Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.280454
EAN num: 9781864500677
ISBN number: 1864500670
Label: Lonely Planet Publications
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: 2000-05
Publishing house: Lonely Planet Publications
Sale Popularity Level: 441847
Studio: Lonely Planet Publications
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Planning a trip to Mexico, Central and South America? Lonely Planet's know-how will help you scramble up the Andes, navigate the seething megalopolis of Sao Paulo and salsa the nights away with the savvy of a local. - advice on getting the ticket to suit you, organising visas on the hop and what to do if your passport gets stolen
- full-colour country maps with itineraries to suit three days, three months or beyond
- snap-shot profiles of 22 countries in the region, including all the highlights you won't want to miss
- stories from Lonely Planet authors about their first-time travel adventures (and misadventures)
- tips on saving money on the road, bargaining and tipping
- essential health warnings and everything you need to know about vaccinations
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I'm going to buck the trend here and give this book a positive review. In the past 2 years I have been on the road for over 1 year. Most recently returning from a 7 month trip which included Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, India, Nepal, UAE, and Qatar among others.
Prior to this recent trip I spent 6 weeks in Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. I used the LP RTF series as a general planning tool - correlating the maps with the weather charts provided. As well as utilizing the regional travel tips provided.
While certainly not a detailed guide it provided just the right level of information to help me determine where I wanted to go, how to get to and from those points (quick border info) and roughly how much time I wanted to spend there via the sample itineraries. The maps are colorful and excellent, they include different colors showing the sample itineraries which are based on trips of different time lengths (1 week, 2 weeks, etc...) and little flags indicating land border checkpoints. Paper quality is also nice and glossy.
I am now planning another trip to Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. I am finding this guide to be useful once again in charting out an overall course. I have specific guidebooks for each of these countries (Not all LP I'll add), but as a "1 stop shop/read" in a compact format the LP RTF series is unbeatable in my opinion.
Another useful feature of the book is the chart showing all the countries listed in the region and whether a visa is required. Although I did find one mistake in the chart, a visa is required for US Citizens visiting Brazil. Though I'm not sure if the latter is a result of this books April 2000 print date.
For the real adventurous this might be the only guide one needs to bring to the region. (It wasn't my only guidebook, maybe someday) Strong language skills and confidence in travelling "lite" and/or picking up guidebooks / tourist pamphlets / searching out internet sites on the way would be recommended.
Great book, if used the right way. If you are only planning on going to a single country, then I wouldn't bother with this book. But, if you are planning a multi-country trip, or just need a better idea of where to spend your time - this could be a book for you.
Rated by buyers 
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This is Lonely Planet Lite, all of it material cribbed and repackaged from other Lonely Planet guides on the region, and in many cases the summaries grossly distort what appears in the individual country guides. It's like drinking non-alcoholic beer--so diluted that there's no satisfaction in it--and some of the original wasn't all that great to start with.
Rated by buyers -
complete waste of time and money. wish id looked at the content in more detail before buying. i actually went through in disbelief at the scarcity of contents, compared with my other guide books and realised its exactly the same information which gets condensed into the front of other guide books.
lots of common sense information, only of use to someone who really wouldnt even know the very first thing about travelling. this was the least useful resource in planning a trip to latin amrica, to the degree theres actually a lot of bad advice.
avoid
Rated by buyers 
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This book is designed for a very first time traveller -- over half of it was advice about weather, shots, and traveller's checks. Detail about where to go and what to see is disappointing -- it only gives a very general outline about it country (they seem to all have jungles, mountains, and ruins) and then recommends other guide books. If you are only buying 1-2 guide books, just buy the other ones.
Rated by buyers -
This book is probably a good start for anyone who has never travelled to Latin America. It does provide some good background info (weather statistics, cultural info, major festival times, etc) on how to plan a rough outline for a trip. It even has sections on travel themes (e.g. where to go whitewater rafting, where to go hiking, where the good beaches are, etc.) The problem is that the information is way too general and brief. For example, in this 300 page book there are only 1-2 pages covering the highlights of each country, and only a half page that describes possible itineraries in each country. Detailed trip planning will require more than this book, so you might as well start with a more complete book.
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