guide book

hi

which guide-book do you recommend for Peru?
I know this is a LP-site, but this question has been asekd on other branches as well, sp I guess it's ok.. :)

Footprint

Footprint Peru (not the same with the South America or the Peru-Bolivia editions, info tends to be reduced)

We have Footprint Peru and it's ok. Before we went we bought Footprint on Equador-Peru-Bolivia, and it was terrible, very brief.
Before that we were in Argentina and had a Rough Guide (it was recommended by a friend who is a tour guide) - it was so amazingly excellent!! So we looked in all bookshops in Cusco for a Rough Guide on Peru, but couldn't fine one, (for some reason it's not as popular as LP or Footprint) so we settled for a Footprint instread. I still often go to the Rough Guide web site for info (www.roughguides.com)

I used Rough Guide and would also recommend it. It is written in a quite literate way, which makes it easier to read than others that have only dry facts. Although it is ..ee.. 2003 or 2004, I wouldn`t say that the prices for stuff mentioned in the book were out of date.

I recently spent a couple of hours comparing the latest versions of the LP, Footprint and Rough Guides to Peru. Overall Footprint is still the best. It has the most extensive coverage, including, for example, out of the way places in the central highlands, places you'd never know existed if you just relied on LP. Footprint also has better accomodation recommendations than LP.

I agree with trogulus that the Rough Guide has the better literary style, but if I want to enjoy a master stylist I'd probably be reading James rather than a guide book. As a guide it is actually the worst of the three, with quite spotty coverage.

The one place in which LP is clearly better than Footprint is on maps. The city maps tend to be larger, and for me at least, easier to read.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Overall Footprint is still the best. It has the most extensive coverage<hr></blockquote>

MOON-Peru has the most extensive Amazon coverage!

Moon is full of typos, the word Huaca is written incorrectly 50 times, every Spanish or indigenous term is gramatically misinterpreted. They incorrectly locate all the bus stations in Trujillo, & you have little chance of getting out of Trujillo, let alone to the Amazon.
Lonely Planet Trujillo map is also too small, & most bus terminals are outside of it.
I was frustrated with the 6th edition of LP Peru 2007. I bought it from Amazon, but LP´s website still says the author was Rob Rachowiecki, who wrote the first 5 editions. I was surprised to receive the 6th edition of LP Peru written by 3 unknowns, with no evidence of Latin American studies, living in Peru, or having been in Trujillo, where I lived.
One reviewer wrote LP Peru 'appears only every 3-5 years, the 2007 Lonely Planet has less info than Footprint & Rough Guide, no websites, out of date email addresses & has omitted almost all tour guides, but included its website on every page of its Peru & South America books. Most other guide books include external websites & still list individual tour guides, while Lonely Planet includes out of date email addresses & hopes you will buy services from hotels & travel agents on their website. There is none of the history of colonial Trujillo, how it links to the colonial houses, neighbours like Huanchaco or the highlands.
The instructions to El Brujo will leave you short by a 5km dry, dusty, remote walk, without the help of any map.
Huaca de la Luna is also omitted from the 2007 map on p.323, & El Brujo is misleadingly located on the map on P.323 & omitted from p.335 map. It does not say that you have to walk kilometers from the road along a hot deserted path to Chan Chan'.
As their website is on every page, the alternative is to browse here on Thorn tree, where you have to identify & interpret to distinguish naive first time travellers, commercial posters & honest opinions.

More opinions:

June 2007

April 2007

05 Nov 2005

22 Aug 2005

26 Aug 2004

7 Apr 2004

27 Jan 2004

July 2007

Bolivia 2007 new book too.

For Latin America I would agree that Footprints South American Handbook is better in general for out of the way places , less so now , but quite curt on descriptions .

The Lonely Planet descriptions photos ect tend to be better my main complaint with the LP has been out of dateness but that seems to be less of an issue now a days .

Lonely Planet used to tend to go out of date but not as much any more , South America Handbook has been updated every year since 1924 and in its 80th
year

The Lonely Planet Peru Guide is the best guide at getting you up to speed quickly .....

Both of these guides tend to be quite good though and far above the rest of the lot historically . But really with only English using either of these full SA guides one could go from corner to corner
and back again with not so much prob , they are both really quite amazing

worth a trip, but not in LP

Some days ago a TT member asked me to give examples of very interesting places in Peru not mentioned or unfairly little mentioned by LP. I will mention some of them without indicating routes, but will write about how to go if someone want more reference.

Guidebook statistics

Here's some statistics for certain guidebooks. Figured this might be helpful for people choosing what to pack.

Book name / Weight (pounds) / Volume (cubic inches) / # of pages


Guidebooks 101

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.

Footprint 2008 available

I did begin to wonder

Colombia

Intersting advice ...
I have the new Lonely Planet for Peru and I am quite desappointed about it, especially the weekness of their recommendations for Hostels & Food.
I have no experience with the Footprint but should have a look at it.

Cheers
Gilles

I used the Discovery Channel's "Insight Guide to Peru", "Footprint", and "Lonely Planet -- Peru" when I prepared for my trip last June 2007. Since I intended to only spend 3 weeks in Peru, most of it in the Amazon rainforest, I found more useful information in the "LP -- Peru" guidebook and took that one with me as a handy reference. The other two guidebooks do have lots of fascinating history for someone whose major interests are archaeology and cultures, rather than the plants and fauna. If I return to Peru, I would like to see the orchids in full bloom in April and to tour the Manu Preserve. On my train trip from Cuzco to AC, I observed many species of desert plants similar to those growing in arid California, including the century plants, yucca, cacti, and the Australian transplant -- eucalyptus trees. I purchased an herbal medicine book in Puerto Maldonado and noted that many of the Peruvian herbs are a similar species to those found in California and Alaska, and used by the indigenous peoples there. And I saw fragile mud brick houses with small gardens and a few chickens and few farm animals. Being from earthquake-prone California, I know that bricks do not withstand earthquakes very well. On the roofs of some of the homes near Cuzco, I saw the symbolism of one or two ceramic bulls; that reminded me of the symbolism of the dragon on the roof peaks of Chinese homes -- the Chinese told me that the dragon represents good luck for the home's inhabitants. Along the Rio Tambopata in the Amazon rainforest, I saw plantations of fruit trees and small groups of Brahma cattle grazing and wading in the river that were raised by the indigenous peoples. I don't remember that either of the guidebooks included these details. We also noted that during the dry winter, the slats used in the rainforest huts' walls have shrunk and allow insects and drafts to enter -- another detail omitted from the guidebooks.

Strange LP recommendations