Lonely Planet Ho Chi Minh City Saigon

Contains an essential historical and cultural guide to major attractions and out-of-the-way sights; detailed accommodation for every budget; the best in Saigon cuisine; fascinating excursions to the Mekong Delta and seaside retreats; and an indispensable Vietnamese language chapter.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
It's Good, It's Good
By K. Johnson
It's good it's good. Being light weight and small this edition is convenient. Plenty of useful information. The maps are accurate and comprehensive. Consulate information, and arrive/departure info. is good. The central area of Saigon is walkable and you can get some good exercise while seeing local street and shop life while admiring the nice archictecture. Some recent historical notes on what happened where in the city piques the interest. There are many listings in this LP edition for additional reading on Vietnam, and these books can be picked up here in the city, thanks to master copying abilities and black market. Changes are taking place here rapidly, but the communist government remains paranoid

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Lonely Planet Beijing (City Travel Guide)

Discover Beijing

Discover where the last emporer threw in the towel at the astonishing Forbidden City
Hone your haggling skills for must-have Mao memorabilia and silk everything
Learn to slurp noodles, wield chopsticks and avoid talking politics at the table
Experience Beijing's rich culture, from ancient history to medieval temples to modern literature

In This Guide:

The only guide with Chinese script throughout the book and on maps makes navigating Beijing easy
Special chapters on Beijing's historic hutong (alleyways) and China's iconic Great Wall
Meet some of the 17 million inhabitants through interviews with a bar owner, a rock star, a Peking duck master and more

LONELY PLANET aims to cater for every independent traveller, whatever the destination, whatever the style of travel and whatever the phase of the journey.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
A bad choice
By Warren Caragata
I normally like Lonely Planet books. But this one is plain awful.

The biggest failing is that it has no information -- at least that I could find -- on the Great Wall sites near the city. There is a long section on a place called Shanhaiguan where the Wall meets the sea, but it's about 300 km from Beijing. I guess there are a few places closer to Beijing where you can see the wall but the author decided that it wouldn't be helpful to discuss the places where tourists might actually go.

The book is poorly laid out, and the Chinese characters and accented English transliterations may work in a physical book. But on the Kindle, they don't work at all -- they break up the page but what's worse, they are hard to read.

Here's a more general complaint about Lonely Planet guides on Kindle -- the maps. They are hard to read, hard to navigate around and even in zoom view, they don't work.

Having bought this guide, I am now going to go out and get the Frommers guide or another guide to Beijing so I can more usefully plan my trip. Too bad though that I had to waste the money and my time going through this one.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Standard sightseeing and hotel B+, Restaurants and bars F
By Jackal
The standard tourist destinations are well described. The hutong hotel I stayed in was good and I found it through this guide. There isn't much off the beaten track advice.

What is really bad in this book is the restaurant and bar advice. It is a typical white man's view of eating in restaurants. Several Western restaurants listed. That could be forgiven because some people don't like Chinese food. But the Choice of Chinese restaurants is just awful. None of the great places with regional food found in modern shopping centres are described. This is how many locals eat. Also missing are the great restarants in the office buildings for the different regions of China. They often have a great regional cuisine restaurant closeby, e.g. Sichuan. Instead we get Chinese restaurants that try to replicate the cosiness of a quaint small European restaurant or some big Chinese places were business people go and order dishes with expensive ingredients. These places do not provide much value add for most tourists.

The choice of bars is really odd. Several of them seems to have western owners and I'm sure they're in the book because of friendships with the owners. I visited a couple of places on a Wednesday and they were empty. So much for hipness! The description of other places like Susie Wong's as a hangout for prostitures is slighty ridiculous. When I went there they were giving out free salsa lessions.

Sadly I don't think there is a better book. My advice is to go to the websites .

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
great advice and paid for itself many times over
By Stephen Pellerine
I am quite a comfortable traveler and have been to several destinations and loved this book as an accompaniment in my Beijing journeys. It is not a book that will bring you off the beaten track in an adventurous sense (I guess) but I was able to find good accommodation, orient myself around the city, and get off to some wonderful "non-touristy" Great Wall hikes.

The book served me well and if you are heading to Beijing for the first time and want a concise valuable guide this is it. I found great accommodation for example for dollars a night and this paid for the book itself had I gone to a more expensive hotel - just in the first evening. Also a great guide to Peaking Duck at "5 star" restaurants for very reasonable fees.

I see that others feel the guide is not perfect, and I agree, but I have never come across a "perfect" guide book. I did enjoy having the book and found that it gave great advice and paid for itself many times over.

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Lonely Planet Tokyo (City Guide)

Maybe it’s wandering through the flashing forest of neon in Shibuya and Shinjuku. Sushi for breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market. A shopping trip in Harajuku to check out the independent designers. Or maybe it’s as simple as a bowl of whisked green tea in a centuries-old garden. Wherever you find your Tokyo moment, one thing’s for sure: this smart and streetwise guidebook has the city covered.

Sleep In Style – informative reviews of the best luxury hotels, traditional ryokan and top-value budget options make the decisions easy.

Navigate With Ease – clear and detailed maps with Japanese script take you where you want to go.

Treat Yourself – our authors have hand-picked the best designer wares, specialist music stores, tucked-away shopping streets and more.

Feast Like A Local – discerning reviews deliver the gems, from decadent kaiseki to mouth-watering sashimi.

Escape For A Day – head for the traditional temples of Nikko and Kamakura, or soak your bones in an onsen; our Excursions chapter has all the best tips.

Nobody covers the world like Lonely Planet.' --New York Post, May 2004

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

France was closed, so after college Andrew Bender left his native New England to work in Tokyo. It ended up being a life-changing journey, as visits here so often are. He's since mastered chopsticks, the language, karaoke and taking his shoes off at the door, appeared in Japanese TV commercials, earned his MBA, and worked with Japanese companies on both sides of the Pacific in fields from finance to film production. His writing has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times and many others Lonely Planet titles. In an effort toward even greater trans-oceanic harmony, Andy also consults on cross-cultural issues from his current base in Los Angeles. Find out more at www.wheres-andy-now.com

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
boring, but incredibly useful
By Philyra
When we were planning our trip to Japan, we purchased The Rough Guide to Japan and The Lonely Planet Guide to Tokyo. Reading through the Lonely Planet Guide, I found very little that sounded worth doing or seeing. The same items described in The Rough Guide were much more intriguing. So I chose what to see and do based on The Rough Guide.
Close to the time of our trip, someone who had just been to Japan recommended The Time Out Guide to Tokyo for the maps. But when it came time for planning the details of the tour - where the chosen attractions were located, when they were open, and how to get from here to there, the maps and the details in the descriptions in The Lonely Planet Guide were far more useful than those in the other two books. For practical use, I have given this book four stars.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent practical information, improved cultural suggestions
By Oliver
The Lonely Planet guides are very often the best when it comes to providing practical information such as maps, changing money, the best way to get from A to B, etc. This edition of the Tokyo guide is no exception. It has everything you need to plan your trip and to get around Tokyo.

This edition is also an improvement over the prior editions when it comes to cultural recommendations, such as restaurants, walking tours, interesting shops, museums, etc. The "Time Out" guide is probably still better is the cultural department, but it is weak when it comes to maps, etc., so it may be worth taking both guides.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Resource
By JessLyne
Tokyo can be really overwhelming because there are a million things to do! This book really helped with highlighting each area of Tokyo as well as providing hours and addresses of the places you want to visit. It also had fantastic suggestions for cheap eats. This author takes you into the back alleys (if you want to go - which you should!) or keeps you in the high class areas of Tokyo for a well rounded trip.

I coupled this book with the Tokyo City Atlas book, which made it possible to understand the crazy mapping system of Tokyo.

Have fun!

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Berlin (City Guide)

Lonely Planet Berlin

Discover why the Reichstag was wrapped in silver fabric for 14 days
See cutting-edge art displayed in a Nazi bunker
Dine in a secret restaurant where the host serves you supper in their own home
Sleep inside a kaleidoscope, prison cell or coffin at Berlin’s most unusual hotel

In This Guide:

Written by our expert resident author who knows the city inside-out
Full-color coverage of Berlin’s vibrant art, design, music and fashion scenes
Insider tips from a music tour guide and an art gallery curator

Sherman's Travel, April 2007
'...Encounter guides...discreet in size, but generous enough on page count to provide a fuller city experience minus the hefty guidebook load.'

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travelers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travelers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travelers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travelers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Andrea is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor and translator who owes her love for languages and travel to her mother who lugged her off to foreign lands when she was still a toothless toddler. After completing high school in Germany, Andrea left for London and stints as an au-pair, market researcher and foreign language correspondent. In the mid-'80s she swapped England for Southern California and the hallowed halls of UCLA. She then hit the job market armed with a degree in English literature and charted a course in travel journalism. Assignments have taken her to all continents but Antarctica and her work has been published in several countries. Andrea joined the fleet of Lonely Planet writers in 1995 and has updated and authored guides to Los Angeles, California & Nevada, Germany and Western Europe.

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66 of 75 people found the following review helpful.
Berlin travel guides
By Michael Turner
This book has all the information you need, to prepare you for a wonderful vacation in Berlin. It's the kind of book that you curl up with near the fire on a cold snowy winter day and read about the trip you'll take during the summer. But--------- there are better guides for those individuals who have travelled in Europe before and who just want the nuts and bolts and will allow the city to visit them. I personally recommend either DK (Dorling Kindersley) Eyewitness Guide to Berlin or the slightly older Knopf 'City Guide' published last in 1998. However with Berlin changing so rapidly, you'll probably do better with the DK guide. It has more photos which aren't essential, but are a nice added feature but more importantly it breaks the city up in a better way to help you get the most out of your time. I think it's much better.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
If you're staying longer than a few days, get a better map
By Amazon Customer
This map would probably be nice for tourists who are *only* going to see the Stadt Mitte around the Tiergarten, Checkpoint Charlie, and the other touristy stuff. However, you can probably get a map that's just as good at this stuff from your hotel for free, save the mini-German lesson that's printed on the map. If you buy the Lonely Planet Berlin handbook, which is probably a better investment, you won't need this map. If you want to see things that aren't the everyday touristy stuff, you need a bigger map. Get one with Postdam on it and buy it when you get to Berlin. You'll save cash and the frustration of having a map that makes Berlin look like a Dorf (small village).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Maps are useless (Kindle version)
By Jason Huang
The body text links you to a map, but the maps only have numbers on them without any legend telling you what each number represents. How are we supposed to know where to find the described venues?

The iBookstore version is much easier to use, especially with maps.

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Lonely Planet Beijing (City Guide)

Ever wonder what Peking duck tastes like on its home turf? Always wanted to climb the Great Wall? Or perhaps you'd like something a little more obscure. A ride around town in Madame Mao's old Red Flag stretch limousine, perhaps? Whatever tickles you, one thing's for sure: Beijing is one impressive city. This up-to-the-minute guidebook uncovers all the marvellous secrets - and makes sure you have a great time.

Pull-Out Sheet Map in Chinese and English

Beijing Resident Author - over 500 places visited and reviewed; dozens of new bars and restaurants added

Language Help - all places listed in Chinese and English for easy navigation

Ancient Beijing Explored in walking and cycling tours through the hutong

Olympics Coverage shows off the city's remarkable transformation

Lonely Planet guides are a must-pack” --Toronto Star, February 2006

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travelers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travelers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travelers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travelers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

A Lonely Planet publication.

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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Does the job
By Jared M
The latest edition of LP Beijing follows the new formatting that LP introduced in 2004 for its travel guides. There are inserts of colour photography for those of you so inclined. The Language section is OK, and chinese is used on the maps to assist you when dealing with taxi/bus drivers.

Generally speaking, the LP Beijing City Guide will do the job for short term visitors to the city, and these short term visitors are the target audience for these books. Those staying long term as ESL teachers or in other capacities will find it lacking after a while, but there is only so much you can squeeze into these books anyway.

Just a note to those planning on visiting the city in the next few months. A lot of the major sights, such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, are under restoration as part of the city's preparation for the 2008 Olympics (see the Olympic countdown clock outside the main entrance of the Museum of Chinese History), with scaffolding and workmen all over the show. You can still get into these places, but may not be able to see all the sights mentioned in the guidebook. But be sure to get a photo of the Starbucks which is slap bang in the middle of this historic city. Commercialism at its finest...

I'm normally a devoted LP customer, but I have to admit to making an impulse decision to purchase the Insight City Guide to Beijing. I found the Insight guide to be almost as good, particularly where maps are concerned. The Insight guide was also cheaper than the LP book, although I think the LP listed more activities. For me though, Lonely Planet still sets the standard for Travel Guides.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Great Travel Guide, More Useful than others, Needs Update.
By Mark
I found this travel guide to Beijing to be very useful and nicely put together. Lonely planet always has nice graphics and pictures. The information was short and sweet. There was enough information to be useful, but not so much that it was overkill.

As has been pointed out, the chinese characters are included which is very helpful. Also, it is true that with development being what it is in China it is impossible to write a guide that is totally up to date. Clearly, being published going on 2 years ago, this book could use an update.

All that being said, this is the best guidebook to Beijing that I have seen out there. That is why I am giving it 4 stars. Happy Travels!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Missing major component
By J. Tu
The information is good but there are no Chinese characters of locations/names to show to taxi drivers. The pronunciations are just too difficult for some one not adept at languages or who has not studied some Chinese. I have taken over a dozen trips to China and find books with Chinese characters far more useful.

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