Travel to New Zealand

Frommer's New Zealand (Frommer's Complete)

Format: Paperback
Author: Adrienne Rewi
ReleaseDate: 06 March, 2006
Publisher: Frommer's
Rating:

OK
If you don't like sitting on a tour bus and don't mind sleeping at a hostel and want to see the little towns then avoid this one and get the Lonely Planet guide instead. This guide is OK if you're rich and want to only hit the big touristy areas. I just got back from New Zealand and basically didn't use this book at all. Not a great investment. Couldn't find most of the small towns in this book at all. .

Good, but not complete
In the past, I found Frommer's guides to be complete and packed with great recommendations for places to go, where to stay, etc. I planned a trip to New Zealand in the fall of 2006 using this book and a few other New Zealand travel guides. This book lacked in all of those respects.

The accomodation sections seemed to be a list of the most expensive accomodation for any given area, with no regard for the value of the stay for your money. That the author learned a lot about high-end hotels in researching this book isn't surprising since Frommer's allows their authors to accept complimentary accomodation. But as a reader I expect to get a lot more good recommendations for places in the 'moderate' and 'inexpensive' price ranges.

Aside from leaving out budget accomodation recommendations, some parts of the country aren't covered at all. At first this made planning my trip quite difficult, but fortunately other more complete guidebooks included extensive information about those areas.

If you're only going to get one book to plan your trip to New Zealand, don't get this one. If you're looking to augment your research this could be a great pick, particularly if you're interested in a comparison of well-appointed hotels. Don't expect a book comparable to the "Europe on $XX / day".

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

	Frommer's Australia 2006 (Frommer's Complete)
	Frommer's Australia 2007 (Frommer's Complete)
	The Rough Guide To New Zealand - 4th Edition
	Lonely Planet New Zealand