Lonely Planet Thailand (Country Guide)
by Aaron Anderson, Becca Blond, Brett Atkinson, China Williams, Lisa Steer, Tim Bewer, Virginia Jealous
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Book Reviews of Lonely Planet Thailand (Country Guide)
Book Review: Great All Around Guide!
Summary: 5 Stars
This guide is great and seems to be the guide of choice of pretty much everyone I saw during my three week stint in Thailand. I had to have seen it in at least 6 languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese), so considering that the international community seems to embrace it pretty well, I'd put some merit in its pages.
As much as I love this book, I have to admit that it isn't perfect. It puts a lot of information within its pages and sometimes misses some places (mostly restaurants and some guest houses) in the smaller towns. Also, the maps can be a little out of scale. However, with that said, the book is great. It gives a great overview of pretty much every town you can think of to go to (some more popular ones more detailed than the others); even some of the rural villages in the north. Transportation tips are also very helpful.
I would highly recommend this book if you're traveling to Thailand. Also, be sure to take some of the reviews of guest houses with a grain of sand. It seems that the guesthouse owners read the guide too, and most of the poorly rated ones that I visited have actually improved since the printing of the book. You might also want to supplement the book with some websites like travelfish.com and travelindependent.info before you leave. Happy travels!
Book Review: Tiny font, too thin paper, biased towards low budget travelers
Summary: 1 Stars
This is the worst guidebook I've had the misfortune to buy; if I had the time, I would have returned it. Unless you have perfect vision the entire book is printed in a tiny font on very thin paper, making it hard on the eyes. The reviews are incredibly biased, totally slanted towards travelers who want to eat street food, stay in backpacker or budget accommodations... It does not take disabilities, age or food allergies into consideration & assumes, in a rather mean-spirited manner, that if you don't want to stay in a low budget place or eat, very spicy street food, that something is wrong with you. Being a disabled traveler who is unable to stay in low budget accommodations because they aren't accessible, I was stunned by the lack of information on moderately priced hotels (let alone pricey ones). If you want to try the haute cuisine of Bangkok, stay in moderate or upscale hotels, instead of backpacking, buy Fodor's guide, as there's no information here, just judgments on your inability to 'slum it'. TERRIBLE.Book Review: Not bad, could be better
Summary: 3 Stars
Basically, my main complaint is that they took out the good stuff from the old edition and replace them with irrelevant stuff.
One example would be in the last edition, they had a section with color pictures of different types of food served in Thailand, something I find interesting to note when traveling to a foreign country. They replaced this section with a section with picture of people riding on elephants and scenery that don't really tell you much.
The reason why I did not give them too bad of a rating is that the information is pretty much the same between the two editions. In this edition, there is less information on border crossings, but that is due to increase safety concerns (so I can understand why they did that). I would still recommend the last edition. Besides being cheaper, you actually learn a little bit more.
Book Review: Don't plan your Thailand trip without this book
Summary: 5 Stars
For my first trip to Thailand 10 years ago, I purchased just about every guide book available. Only one book has stood the test of time - Lonely Planet Thailand. Over the years, I have picked up new editions as they have become available. From personal experience, I would argue that the quality of my trips has increased along with the quality each subsequent edition. As tourism, culture and economics in Thailand evolves, so too does Lonely Planet Thailand, keeping pace with changing social trends, places of interest, as well as places to avoid. All this, of course, in addition to the vast body of information critical to planning where to stay, what to eat and what to do while in-country. More than a strong recommendation, this book is a must-have for any traveller to Thailand.Book Review: The Travel Bible, a bit dated
Summary: 4 Stars
Known as "The Book", this is the standard for any travel guide to Thailand. I'm glad they are coming out with a new edition, though. On my recent trip, more than half of the restaurants we tried to find in Chiang Mai had either moved across town or shut down since The Book was last published. If you are in the market, pre-order the new edition instead, which will hopefully sport updated information.
By the way, I highly recommend the Chiang Dao Nest - bungalows set in the beautiful forests and mountains north of Chiang Mai, and amazing food despite the remote location.