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Title: Lonely Planet Costa Rica (LONELY PLANET COSTA RICA) by Rob Rachowiecki ISBN: 1-74059-118-6 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.76 (25 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This was the bible of Costa Rica guide books
Comment: This book of course cannot cover everything but it was as good as it can get for what I had expected. I travel often and have used many types of guides. For this particular trip I had resources of 3 guidebooks total, this one by far was the favorite. While traveling I ran into various other people with the same book and the same opinion that the book was so useful, informative and very objective. I highly recommend it, and highly recommend when you return from the trip, take the time out to give feedback to the authors to help improve and broaden the perspectives of what can be seen in Costa Rica. Your experiences matter, so share them.
Rating: 3
Summary: One of the Better Guides.......but
Comment: This is one of the better guides my wife and I have seen, however I feel it is aimed at the one to two week traveler who is on a budget. I was disappointed to read in this edition and the previous one that there is a casino in the San Jose Marriott, when in fact there has never been one. That left us to wonder what else was inaccurate in the guide and that the authors are not writing from personal experience. I think the only changes in this edition from the last one are the pictures! There are a ton of great changes going on in Costa Rica recently not mentioned in this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Necessary to know what to avoid
Comment: Just got back from Costa Rica (2 wks), and had a good time, though it wasn't without serious disappointment.
While there we noticed that almost all the guidebooks people were carrying around were Lonely Planet (LP). But everywhere we stayed that LP raved about was very disappointing, and the few places we stayed that were very understated in LP were excellent.
My theory is that so many people are using LP that if a place gets a rave recommendation the business just pours in. They jack up their prices, sit back and rest on their reputation, and the facility and service deteriorate. But the money keeps pouring in because of that great LP review. Meanwhile the underrated places have to work their butts off to get business. Even though LP CR is only 2 years old, the prices of the highly rated hotels were off by as much as 50%, whereas the ones with understated descriptions were right on.
Generally, I like using LP, but for CR I would say that too many people do. Grab a different guidebook and cross-ref it with LP. If it has a nice sounding place that's not in LP, stay there!
We also used Frommer's even though it doesn't have much of a selection of budget places. Frommer's descriptions are so much more colorful and accurate. You get the impression that they only write about places for which they have first-hand knowledge. Plus Frommer's 2004 edition is new and the prices were exactly right. But, it's not sufficient by itself because it just doesn't list enough places.
Our rule of thumb for LP CR: If LP writes more than half a column about a hotel or lodge, avoid it! It will be overrated by now, with ridiculously high prices, and an inattentive staff.
Next gripe related to the advice in this guidebook: all the concerns and warnings are grossly exagerated. The roads are bad, but they don't swallow cars and break axles. There may be some crime, but there aren't people learching in the shadows to flatten your tires every time you stop. The busy season doesn't fill every hotel -- in fact without reservations, we got our first choice of hotels every night. I wonder how much more fun my trip would have been if I hadn't let this book make me so defensive!
Here's a tip for Costa Rican hotels: it doesn't matter how expensive the place is, the showers are lousy, with very little hot water and terrible water pressure. So don't pay $45 for a place just because it has hot showers when the place next door is only $25.
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Title: Lonely Planet Costa Rica Spanish Phrasebook (Phrasebooks) by Thomas B. Kohnstamm ISBN: 1864501057 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: June, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Frommer's Costa Rica 2004 by Eliot Greenspan ISBN: 0764537458 Publisher: Frommer Pub. Date: 11 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Insight Map Costa Rica: Fleximap Plus Travel Information by American Map Corporation ISBN: 0841620857 Publisher: American Map Company Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Moon Handbooks: Costa Rica 4 Ed by Christopher P. Baker ISBN: 1566913446 Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Explore Costa Rica by Harry S. Pariser ISBN: 1893643506 Publisher: Manatee Press Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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