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Title: Lonely Planet Budapest (Budapest, 2nd Ed) by Steve Fallon ISBN: 1-86450-356-4 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: my least favorite Lonely Planet guide
Comment: I'm hooked on Lonely Planet guides, and have a whole collection of them from past trips. The Budapest guidebook has always been my least favorite of the bunch. I suppose it's not significantly worse than the norm as far as content. My real objection is to the snide, slightly embittered tone of the author Mr. Fallon. On several occasions in the book he actually insults the reader, which is really unnecessary when writing a travel guide. To give just one example, there is a point when he tries to warn us about an apparent Budapest scam that uses flirty attractive women to soften up Western tourists who are then robbed at ATM's and other points. Instead of simply offering a discreet warning, Fallon says "Trust me, guys, AND THE MIRROR. If it seems too good to be true, it is." It seems like an odd way to build a rapport with your readership to insult their looks, and this is not the only example of Fallon's insulting tone in the volume: for example, he scolds the reader in advance for trying to pull the old trick of not buying a Metro ticket and then pretending that as a foreigner one didn't know the ticket rules, something I would never dream of doing in the first place and don't wish to be sneered at about by some jerk author who thinks he is oh-so-sly about human psychology. (Lonely Planet needs to clean up the garbage from this guy's turf.) I also agree with the complaints about the lackluster descriptions in this volume compared to the others in the series. The maps are adequate, if memory serves.
Rating: 3
Summary: Questionable Investment
Comment: This book has good general resources for the Metro, and general services, but I found the descriptions of sites to see a bit lacking. The placement of the maps next to the corresponding sites of interest or sections of the cities would have made touring much easier. Flipping to the back constantly was nerving. Also, I found the walking tours hard to follow, and would have preferred some pictures as a reference (descriptions of sites are lacking). If you are a visual person like I am this book is not for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great guide to Budapest, but check out LP Hungary
Comment: This is a really great guide to Budapest. The maps are excellent, accomodation options are viable and wide-ranging (everything from youth hostels to luxury hotels), the eating section is fantastic, and the sightseeing sections and lists of things to do are as good as it gets. All in all, well worth five stars.
My main issue with this guide (as with all of Lonely Planet's city and regional guides) is that it doesn't contain any more information than the general guide to Hungary -- it's just easier to carry. So whether you need LP Budapest as opposed to the full-scale Hungary guide (which actually only costs a few bucks more, so check it out) depends on your travel plans.
I wouldn't have used this one myself if I hadn't found an abandoned copy sitting on a train from Prague. If you're only going to spend a couple of days in Budapest, the friendly tourist information office at Nyugati Station can give you loads of brochures and maps for free and arrange accomodation for you. If you're going to spend a week or more in Budapest, this guide is perfect -- the maps alone are worth the money (keep in mind that over 2 million people live in Budapest, twice the size of Prague, so it can be pretty hectic to navigate and exhausting to walk).
Finally, however, if you want to venture out into the rest of Hungary (and frankly you'd be nuts not to), go ahead and get the general Hungary guide. As my friend Zsolt warned me, way too many tourists get cooped up in the capital and ignore Hungary's many alternative charms. The beautiful resort towns of the Danube Valley about an hour north of Budapest are a great place to get away from the traffic-choked streets of the big city. I'd also recommend taking the train down to the old Turkish town of Pécs in the far south. It's a beautiful and historic town in its own right, and the trip will take you right across the Great Hungarian Plain -- an impressive sight.
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Title: Lonely Planet Prague (Prague, 5th Ed) by Neil Wilson ISBN: 1740593545 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Vienna (Vienna, 3rd Ed) by Mark Honan, Neal Bedford ISBN: 1864501952 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Budapest: City Map (City Maps Series) by Lonely Planet ISBN: 1864500778 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Hungary (Hungary, 4th Ed) by Steve Fallon, Neal Bedford ISBN: 1740591526 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Streetwise Budapest by Streetwise Maps, Michael Brown ISBN: 1886705224 Publisher: Streetwise Maps Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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