Review
From Antarctica to Zimbabwe, if you’re going there chances are Lonely Planet has been there first. With a pithy and matter-of-fact writing style, these guides are guaranteed to calm the nerves of first-time world travelers, while still listing off-the-beaten-path finds sure to thrill even the most jaded globetrotters. Lonely Planet has been perfecting its guidebooks for nearly 30 years, and as a result has experience and know-how similar to an older sibling’s “been the…
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This review is from: Lonely Planet New Zealand (9th ed) (Paperback)
When we were considering what to do during our month in New Zealand, travel agents were pleading with us to have everything lined up before “the Y2k rush. ” So, being the literal engineering types, we bought a couple of books — the Lonely Planet NZ and the Frommers for Under $50/day — and started poring through them. Quite frankly, our initial impression of the Lonely Planet book was too dense to be useful to us. The Frommer’s guide was more helpful and the author, Elizabeth Hansen, was available to “consult” on the trip on an hourly basis. Because we’d be toting our 18-month old, we used her services and pre-booked the entire trip. Once there, we found the Lonely Planet book much more useful. The Lonely Planet guide excels at providing abundant information about towns, including attractions, restaurants and maps giving a rough layout. For example, one of the folks at a Visitor center clued us into Farewell Spit, an area we were going to forego because it was well off our chosen route. As it turned out, Tahuna Park, our campground in Nelson was pretty bad (right under an airport takeoff path; lots of people permanently living there; undermaintained kitchens), and we didn’t relish the idea of spending three days there as originally planned. The side trip to Farewell Spit was long and we’d have to find some place relatively nearby to the Spit to make it a reasonable trip. This is where the Frommer’s guide was very weak. It caters more to the B&B crowd, and there isn’t that much north (or west) of Nelson. The Lonely Planet book, however, paid for itself by suggesting a lot of options, providing maps of the little towns, and listing restaurants where we might stop at for “snack time. “If you do intend a trip to New Zealand, you’ll definitely appreciate the Lonely Planet guide.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don’t travel without this guide!
If you’re going to New Zealand – and want to enjoy the country to the fullest – DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT THIS GUIDE!
4.0 out of 5 stars
new zealand is a beautiful place
new zealand is a beautiful place
This review is from: Lonely Planet New Zealand (9th ed) (Paperback)
There are probably countries you can visit without a Lonely Planet Guide. New Zealand is not one of these countries. The way to enjoy New Zealand is to travel from place to place and not to pre-book everything ( you are too dependent on the weather to do that and also it takes away the feeling of freedom this country has to offer). The more flexible you want to be on a trip the more important it is to have a good guide. We arrived in Auckland with only a general idea what we wanted to do in our three weeks and we found that we left all other guidebooks in the suitcase and relied exclusively on the Lonely Planet to plan our trip. The guide contains all necessary information and is surprisingly up to date. The most important is that it is not a commercial tourism promoter but that it gives you an honest impression on what there is that you can do. E. G. it was pretty clear after reading the relevant chapters that for our family it was more appropiate to go to Wanaka instead of Queenstown because the children were not yet at an age that they could enjoy all the thrills of the latter and that Wanaka, whilst offering jetboating and biking was more appropiate. We had the book continuously with us during the driving and it made the journey so much more interesting through knowing always a couple of KM ahead what the interesting sites and spots were. The book could have been priced at a much higher level; we still would have bought it. Highly recommended for every would be traveller to New Zealand
This review is from: Lonely Planet New Zealand (9th ed) (Paperback)
We just returned from a one month excursion through Nea Zealand with this guide book constantly at our side. We found it invaluable in our daily selection of things to do and places to stay and eat. During our travels we also noted this guide being used by many other travellers and particularly in the hands of the hikers and backpackers. It was the most prominent of guide books available in the book shops and information centers throughout the country. Should be required reading by anyone preparing an unescorted visit to New Zealand and even for anyone on an organized tour it would be most helpful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The only decent Lonely Planet book
This book is a lot better than the other Lonely Planet books in that it is the same size as the others but as it is only about one small country, it can fit most (not all there’s…
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Zealand–or bust!
I looked at and compared this to all the other guides from Frommer’s, Eyewitness, Footprint, Rough, Insight, Moon, and Fodor’s, and I thought this one was the best.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don’t Buy This Edition
The Guide is very informative, but there is a new edition that has come out in October, so wait to buy the new one!!
1.0 out of 5 stars
Leticians prowl the Zealand!
This book is very good, but I kept losing my place when I lost my bookmark. Every chapter is like, maggots maggots maggots!
1.0 out of 5 stars
Leticians prowl the Zealand!
This book is very good, but I kept losing my place when I lost my bookmark. Every chapter is like, maggots maggots maggots!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review
I read quite a few travel books on NZ before I went, including Fodors. This one was by far the most helpful in the preparation as well as during travel.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kia Ora
My fiance and I just returned from 6 weeks in New Zealand. We were given The Rough Guide to New Zealand as a departing gift but being Lonely Planet Lovers we departed filled with…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dense, Informative, Indispensable, and a dash of humor
I used the Lonely Planet travel guides in my other adventures again and again, and love the pithy, been-there-done-that tone. This guide did not disappoint me.