The giant guide book thread

I am not a fan of any such guide book for reasons already stated above. I use them for contact information and general information, when needed not so much to direct my itinary.

Not sure I would personally be upset with LP because they are dominant in sales. They are part of a market economy and if people choose that product so be it. Every guide has its limitations. Let's hope that other publications market themselves better and provide a real choice for travelers.

Just a quick one as I've already said plenty on the subject! I've noticed that the view of the LP ruining a hotel or restaurant is regularly voiced, this is sometimes true of course. However there is a countering effect, a lot of places are very aware of their listing in the LP and strive to maintain standards or even better them.
Just an observation!

What are the market percentages since the OP takes that high and mighty form? I assume there is some source besides divine revelation. I count Footprints, Rough Guide, Fodors and heaven forbid that preppy Lets Go. Its not that I hate Harvard, I'm going there in August for a seminar. However, that preppy attitude revolts me. I like DK, Insight and National Geographic also. There is a whole slew of others if you can handle Dutch or French and now some passable Indian products..

You could say the same about "google".

It's dominance of search engines is not healthy in that it marshals tens of thousands of people to the same sites?

Just another series of guide books these are titled LETS GO PLACENAME. (LETS GO INDIA, LETS GO EUROPE, ETC).

>>I think monopolies are a bad thing. Does anyone agree with me that Lonely Planet's dominance of guide books genre is not healthy in that it marshals tens of thousands of people to the same tourist sites?<<

I agree that Lonely Planet is phenomenally successful, however, if there were no Lonely Planet guides, people would STILL be at the same tourist sites, because all the books cover the same sights/sites . After all, that is one of the reasons why we travel, to see what there is to see.

>>the fact that people follow it like holy scripture and the sheer number of people acting like lemmings and following its advice. <<

That is not the fault of the publisher, it is the people who may, indeed, be unimaginative and use the book as the be-all and end-all of information. Or maybe they're just tired of thinking on the day you saw them (travel in India is exhausting) and are temporarily unable to think outside the box. I have days like that, don't you?

I'm having a hard time finding the right words to express my feelings about this topic. Of course I agree that it's completely silly when you see someone walking down the street reading the LP, but I did it myself more than once when I was a newbie, so I have to remind myself not to be too judgemental. Never mind the hand-wringing about whether or not the LP is in a monopoly position. That's a pointless activity. I guess where I come down on all of this is that it's no one's business to tell me what guidebook I should read, and more, it has to be accepted that other people are not always going to behave they way we think they should; they may even behave like sheep and all go to the same guest houses in Varanasi. So be it. There are more important things in life than worrying about what other people are doing with their vacation.

Hear hear why do people get so worked up about this? If your in India you should be having a good time rather than worrying about who is reading what guide book!

I detect a lot of falsehood in this witchhunt over the LP, I said it a few days ago all these people who loudly declare that the pancake trail isn't "real India" anymore, are rarely to be found anyhwere even remotely of the beaten track. It's just posturing, "look at what a great traveller I am I never read a guide book"
Most of these comments I hear from people in Places like Pushkar, Palolem and the like, it puzzles me why these people visit these places then try to pretend they are above all that!!
And as WWUSA said if the LP didn't exist people would still be in the same places as they are generally the most interesting places to travel to in India and that was the case long before the advent of the LP guide book!
I hasten to add these are general observations and NOT aimed at the OP or anyone else!!
Hey you can even tell me I'm wrong if you like

Frommer's India
Fodor's India
Rough Guide to India
India Eye Witness Travel Guide
Let's Go India


Monopoly? What Monopoly?

Wanting to get a general opinion from people who have used this guide (the Feb. 2004 edition) to see if its worth investing in.

IM is my ultimate info source...but when I'm on the road I often find SOME guides to be useful.

I found it not so useful. I suppose it's good if you're on a really low budget, but it did not have enough of a range of options. Also, did not find it as easy to navigate as LP, which we ultimately ended up buying for a trip to Thailand.

I carry 3 but I did leave the Rough Guide behind with my people so..

I have the 2001 edition. The maps are not very good. It does not list many cheap hotels, most seem to be midrange and the silly "accommodation price codes" instead of listing the price makes the acommodation section rather useless anyway. The good parts are the background information (the orange tinted text).
Personally I would by the LP.

i'm just reading the rough guide to india 2003 autumn which include south indian section then published separately. i think it is quite good investment because LP authors are quite lazy people (they update them with phone calls and a lot of mistakes crept in new editions, in maps and texts) and often literally unqualified (i mean stylistic mistakes, repetition, wrong figures, poor background work and etc). i mean LP is diletant work for diletant travelers. yes in rough guide there are problems with hotels listings and maps. anyway i traveled with LP and RG and without any guide books all over northern india for two years and did not meet any problems with finding of any kind of hotels.
separate goa and nepal guides from RG are also better than their rivals. i think british ruled india for so long time - they know her better.

Thanks for the replys....LP's "South India" seemed a bit skimpy on the information about TN and Karnataka.

I couldn't get a real look at RG because the local bookstores don't have it and I was just going to get it online. At least it has a more recent publishing date.

Agree with you, Davyd. LP has not been up to par with its India guides in some time. If they were smart, they'd get more writers out in the field and improve the quality and quantity.