Travel to South America

Frommer's Peru (Frommer's Complete)

Format: Paperback
Author: Neil E. Schlecht
ReleaseDate: 07 August, 2006
Publisher: Frommers
Rating:

Very Informative
It's descriptions and opinions were enlightning, if not at points overcautious. I thought that Frommer's Peru was very helpful and quite accurate with the exeption of one restaurant in Cusco, Greens, which had moved and become vegitarian. I would have liked more on Lima. The bood discouraged travelers from going there, but I thought it was very nice in Miraflores. Highly recommended for anyone considering going to Peru.

Well laid out and very contemporary
Frommer's keep surprising me with new relevant information about Peru. For the last seven years I have lived in, and traveled throughout Peru. Kudos. Especially informative is Frommer's first section: "What's New in Peru". In Frommer's the Cusco, the Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail section alone take up 100 pages and the information is excellent. If you are going only to these locations then this portion of the guide is reason enough to buy Frommer's.

In the world of Peru guides (this year I have reviewed five) there are two types of guides; those guides that are written for the wandering/explorer/backpacker who wants travel to the normal visitors' sites, but will also go `off the beaten track' (Footprint, Let's Go and Lonely Planet [see my reviews]), and then there are the guides for the traveler who like comfort, have money and will visit only the main tourist attractions: Cusco [Machu Pichu], Puno [Lake Titicaca], Arequipa [Colca Canyon], Lima, Iquitos and the lines at Nazca (Fodor's [see my review] and Frommer's).

Disappointing is Frommer's recommendations of restaurants in Cusco. At least half of those that were recommended bombed out, and the rest were fair to good; but none of the Cusco restaurants deserve the `star' rating of exceptional that this guide liberally gives.

Cusco has, at most, two or three restaurants that deserve `kudos' and your money, but because cooks (and the occasional chief) change as frequently as table napkins it is best to ask a professional Cusquena (doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. ) where they recommend eating. Take care when asking the local guides for restaurant recommendations, as they will normally direct you to a tourist restaurant and thereby get a free meal and commission from the restaurant.

Frommer's is much better than Fodor's in many aspects, and in comparison to all the guides, Frommer's excels in providing you with the important and essential information needed to plan your trip (entry requirements, health, travel resources, when to go, suggested itineraries, recommended reading, etc. ). Thus, if you are staying on the tourist route then you will do well to have this guide in your knapsack. .

Good on Frommer's!
As someone who was raised in Perý and return often, I believe that the author of Frommer's Perý did a very good job, especially considering that most guidebooks don't include much about how tourism is endangering many heritage sites in the country. It appears to me that the first reviewer may have a chip on his shoulder and ought to have stayed home, wherever that is. Neil Schlecht obviously cares and let's readers know, politely, that they need to walk softly through this beautiful nation.

I loved the fact that I recognized many of the places he recommended - La Casa de Melgar in Arequipa is indeed a marvelous place to stay, for example and it was a thrill to read his section on Cajamarca, my second favourite Peruvian city, after Arequipa.

I liked his Best of Perý section, although I believe that he missed on the best markets/shopping section and would have liked to read more about how tourists are also endangering the textile and folk art traditions given that they want cheap shopping. For example, more and more textile artists are using synthetic yarns and dyes because they're fed up with visitors bartering them down to pennies for an object that took weeks, if not months to make. Take a moment to consider that the folks who make authentic Peruvian textiles and folk art need to eat, feed and educate their children and have a right to have their work and themselves treated with respect and dignity - heads up to the first reviewer!

Perý is, in many ways, like India in that one could travel there every year for the rest of one's life and not see everything. Personally, I would follow Schlecht's advice and get off the "tourist trail", into the north, the central highlands - the Mantaro Valley, Tarma, the Chanchamayo Valley for a taste of the *real* Perý, not yet the flavours of the month.

Good for you, Neil Schlecht and good for Frommer's. I hope that you will continue to publish Frommer's Perý and update it frequently.

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

	Lonely Planet Peru
	Cuzco Region of Peru - Machu Picchu Map by ITMB (Travel Reference Map)
	Fodor's Peru, 2nd Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides)
	Insight Guide Peru (Insight Guides)