[Sunray]

Prolly had many of these before, but given that the new Lonely Planet for India is out according to the brochure I saw in Bangkok, on the 5th of this month, I thought this would be a good time to have another discussion of the guides for India.

The problem I have with the current and now well out of date LP, the so called 'Bible' for India, is that its become the guide to all the shit places when it comes to hotels and guest houses, especially the backpacker ones. This is not just related to the India guide, its a common complaint for all the LP series that are anything over about a year old. I did use it in India and in someways its quite informative, in others its distinctly lacking.

The Footprint guide. This for me, trumped the LP guide. From a hotel/guest house perspective, simply because its not the lonely planet and not used by every single Indian tourist, the listings are generally good and if the words Recommended/Highly recommeded are at the end. They are excellent places to stay. Its also got better maps and is much more thorough in the content. Its over 400 pages longer than the LP, the paper is thinner.

Anyone used another guide?

Sometime soon, someone can review the new LP India if they have been before and used the last one.

[Jeroen]

I used The Rough Guide India to my full satisfaction - there's a nerw one of those in the works too. They also have more detailled North and South India guides.

RG also has thinner paper and hundreds of pages more for the same price, but at the same time they are much more selective - they are happy to skip towns/cities that are just not worth the trouble while LP seems to want to list hotels and restaurants in every possible place. I find that RG has more background texts so that you understand what you're looking at better - while LP provides more detailled information on transport and lodgings... though their strange habit of listing all the prices in the guide down to the rupee makes their guides look out of date very quickly.

I tried using the Footprint Indian Himalayas guide, but I find it it has an irritating layout (just try to figure out their title/subtitle system) was full of mistakes, sometimes serious ones - I wouldn't use it again (though as a first edition maybe they let a few things slip that will be corrected next time round).

In the end, it's down to personal preference...

[guerik]

The new LP India's officially out- has anyone picked it up?

I'm imagining it's much the same as the old one, except with updated rates and hotel listings etc, but if there are any major differences let us know

[tonylittle]

Originally Posted by Sunray

Prolly had many of these before, but given that the new Lonely Planet for India is out according to the brochure I saw in Bangkok, on the 5th of this month, I thought this would be a good time to have another discussion of the guides for India.

The problem I have with the current and now well out of date LP, the so called 'Bible' for India, is that its become the guide to all the shit places when it comes to hotels and guest houses, especially the backpacker ones. This is not just related to the India guide, its a common complaint for all the LP series that are anything over about a year old. I did use it in India and in someways its quite informative, in others its distinctly lacking.

The Footprint guide. This for me, trumped the LP guide. From a hotel/guest house perspective, simply because its not the lonely planet and not used by every single Indian tourist, the listings are generally good and if the words Recommended/Highly recommeded are at the end. They are excellent places to stay. Its also got better maps and is much more thorough in the content. Its over 400 pages longer than the LP, the paper is thinner.

Anyone used another guide?

Sometime soon, someone can review the new LP India if they have been before and used the last one.

Hi

If the L.P book is crap why do so many folks buy it ? is it because we are brainwash or could be its very good

[Sunray]

Originally Posted by tonylittle

Hi

If the L.P book is crap why do so many folks buy it ? is it because we are brainwash or could be its very good

Its crap, not because of the information, but because everyone uses it and there really are LP user areas of India! So its a catch 22 situation. Having used the RG, the LP and the Footprint. The Footprint, easily the best guide much more information and the hotel guides are spot on and because hardly anyone uses it, they are still OK 2 years after publication. The LP hotels get hammered and if the guy that runs it wants to sit on his/her arse they can and people will roll in till the next guide.

I've got the new LP guide, its much improved. The womens situation has obviously detiorated because its got a lot of warning about the problems women face there. No warning about armed guards in Bihar, infact says just be careful after dark. On the whole, taking a generally more relaxed attitude to things. Hotel guides are revised.

Nice new feature is the 'Something special' boxes. These feature bits of india that are something special like a restaurant or hotel. I doubt they will be quite so special when the next LP comes out, but will have a look when I go as the guide is only 10 days old.

[FirstTimer]

Just got the new LP. My first reaction was - why the hell to make a 20 LB book for travelers???... It's so thick that I'm still thinking if to take the whole thing with me or just tear out some pages I really might need (about 10-20 I personally found this forum much more useful than any guide - thanks again guys!

[haritha]

Whichever the guide you take -- it is not a problem at all .

But remember to open you eyes and look around --- the guide book writers are not spending the whole of their life in a particular places .Do not be the prisoers of the guide book .Have a good attitiude of the traveller . You will enjoy your India .Do not always say NO THANK YOU TO THE FLYERS PEOPLE OFFER YOU .
There are lot of surprises .So just take some time to read .

Tourism offices are not effiecient as other places still .

[Jeroen]

FirstTimer - that's what I did to my 1400-page Rough Guide - I cut it up into 4 handy parts, and bought some cardboard and tape to make new covers. No need to wander around twon clutching the whole fat book with your finger jammed in, marking the page with the map you need!

I actually looked all over Delhi and Jaipur but could not find a bookbinding shop where they could do this for me. Here's an idea: start a shop in Paharganj where travellers can have their guidebooks chopped up into smaller books and given a nice new cover perhaps with Indian motives. Charge a few rupies and it could be a smash hit. The girls will love it. You could call it 'Pimping your guide'.

[davyd]

Hi to all
I 'm travelling now all over India with 3 guidebooks to compare: Footprints, Rough Guide and newest Lonely Planet and have to say that newest Lonely Planet wins in practical matters hands down. If you really need a practical advice on travel - buy Lonely Planet. Congratulations, LP team, you really travelled a lot this time, so some mistakes, like orchid gardens around Namgyal institute in Gangtok Sikkim still exist on your pages (they were removed many years ago) but overall it was very good job, like mentioning new restaurants like Foods Plaza in Gorakhpur and KK Munch in Kargil. Thank you. However in Leh the swankiest restaurant is Peace (opened a year ago and probably could not sneak into your pages) and please do not advertise Changspa anymore - more cheaper and better to stay somewhere along Fort Rd - and Changspa is so small and lies in 5 minutes (not 30 minutes) walk to the west of city not north. Everything except Omasila closes down in september. And in Agra from miserable Idgah bus station only battered buses go to Delhi, the rest moved to new bus station in Transport Nagar. I think in Lonely Planet guys have to work on the scale and details of maps - Bodhgaya map is completely wrong, Patna map is so small leaving everything behind.

Footprints seem to have more detalised listing so I do not agree with some sections and Jammu - completely wrong map and information.

The Rough Guide is my favourite but in practical matters is outdated - more than 2 and a half years gone.

[Jeroen]

There's a new RG India just out too... see www.roughguides.com.

[torryquine]

Originally Posted by guerik

The new LP India's officially out- has anyone picked it up?

I'm imagining it's much the same as the old one, except with updated rates and hotel listings etc, but if there are any major differences let us know

I haven't seen it but I believe it will have more content on Assam and the other North East states. When we were in Dibrugarh early this year, our hosts told us a representative from the LP was due to visit. Until now their coverage of this area was limited to say the least.

[mav_e_rick]

for an indian perspective one could try http://outlooktraveller.com/ not an exhaustive guide,more of a travel magazine, though they do some interesting guides on goa,himalayas, 100 weekend breaks from delhi etc