Lonely Planet Budapest (Travel Survival Kit) (Paperback)

by Steve Fallon (Author)

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

From hidden courtyards to wonderful local wines, from goulash to the Danube, get the most out of your stay in the 'first city' of Eastern Europe with this indispensable guide.

• full-colour city maps, including transport map
• extensive walking tours and a detailed museum section to guide you through the city
• accommodation, dining and entertainment options for all tastes and budgets
• concise and practical Hungarian language guide
• detailed coverage of excursions from the city

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1864501189
• ISBN-13: 978-1864501186
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,155,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good travel information and hints; routine descriptions, June 5, 2001

By	Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In preparing for a trip to Hungary, I examined thoroughly the choices for Budapest.

My favorite guidebook series has been Lonely Planet, and the Budapest Lonely Planet is fairly helpful. Although it doesn't give as thorough a treatment on accomodations, the book gives a lot of travel hints and secret. I found its facts for the visitors to be the most helpful, and the maps (placed at the very back of the book) to be the easiest to use. The frommer book, on the other hand, put the maps close to the section of the book referring to it. The organization of LP makes it easiest to use in the field; they tend to have the best background, history and cultural information. LP was particularly good about including rules, regulations and things like closing times. ON the other hand, there are not many photos, and they don't plan as many walking tours as the frommer book does. I didn't find the written descriptions that engaging, although the cultural background seemed well done.

The Frommer's Budapest book (3rd edition) gave the best information about finding and choosing accomodations, but the book has no pictures and aside from a nice subway cover on the inside cover, the maps are hard to find and not very easy to use. Frommer's gives excellent information about prices and shops and restaurants; it's almost a guide to buying things rather than a tour book. I didn't find it particularly thorough about travel information, customs, or those sorts of details. That is not entirely fair. They have a nice section in the front a kind of "best of" list for things in budapest. The nice thing about the book is that it recommends things to do if you have only one day, three days or a week. They also suggested some itineraries for walking tours.

The Fodor's Budapest pocket reference is drab and not full of much information. Don't get it.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide on Budapest by Tadeusz Olszanski is the most eye-catching and the least helpful. It contains lots of graphics and diagrams and maps, and not too much information. The multitude of pictures are helpful in describing architecture, geography and art. On the other hand, its information on accomodations is very limited. Don't get me wrong; it's a beautiful and interesting book; it just is not as helpful as the other three. And it is two years old. I'm not necessarily saying that this book is bad, merely that it may not help you very much on the excursion.

The Budapest: A Critical Guide by Andras Torok, 4th edition is a less complete and more personal account of things to do in Budapest. The other books were like encyclopedias, but this book was just a few personal recommendations about things to do and places to stay. Also, the writing for this book seems to be better than the other books. If you already are a little familiar with Budapest, but just want to learn about new and undiscovered places, this might be an excellent book. It certainly covers most of the bases, but it just doesn't try to list a huge number of accomodations or restaurants.

I ended up buying the Frommer's and a used copy of the Eyewitness travel guide.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vaguely useful, August 10, 2004

By	Balaste (1313 Wistful Vista, Anyplace, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Budapest (Paperback)

We did a thorough comparison of the Budapest Guide and the Budapest section of Lonely Planet's Hungary Guide. The extra information provided in the Budapest book was (for the most part) simply more detail about the material already reported in the nationwide guide. It was more conversational, more spread out, yet with no genuine added content. Reviews of eateries and lodgings were no more in-depth and only slightly greater in number. Take a pass on this one. Lonely Planet's Hungary Guide is roughly just as useful in Budapest, and has the added advantage of telling you about so much in this fascinating country that's outside the standard tourist line.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars lacking, March 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Budapest (Paperback)

The restaurant descriptions seemed very vague and generally unhelpful. I think that the maps could be organized better, so that they would be easier to use.

The description of the Metro did not adequately describe the different types of tickets and where and when they are valid. I found out at the end of our trip that tickets are cheaper (admittedly, only a bit) when bought from a ticket window rather than a ticket machine. And by the time I left, even after searching two guidebooks, I still wasn't always sure which type of ticket I needed for a given journey.