Paperback)

I've used many Lonely Planet (LP) guides and found this one to be lacking their usual detail. I got the sense much hotel information was pilfered from Web surfing the basic info, rather than first-person investigation. While still a good book to take, next time (and there will be a next time because Tahiti is wonderful) I'll be sure take another guide along with it, and to thoroughly read actual travelers' online reviews. I'll also know the questions I need to ask before booking. My sense was that the reviewers weren't seeing things through the fresh-eyes of a first time traveler. The details, such as directions accommodation features were often lacking.

One thing I've always liked about LP is that they will list small locally owned budget places - that are occasionally hidden gems - whereas many other guides only list "approved" chain-type accommodations. However, in this book key information about lodging was missing. For example, it's very uncommon to find window screens in Polynesia despite a lot of mosquitoes, yet it is not standard for the book to say if there are screens or mosquito netting at each location (sometimes there are neither). Screens would be a big selling point for me. In Lonely Planet's India guide - which I was quite happy with - they deliberately note whether hotels have air-conditioning or not; in this guide this rather important information (for the tropics) is randomly added. Sometimes we'd get there and they'd have AC and sometimes they wouldn't. A more specific example is a pension primarily described as "friendly" - which it was in spades - with no mention that there's one bathroom shared with 8 people and that doesn't have hot water. With what prices are in Tahiti, poor information is very costly. One "resort" (our over-water bungalow splurge) was merely described as "competitive with other luxury resorts." Come to find out it had bedbugs and no air-conditioning.

If level of detail can be evidenced by pages numbers, note that LP's Hawaii guide (five main islands) is 615 pages, while their Tahiti guide (50+ islands/atolls, with ten commonly traveled) is a only 287 pages.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Was it really only a bad dream?, September 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Tahiti & French Polynesia (Tahiti and French Polynesia, 5th ed) (Paperback)

I was flabbergasted to find out that one of the most popular guidebooks in the world was not able to accurately describe our accomodation (The Blue Lagoon in Vaitape, BoraBora) as it later turned out to be ... namely, a disaster! In the guide we could not find any details about the REAL condition of the bathroom or the rest of the pension. We also had to share our room with a mouse (rat?) of undefined size (we met him only through his "leavings" and scurryings) and the traffic of wasps coming and going from their nests in our room. The shower was black and crusty, as was the toilet. Walls and floors were peeling, the air was filled with an overpowering stink of decaying fish and dirt, and we were afraid to get into our beds. The exterior of the building looked like a Tijuana flophouse. We traveled all over the South Pacific, staying in many different hotels and pensions, and never did we encounter such a horrible variance from the description in the guidebook. I mean, this is Bora Bora, an expensive, upscale resort area, and it seems incredible that such lodgings could even exist there. They would have to be more accurate in their evaluations of accomodations and be prepared to warn travelers of nightmarish places like this one!

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good all around book., May 1, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This book is very comprehensive. It will help you find all of the places you want to go, and will give you an overview of what to expect. Some of the items could have been a little more detailed though. We found the combination of this book and Jan Prince's book to be the perfect combination for our trip in November of 1998. Read more about our trip and how we used these books at Scubacharter.com.