Travel to Latin America

Lonely Planet Costa Rica

Format: Paperback
Author: Mara Vorhees
ReleaseDate: October, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Best Guide Book Ever!
The maps of the towns were excellent in providing reference points and directions. Once again Lonely Planet has produced the best guide book for budgeted travelers. The history sections and "Did you know" boxes were great reads while camped out in the Corcovado National Park. It was nice to have the dollar amounts listed next to all of the hostels and hotels as it saved us a ton of money. The color photos were nice, but didn't really relate to much of our travels.

Great book for the student traveler who does not have a lot of money to spend but wants to see the world! Thanks Lonely Planet!.

The only one you'll need
I had the National Geographic, the Tico Times book (Exploring Costa Rica) and the Lonely Planet. As usual I bought a few guide books and took them all with me. Lonely Planet was the bible. All the rest were fluff. As my trip progressed I put the others in the glove compartment and eventually deep in my luggage. The only time I needed anything else was consulting the map (I had a waterproof detailed Costa Rica map which I also recommend) and once when a phone number was misprinted.

As for the preachy tone, yes, I agree, there was a huge element in the book. A lot of it I tended to agree with (I personally think zip line tours are a terrible idea and would make more sense over Manhattan skyscrapers than in one of the world's most precious cloud forests and I also agree that Tamarindo is a hole) so it didn't bother me as much as some of the other reviewers. I wouldn't lower my score by more than half a star for that so they still got 5 stars.

Angry Authors
The authors seemed to have nothing but complaints about many of the places described. I found the guide to be off-base in many areas. Instead of giving facts about where to find a cheap room or good place to eat the book seemed to continually drone on about how bad everything is. If I followed their advice I would have missed some great experiences (Zip lines are bad for the environment?) Not what I was looking for in a travel companion. .

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

	Frommer's Costa Rica 2007 (Frommer's Complete)
	Waterproof Costa Rica Map
	National Geographic Traveler: Costa Rica, 2d Ed. (National Geographic Traveler)
	Lonely Planet Panama
	Lonely Planet Costa Rican Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks)