Lonely Planet Russia & Belarus (Paperback)

~ Richmond Simon (Author), Mark Elliott (Author), Patrick Horton (Author), Steve Kokker (Author), Baty Landis (Author), Wendy Taylor (Author), Mara Vorhees (Author) "European Russia - west of the Ural Moun - comprises only a quarter of Russia but is still bigger than any other European coun..." (more)
Key Phrases: kraevedchesky muzey, komnaty otdykha, hydrofoil station, European Russia, Russian Far East, Peter the Great (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

For sheer global reach and dogged research, attention must be paid to Lonely Planet…' --Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

This guide gives detailed coverage of historic cities such as Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev. It gives practical advice on activities from boat trips down the Volga River to skiing in the Caucasus, and covers extensive accommodation, eating and entertainment options.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 3rd edition (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740592654
• ISBN-13: 978-1740592659
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #971,935 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Guide for the 17,000,000 square kilometers of Russia, January 5, 2004

By	Marc David Miller "www.DiscoveringRussia.com-... (New York, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So you have already seen the present (Moscow) and former (St. Petersburg) capital, and now you would like to see the "real Russia", or you have an airplane conference to attend in Kazan, or you have adopted a child from Murmansk, or you are meeting a prospective bride from Magadan (don't laugh--whenever I answer questions from people who are traveling to regions outside of Moscow/St. Petersburg, 80% are going for adoption or marriage!). There are almost no current guidebooks to regions such as Perm, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Volgograd, Crimea, Minsk, and the Far East. The 'Lonely Planet Russia and Ukraine' has the largest area coverage of any guide currently published in English.

It is also ideal for those taking a river cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The coverage of the famed Trans-Siberian route is ok, although I think the 'Trans-Siberian Handbook' and 'Siberian Bam Guide : Rail, Rivers & Road' do a better job for those particular regions.

The Moscow/St. Petersburg sections are ok as well, although anyone spending more than a few days in each of those cities should look into guides that cover only those cities.

Restaurant, hotel and travel information are good, although could use more details. The history sections are adequate considering the scope of the book. Also, the twice-yearly updates at Lonely Planet's web site, although lacking in breadth and depth, provide some more timely information than what appears in the book.

Marc David Miller, Discovering Russia, New York

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lonely Planet Russia, Ukraine & Belarus (Travel Guides), May 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Russia, Ukraine & Belarus (Lonely Planet Russia and Belarus) (Paperback)

My wife and I will be spending the summer in her home town of Kiev. Since I am an American, I want to go with as much information as possible so that I can get the most out of my time there. To this end, I bought Let's Go Eastern Europe 2000 and Lonely Planet's Russia, Ukraine & Belarus 2000 books. We have reviewed both books and with respect to Ukraine, we find Lonely Planet's travel guide superior. It contains a lot more information about Ukraine than the Let's Go book. Of course the Let's Go book covers many more countries than the Lonely Planet guide so this fact is not surprising.

However, the Lonely Planet book is also more up-to-date. For instance, the Let's Go book makes very wrong predictions about the presidential election that took place last fall. It also contains exchange rates from last summer.

Meanwhile Lonely Planet not only talks about the actual result of last fall's elections, it tells how this set of elections significantly affects the country. My wife's parents generally confirm the observations Lonely Planet offers. Lonely Planet's guidebook also mentions several news events that are only a few months old.

I am very satisfied with the Lonely Planet travel guide and considerably more satisfied than I am with a leading alternative. I am looking forward to using it.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You may have to pick this one, but it will not please you, November 6, 2002

By	Andrius Uzkalnis (Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Lonely Planet Russia, Ukraine & Belarus (Lonely Planet Russia and Belarus) (Paperback)

A good and usable guide to the entire Russia is still to be written. There are objective reasons for this - the country is huge, and 99% per cent of its territory has no hope of receiving meaningful numbers of tourists. Covering such an area adequately would be an incredibly difficult and expensive task; there is no travel publisher in the world at the moment willing to invest so much for so little expected in sales.

People who come to Russia mostly visit Moscow and St Petersburg, although a few also wander to the "Zolotoye Koltso" (Golden Ring) around Volga river - old cities of Vladimir, Suzdal or Uglich. If this is your case, the choice is easy: just pick one of the city guides (DK Eyewitness recommended - really the best, Fodor's Moscow and St Petersburg is also good, or try Rough Guide for less inspired but more exhaustive listings).

The question is - what to do if you go deeper into the country? Say, places in the Urals, or Russia's Far East? Well, you probably will have to dedicate a lot of effort to picking out nuggets of information from the Internet - preferably armed with some knowledge of the Russian language. Prepare your itinerary bit by bit, seek recommendations, write e-mails to people. It is time-consuming and requires effort, but you do not have a choice if you want to prepare for this trip properly.

Alternatively (an easy way, but not a good one) - buy this book, but make sure you have a pinch of salt on you. A spoonful of salt, rather. Or better make it a sack of salt. The shortcomings of this book have been noted by others: hopelessly outdated, inaccurate, poorly researched. There is a distinct feeling writers either did not visit some of the places they wrote about or spent very little time there. As for pricing information, you will be better off with a random number generator or a casino roulette than this book. I have never seen a guide where price information would be so disconnected from the reality.

There is also a matter of certain arrogance and disrespect to local culture, noted by one reviewer. Lonely Planet is famed for not pulling any punches and giving writers a lot of freedom to voice their opinions, but at times the feeling of writers' perceived cultural superiority is over the top.

So is this book worth buying at all? Well, maybe, if you don't mind carrying around something of very limited practical use. Luggage allowance permitting, you might as well have it - one out of five telephone numbers shown in the book might be still valid, some of the addresses may be accurate. Opening times? Here's rule of thumb: try between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, chances are, the place will be open. It may occasionally prove useful, for the absence of a better choice, but please do not have excessive expectations.

The same is true for Belarus - the country is no more welcoming to travellers than Libya or Sudan, nosy travellers risk imprisonment and serious travel writing is practically non-existent. You can try using Lonely Planet, or you can get an excellent listings magazine Minsk In Your Pocket.

For Ukraine, choices are better. The country is relatively well-covered by general Eastern Europe guides, there is brilliant Hippocrene Language and Travel Guide to Ukraine (by Linda Hodges and George Chumak), or Ukraine Culture Shock by Meredith Dalton. Generally, you will find Ukraine friendlier to Westerners than Russia or Belarus and, most importantly, not preoccupied by desperate superpower ambitions and constant need to reassert its greatness.

I gave this Lonely Planet guide one star not only because you have to give it at least one star under Amazon system. The book deserves a star because it attempted to cover Russia, Ukraine and Belarus first. Commendable ambition, but sadly, the result is very poor. Maybe they will put together a better team next time, give it a bit more time and check their writing more meticulously.