Cardiff & South Wales (Footprint - Pocket Guides)

New-born capital of Celtic cool.  Best of the sights. Galleries and museums.  Hard-drinking poets and soft sandy beaches.  Hip hotels and friendly  B&B's. Europe's oldest language. Hot bards and chilled cafés. Walks in the wild. Detailed maps to help plan your trip. Britain's best book town. Kid's stuff. Divas, sex symbols and male voice choirs...

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
US tourist
By Steven R. Carlson
I had already purchased several useful guides on Wales, The Rough Guide to Wales and Wales by The Lonely Planet, both had their strongpoints, are larger versus this handy pocket size. I wanted more detail on Cardiff so I purchase this next. This pocket size guide has something I value a lot; more internet websites listing for hotels, other places of interest, with a succinct description. Naturally, it has a more expansive list of places to stay, dine, with price range coding. Also suggestions on what to sight see, as one would expect. It is well organized and also has information on the surrounding South Wales area. It has a short chronology of the history of the area. Nice city section and area maps are in the final pages. Limited black and white photos are interspersed in this guide, more would have delighted. This guide had information on local golf with websites. I am an avid golfer and have other golf guides that cover that topic, but did not have some of these included.

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Central & South America (Lonely Planet Read This First)

Every year, thousands of travellers head off for their first international journey, and Lonely Planet's new "Read this First" series equips them with the confidence to meet all the challenges they encounter on the road. This guide is the essential pre-departure tool for travel to Central and South America.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Very disappointing.
By A Customer
This book is designed for a first time traveller -- over half of it was advice about weather, shots, and traveller's checks. Detail about where to go and what to see is disappointing -- it only gives a very general outline about it country (they seem to all have jungles, mountains, and ruins) and then recommends other guide books. If you are only buying 1-2 guide books, just buy the other ones.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
spend the money on a real guide book
By simon gurney
complete waste of time and money. wish id looked at the content in more detail before buying. i actually went through in disbelief at the scarcity of contents, compared with my other guide books and realised its exactly the same information which gets condensed into the front of other guide books.
lots of common sense information, only of use to someone who really wouldnt even know the first thing about travelling. this was the least useful resource in planning a trip to latin amrica, to the degree theres actually a lot of bad advice.
avoid

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Reader's Digest Quality
By A Customer
This is Lonely Planet Lite, all of it material cribbed and repackaged from other Lonely Planet guides on the region, and in many cases the summaries grossly distort what appears in the individual country guides. It's like drinking non-alcoholic beer--so diluted that there's no satisfaction in it--and some of the original wasn't all that great to start with.

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Lonely Planet South Pacific (Travel Guide)

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet South Pacific is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Receive a flower garland as a warm welcome from the locals, swim with humpback whales in Tonga, or visit Easter Island's enigmatic moai; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of South Pacific and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet South Pacific Travel Guide:

• Colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests
• Insider tips save you time and money and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including customs, religion, history, art, literature, cinema, music, dance, architecture, politics, and cuisine
• Over 120 local maps
• Useful features - including Month-by-Month (annual festival calendar), South Pacific Diving, and Travel with Children
• Coverage of Easter Island, Fiji, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, American Samoa, Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Noumea, Suva, Pape'ete, and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet South Pacific, our most comprehensive guide to South Pacific, is perfect for those planning to both explore the top sights and take the road less travelled.

• Looking for just a few of the destinations included in this guide? Check out Lonely Planet's guides to those particular destinations for a comprehensive look at what each destination has to offer.

Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Celeste Brash, Brett Atkinson, Jean-Bernard Carillet, Jayne D'Arcy, Virginia Jealous, and Craig McLachlan.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

"A 'must' for any traveler." (Midwest Book Review 2013-01-00)

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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
Disapointing LP Entry
By Readz Alot
This newest (2012) edition of the guidebook is a significant step down from previous editions. There are 100 fewer pages than the last edition. Once again, none of the islands in micronesia are included. (So if you want to visit Palau or Guam, you'll need to look elsewhere.) Several of the smaller and less popular island groups (not only inaccessible places like Pitcairn, but Tuvalu and Wallis & Futuna) are lumped together in one VERY brief chapter.

More money for less content. Maps are the frustrating blue-on-blue. What's wrong with this picture?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
OKAY
By Why
I personally don't like how the guide is organized. Many of the maps are links out of the guide which is great if you are sitting in your hotel with a Wi-Fi connection but useless when you are out and about.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
useful guide
By Robert Walker
It's a great book. I traveled all thru the South Pacific last summer and didn't want to carry a half dozen books. This one really does the trick. Good hotel recommendations and all up the usual high LP standard.

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Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island (Travel Guide)

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Step into postcard paradise at Abel Tasman National Park, swim with seals and dolphins at Kaikoura, or take a hike on the Franz Josef Glacier; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of New Zealand's South Island and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island Travel Guide:

• Colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests
• Insider tips save you time and money and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including customs, history, art, literature, cinema, music, politics, landscapes, and wildlife
• Over 54 local maps
• Useful features - including Month-by-Month (annual festival calendar), Trekking in the South Island, and Extreme South Island
• Coverage of Marlborough, Nelson, Christchurch, Canterbury, the West Coast, Dunedin, Otago, Queenstown, Wanaka, Fiordland, Southland, Hokitika, Oamaru, Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, Stewart Island, and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island, our most comprehensive guide to New Zealand's South Island, is perfect for those planning to both explore the top sights and take the road less travelled.

• Looking for more coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's New Zealand guide for a comprehensive look at what the whole country has to offer, or Lonely Planet's Discover New Zealand, a photo-rich guide to all the most popular attractions in that country.

Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Brett Atkinson, Sarah Bennett, Peter Dragicevich, Charles Rawlings-Way, and Lee Slater.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Born in Rotorua and raised in Auckland, proud North Islander Brett still proudly supports the Auckland Blues rugby team, but needs no encouragement at all to regale friends and family with stories of wild West Coast scenery, hang gliding above Queenstown, and taste-testing South Island micro-breweries. Six weeks on the road impressed him so much that in his retirement Brett plans to build scale model matchstick replicas of all of the one-way bridges on the West Coast. Home is currently a cosy apartment in Auckland with Carol. It may not be big enough for all those bridges.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Nice for getting an overview of the country, but not really practical for actual use
By Donna from Washington State
I bought this book in preparation for our trip to New Zealand. It was very useful for familiarizing ourselves with the south island and planning a general itinerary of where to go. Once we got to the country, it pretty much just traveled around with us and didn't provide any real source of information. Like another reviewer, we wanted to get to know the country and the people, not go on a series of paid excursions. We didn't stay at a single accommodation listed, nor eat at any restaurants, nor pay for any of the incredibly expensive options listed for entertainment.
If you are planning to go to New Zealand, pick your cities and then start looking at hotels listed on Trip Advisor. At each place we stayed we knew exactly what to expect and were more than happy with our choices since we knew what we were getting ourselves into. One thing you should know is that a "studio" appears to be a standard hotel room here in the States: a room with a bed or two, a separate small bath and a microwave and small fridge. A "one bedroom" appears to be a larger room with a kitchenette and a separate bedroom; both rooms have a bed of some kind. They charge on a per-person basis, so you'll need to confirm with them the number of people and number of beds you actually want. We did everything online and also confirmed whether or not we had cooking facilities/utensils. We used the cooking facilities because eating out is incredibly expensive! However, we discovered New World Markets, where they have delicious breakfast pastries and meat pies for lunch or dinner. Yum! We also ate a lot of pb&j sandwiches.
If you are staying in Queenstown, there is a small bed and breakfast located out of town that we will stay at if we ever go again: Little Paradise Lodge (actually listed in this book). We did their tea and garden tour and were amazed.
Every city has an "I-Site," as in an information center. They have local people staffing the site and provide free maps and lots of information about the area. We went there first to get the lay of the land. They can book accommodations and excursions if you want that, with no cost to you for their help. You can even do that from over here before you go.
Our greatest source of fun was asking the local people what they liked to do and where they went when they had a free afternoon. We went with no itinerary, but every day was packed with all kinds of activity. Their parks, gardens, beaches, and a lot of museums are totally free. There is no charge to park at trail heads. We did pay for a few things (water taxi to Ulva Island at Stewart Island, parking fees in cities, Milford Sound cruise, bike rental, the garden tour, and donations), but most of our time was spent driving, walking around towns seeing their sights, birding and hiking--all free.
My recommendation would be to use this book to make your general plan, but don't bother packing it with you.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Just OK but they left out one really important fact
By Anita
I bought the e-version of this guide but wanted to share my experience with folks thinking about buying any version of the book ...

The authors make only passing mention of the ridiculously rainy weather on the South Island. It rains A LOT. And it can be COLD, even in the middle of summer. We ended up having to completely rearrange our schedule when we were there ... our helicopter hike on Franz Josef glacier was cancelled because of the rain. We could not visit Milford Sound because the only road to Milford Sound was closed due to heavy rain. The Glowworm Caves were closed due to flooding. Lonely Planet really needs to stress this point, which it does not. We talked to a lot of other fellow travelers who were deeply disappointed because so many things were canceled/closed due to weather, including a family with small kids who ended up being mostly rained in during their six-day stay in Queenstown.

I wish I had known about the impact weather can have ... my advice is, don't plan too tight of a schedule, leave some flexibility so you can stay an extra day or two somewhere if needed.

I found LP to be good as a general guide, and it's certainly helpful for pre-trip planning. But the authors made no mention of the best thing I saw during my visit (December 2012): the Blue Pools, a short walk off the road between Wanaka and Haast. Stunning and definitely worth a visit. So glad the manager at our hotel in Franz Josef recommended it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Kindle version is beyond useless
By IB
NOTE: this review is for the Kindle version of the product.

DO NOT ORDER IT. It is absolutely useless, whether on a Kindle, a Fire, or a Windows tablet. There is no index, no search, it is extremely slow to refresh pages... unless you literally plan on reading through one page after the next from the beginning, it will do you no good.

I ordered the paperback version afterwards, and that's fine, but it's criminal that they would sell this as a Kindle book without even a basic index. Trying to get my money back.

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The Rough Guide to South Africa

Full-colour throughout, "The Rough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland" is the ultimate travel guide to these spectacular countries. With 30 years experience and our trademark 'tell it like it is' writing style, "Rough Guides" cover all the basics with practical, on-the-ground details, as well as unmissable alternatives to the usual must-see sights. At the top of your to-pack list, and guaranteed to get you value for money, each guide also reviews the best accommodation and restaurants in all price brackets. We know there are times for saving, and times for splashing out. "The Rough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland" features: over 50 colour-coded maps featuring every listing; area-by-area chapter highlights; Top 5 boxes; and, things not to miss section. Make the most of your trip with "The Rough Guide to South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland".

Reliable, Readable Rough Guides Conde Nast Traveller

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent choice for budget experience
By Paul Purman
This is an excellent guide for the traveler looking for interesting experiences while keeping spending under control. We used this South Africa in November 2013 and found it comprehensive and easy to use. Our daughter was in South Africa July to November and was on a much more restricted college student budget and liked it even more than we did. Bravo Rough Guide.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Solid, informative guide for urban and rural treks
By Mdwebb
This book was a wonderful, informative travel companion. We just returned from a 3.5 week trip in South Africa, with a week in Cape Town and the rest touring other small towns and cities in the south. We didn't have cell phones (just a GPS) and this book was reliable throughout. I used it almost every day because it was so helpful. The small maps of different towns and regions are indispensable (especially for getting around via rental car), and I carried it with me often just for those. The suggestions of activities, hikes, wineries, etc. helped narrow down from the many many choices of great things the country has to offer. We referred to the animal section throughout the trip as we safaried and enjoyed reading about the history of each down. Highly recommend.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
The problem with this guide is that the historic information ...
By Robert C Rivers
The problem with this guide is that the historic information is quite sparse and the suggestions are more geared towards a certain type of traveller. Will probably not go with the rough guide in the future for non-Western countries.

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South Pacific (Multi Country Travel Guide)

With 10 authors hitting the islands everywhere from the Solomons to Pitcairn and Easter Island, Lonely Planet's South Pacific is more comprehensive and more rigorously researched than any other guidebook. See inside for the real story on tropical beaches, island resorts, blue lagoons and friendly Pacific cultures.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Honest assessment of resorts. Read this book before you book!
Diving chapter takes you to the best of the Pacific beneath the waves
Unique Green Index to help make your travels ecofriendly

Lonely Planet guidebooks are, quite simply, like no others.' --New York Times

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43 of 47 people found the following review helpful.
Below the LP standard, and biased in the region's favour
By Maurizio Giuliano
As all of Lonely Planet's guidebooks, this is of course an excellent travel tool, and truly "sets the standard". Any traveler is surely better off to the South Pacific with, rather than without, this densely written and wonderfully filled book (even though, for this particular destination, the Moon Handbook for the South Pacific would also be a very good choice). However, two things should be said about this particular LP guidebook. First, its coverage is hampered by the region's magnitude and diversity. The effort to cover so many different islands, with their own realities, their own peoples and cultures, is surely a noble endeavour. Yet, it resulted in lack of clarity, and data which is vague or uncomplete, especially on some countries (such as those of Micronesia) more than others. Getting separate LP guidebooks for individual countries or sub-regions (Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga & Cook Islands, Tahiti & French Polynesia, etc) would be a much better choice for the discerning traveler - even though it may involve carrying a bit of extra weight around the beautiful seas and skyes of the South Pacific. Second, this guidebook suffers from an evident's "author's bias" in favour of the region. It is quite natural and inevitable, and also very positive, for authors to feel that their region is the best and nicest on our planet, home to the finest wonders of this world (to have the opposite, namely authors who are biased against their own regions, would be horrible). Yet, not all regions of the world can be great and perfect, and their peoples the finest and most friendly. Unknowing travelers should not be led to believe this. The South Pacific can indeed be a very tough place: not all islands and places are as great and beautiful as they may appear from this guidebook, getting around and having a nice time is not always easy (in fact, the region can be horribly frustrating), and the people are not always as pleasant as one might wish. By following indications for visa requirements for the Republic of Kiribati ("British citizens do not require visas"), I found myself pushed back on the aircraft, having to force my way in order to remain on the ground, and avoiding one nigt in a cell only thanks to the intervention of HM High Commissioner. Likewise, in Nauru it is not true that "you'll get a visa on arrival, provided the hotels have rooms". The Otintaai Hotel in Kiribati (allegedly the best in the country) does not have hot water as is claimed in the guidebook, and the Waterfront Villa Hotel in Palau (allegedly "the best deal around") is apparently so simply because the owners are extremely rude and prone to cheating, able to make your stay in beautiful Palau a real hell. Altogether, many countries which may sound like earthly paradises, are simply not so. The people, who are made seem friendly almost without exception, can be extremely obnoxious and difficult, not always happy to receive foreigners - especially in Micronesia and to a lesser extent in Melanesia, yet not so much in Polynesia. The advice contained in this guidebook should be taken with great care. Yet, in the end this remains a truly valuable tool, in a region so hard to get to know, where getting around and finally managing to enjoying one's trip - for those who do decide to go - can be truly hard. The sections on culture, wildlife, etc., despite their being rather summary, are extremely valuable and provide enjoyable reading. This book may not be up to the Lonely Planet standard (we should also consider that this is only the guidebook's first edition); but, considered LP's already high standards, it is not bad at all.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Incomplete
By Readz Alot
A typically good LP guide, but be aware that while earlier editions of the title included the whole South Pacific area, this edition does not include Micronesia. (And LP hasn't updated their micronesia guide since 2000.) So if you're planning to visit Kiribati, Palau, or other countries in Micronesia, this guide won't meet your needs.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Great intro to the French Polynesia
By V Atan
If you've never been to the French Polynesia, this is a great book to start with. If you are planning to check out a few islands as we did, it gives a lot of good information with low, middle and high prices. I particularly enjoyed the little history sections it had for each island. However, some islands are still wilder than others and Moorea is a great example. It was very hard to find places that were mentioned in the book, simply because the locals don't care as much about tourists as some other islands do and they don't mark their establishments so that they can be seen easily from the road. So take the book with you but always explore and find those hidden gems. We did and found amazing places.

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