Lonely Planet North India or just "India"?

Atypicas

I presently have both the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to India, but I noticed that there are North and South specific books. Aside from landing in Mumbai and perhaps a few other things, I will be staying in North India (six months). They have a similar number of pages, so I'm guessing that the North India book has much better content for someone planning to stay in the area?

I will probably leave the Rough Guide at home, as it seems more fragile and, while it's a better read, it doesn't seem aimed at budget backpackers.

the opoponax

I'm not sure the North India book is still in print. I've never seen it in any bookshops here (and I've been to some bookshops with very comprehensive travel sections!), and it's not available directly from Lonely Planet, either. Which leads me to believe that any copy you managed to find would probably not be up to date, especially as the current editions of India and South India are very, very new (published in October of this year). Amazon also doesn't show it, even if you search 'Lonely Planet North India', which strongly implies it's out of print.

I've skimmed the South India guide, and from what I can tell it's pretty much the same info from the general India book, with a little more background stuff and ever so slightly more detailed. It's also a slimmer volume, which is probably nice if you're ONLY planning on seeing the south. I can only assume that the North India guide is/was similar in scope. Even if you managed to get your hands on a relatively recent edition, I doubt it would offer much more than what you already have on hand in the India guide.

I'm also facing the dilemma of whether to bring along the Rough Guide or the Lonely Planet (someone gave me a copy at Christmas). Lonely Planet is more up to date, but Rough Guide gives much better background info for major sites and to be honest I don't plan to rely on guidebooks much for hotel and restaurant recommendations. I should just weigh them and see which is slightly lighter!

machadinha

When I was checking their site a while ago, it did say in the small print that the information in both the general guide and the regional ones is the same. So I guess the advantage is you have less to carry around. If the North-Indian is similar in size, maybe it's in a bigger print?

If you have a choice, going with a recent edition is obviously preferred, although the general info doesn't tend to change all that much. Choice of publishers is more of a personal thing, indeed. Since I've grown familar with LP and its layout, I tend to stick to that, as it makes it easy to come to grips with its general set-up and quickly find your way through the book. But that is, again, personal, and a matter of usage. I ended up with a Footprint guide on a recent different trip which I also liked, for different reasons. It's less specific on hotels and restaurants, which I likewise don't tend to be so big on anyway, it's mostly background information I'm looking for. Which I find LP OK for though.

As always, to each their own! Some people just rip out the parts of the book they think they'll be using btw, also a solution. You'll often run into them asking to take a peek at the parts they didn't bring

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Atypicas

Ah, it does seem to be out of print. The edition on Amazon is a 2001 edition. I saw a version at an outdoor store, but I didn't look up the edition. Well that takes off one more choice off my mind

As for RG vs LP, well, the RG is significantly lighter (I have both in front of me), has 1480 pages versus 1230 and even one centimetre less in thickness, but that comes with the pages being less sturdy. Looking at how the pages are attached together, the RG seems more solid. For content, the LP seems to have more hard information, particularly for those on a budget, but the Rough Guide is much more inspiring.

It's probably better not to rely too much on guidebooks for accommodation... Now I'm not sure which to bring (if not both), again :. I guess it doesn't really matter, in the end.