Travel to Taiwan

National Geographic Traveler: Taiwan (National Geographic Traveler)

Format: Paperback
Author: Phil Macdonald
ReleaseDate: 01 April, 2004
Publisher: National Geographic
Rating:

A lot of good pictures, but often not enough information
While I was there, I found that National Geographic Traveler was more useful for planning places to go and things to do because it uses in depth highlights of tourist spots to visit and has full color photos and drawings throughout. I bought both the National Geographic Traveler and Lonely Planet guides for Taiwan before working there for a month. However, I found that the Lonely Planet guide had more information, both useful and not. It had descriptions, hours of operations, and costs for many destinations that both tourists and residents would frequent. It could be described as an insider's guide of what to do in Taiwan, but the quantity of information was more than the quality. Lonely Planet's few color plates were okay, but not as helpful as those found in the National Geographic Traveler. This made the Lonely Planet harder to decide what to do from the many options provided because the choice was usually only based on a couple of sentences. The maps were better in Lonely Planet, but I ended up using a tourist map when I was in Taipei.
I recommend getting both. I found that I would see interesting photos in National Geographic Traveler and then look up the information in Lonely Planet to decide if it was worth doing or not.

Best Guidebook for Taiwan
All the pictures in the book were great. This is hands down the best guidebook on Taiwan that I was able to find. Only wish there were more walking tours around the major cities such as Taipei and Taichung. Well worth the money!.

J. Holbrook
For a resource to read before you go it is informative and helpful but as a resource on the ground it lacks some details. This book had excellent pictures and background information. I did find the resources in the very back helpful. I used the book to plan the generals of my trip but relied on tour gides and local friends for the details. I liked this book, it was helpful and I'm glad I bought it but I don't recommend it to be your only resource on Taiwan. .

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Taiwan travel books.

	Lonely Planet Taiwan
	Taiwan Nelles Map (Nelles Maps) (Nelles Maps)
	Culture Shock! Taiwan: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Guides)
	Insight Guide Taiwan (Insight Guides)
	Passport Taiwan: Your Pocket Guide to Taiwanese Business, Customs & Etiquette (Passport to the World) (Passport to the World)