Travel to South America

Lonely Planet Brazil

Format: Paperback
Author: John Noble
ReleaseDate: January, 2002
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Not impressed
LP covers tons of podunk towns and then has very little coverage of tourism hubs, like Salvador. Just used this book for a trip in November and was not impressed. Basically they covered one neighborhood in Salvador. I also found a lot of their information to be out of date (not surprising, since the book came out in 2002, which means the information is probably from 2001) and just plain WRONG. For instance, they made a huge deal about how touristy Porto Seguro is and we saw a total of about 10 tourists there. We almost didn't go because LP made it sound so overrun with tourists. And LP didn't give us any heads up that the beautiful beaches are about 2 hours away from Porto Seguro via ferry and truck, so you should stay near Arrial d'Ajuda or in Trancoso instead. They make it sound like it's super-easy to hop back and forth. Then there was the ridiculous note about the "constant noise of tractors" in Morro de Sao Paulo, which also made me think twice about going. I'm glad I ignored LP, since M de SP was the highlight of my trip. (And I saw a total of 2 tractors in 3 days, and they did not, as LP claimed "disturb the peace considerably. ") Skip this guidebook. Rough Guide was better (but still didn't have good info on Porto Seguro). Heck, Fodor's was better. But the LP Rio city guide does rock.
.

I don't know what to tell you to buy, but don't buy this.
Sometimes we just couldn't write fast enough! Many of the maps were virtually useless (particularly the one of Salvador, we thought). On a three month research trip to Brazil, my husband and I began a letter to Lonely Planet detailing every mistake, omission, and out-of-date reference we could remember. Prices were vastly different and inaccurate (and not due only to changes in the exchange rate). At the end of three months, our letter was in excess of 7 single spaced typed pages! And we certainly didn't go everywhere.

A relatively weak effort
g. Some of the other criticisms here seem petty (e. , the changing cost of visas, changes in costs due to unstable currency, the screed about the Carmen Miranda museum which isn't difficult to find, yammering about the fairly moderate politics). Indeed, some seem typical of the reviews of travel guides one expects from people with unrealistic expectations of a guidebook and limited travel experience. That said, this is definitely one of LP's weaker efforts. I found numerous errors on maps and in descriptions of locations, important enough that one can miss important places (like hotels or laundries--which can be few). There are significant areas of neglect, e. g. , the book doesn't mention that Itacare is an international surfing center, although this is evident pretty quickly. People looking for quiet beach town will be disappointed. My guess is that the next revision needs much more care. Unfortunately, the alternative is the "Footprints" guide which has some gaping holes (e. g. , few descriptions of tours and jungle lodging in the Amazon) and the Rough Guide which also has significant weaknesses.

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

	Frommer's Brazil (Frommer's Complete)
	Lonely Planet Mexico
	Fodor's Pocket Sao Paulo, 1st Edition: The All-in-One Guide to the Best of the City Packed with Places to Eat, Sleep, Shop, and Explore (Pocket Guides)
	Lonely Planet China
	Lonely Planet Costa Rica