I'm trying to figure out what the best guidebook lineup will be for me to take on my trip. I'll be travelling from Brazil to Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Anyone who is travelling now (or about to start) want to share what guides they are using? I'll be taking a SA general guidebook for Brazil, Chile and Paraguay and individual books for Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
Second, which publications are people using? Seems like the most current ones are:
Argentina - Rough Guide RG (2005), Footprint (2004), Moon (2004), Lonely Planet LP (2002)
Peru - LP, Frommer's, Moon, Let's Go were all published in 2004
Bolivia - LP (2004), Rough Guide (2002)
South America - Footprint, RG, LP, Frommer's, Fodor's are all 2004 editions
Are there one's here that people especially like? One's to avoid? One's I'm missing that you really liked?
Thanks!
I find the Footprint South American Hand Book to be the most up to date in general , the LP SAoaSS or country guides both good for back ground & maps only bring if traveling with someone else & they carry
happy travels
I bought 3 guidebooks for Ecuador. One was the 2005 footprint for South America. footprint seems to be the authority on SA, and it is the most recent edition out there. I am very happy with it.
I found the 2005 Footprint for South America to be very light on information, particularly when it comes to Paraguay. Also, it's not laid out in an intuitive way like the Lonely Planet books are... You have to go searching for obvious facts/info for a town in random parts of the country section. Rough Guides are pretty good. I've always found Frommer's and Foders to focus too much on high-end travel, so I've had little use for them...
i really don't like to footprint chile book at all.info is scanty, and the layout sucks. maps are really detailed, though.
i've been using the shoestring, i find it mainly useful to get an idea of where i would like to go and check out, how long it takes to get there by bus, what kinds of things are there to do and see.
once i arrive i like asking around. i guess thats possible cos i can speak a bit of spanish, if i didn't i'd be very reliant on it. and lots of the hostels are just full of people like me, and i want to meet others different to me...
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