Travel to Central America

Lonely Planet Guatemala

Format: Paperback
Author: John Noble
ReleaseDate: January, 2004
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

useful, but disappointing
well, i was disappointed by this guatemala edition. on every backpacking trip, a lonely planet was always one of the must-haves because they are always so on it when it comes to accuracy and reliability. the author raved about the country: antigua, tikal, the people. . . so i had all these warm fuzzy expectations. that was mistake number one.

antigua was described as this beautiful "magical" colonial city. i spent over two weeks there to study spanish and magical wasnt at all what i experienced. nice, yes, but not MAGICAL. ever been to oaxaca, mexico? now, thats lively and magical. antigua shuts down pretty early, so if youre looking for food say at 10pm or later, youre out of luck. if you like bars (i dont), well, then your IN luck. the buildings in antigua were colorful and you can find old landmarks all around, but again, it did not have that "magical" atmosphere like the author described. im not alone on this.

tikal was not a must-see. at least not if youve already seen all the ancient sites in southern mexico. i was not impressed, but the author of the lonely planet (and apparently by some travelers) raved about how amazing it was. maybe the view from one of the temples was breathtaking, and oh yes, the howling monkeys can give you a startle if you didnt know they were just monkeys, but other than that, i was not impressed.

and as for the people, i didnt find them to be all that warm and friendly. they know youre a tourist, and they treat you like one. i stayed with a family for two weeks and still didnt experience that sincerety and warmth. i surmised somehow, that the toursim altered that experience of genuine friendliness. i found that especially true in antigua. the locals really take advantage of the tourist. theyre like robots repeating the same whiny phrase, "que compran?" when you walk by. sometimes, they dont even look at you when they say it.

i guess the author was enamoured with guatemala (he has been many times). . . but i didnt find his bias to the country to be all that accurate. its the first time that ive been disappointed by the info in a lonely planet, after having used at least six or seven of them for my other travels.

buy this one for its maps and how-to-get-around and logistics like that. just watch out for the biased reviews of places. judge for yourself and ask other travelers.

This book is spot on.
It was my first trip there, so I needed and wanted extensive detail and maps, which this book provided. I traveled to Guatemala for two weeks in the summer of 2005 and used Lonely Planet the entire time. I found it to be right on about everything from restaurants and hotels to ATM locations. I appreciated the small bits of cultural and historical information as well. The transportation sections were the most helpful. On several occasions I had people ask to borrow my LP to look up bus connections. Overall, I thought it was excellent and recommend it highly to anyone traveling to Guatemala. .

Very helpful guide to travel to Guatemala.
You'll see a lot of travelers with a copy of the book. Lonely planet is very popular in this country. The maps are very acurate and you'll find good recomendations. What's great about this country is that people are friendly, so you only need the basics and the book has them.

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

	The Rough Guide to Guatemala 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
	Guatemala Map (Travel Reference Map)
	In Focus Guatemala: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture
	Lonely Planet Mexico