Budapest (Lonely Planet City Guides)

I am a big fan of the Lonely Planet range and almost always buy one of their books when going abroad. This is the first time I bought one of the "Best Of" guides, and has put me off buying another one!

I've just come back from a 4 night trip to Budapest with my girlfriend, and by the end of it were only using the book for the maps. Some of the bar/cafe recommendations were quite bizarre. One cafe (with a poor overpriced menu) said to look onto "one of Pest's most attractive little sqaures" this turned out to be a car park?! Many of the so called popular bars it mentioned were very quiet, although this may be more to do with the time of year.

Like the other reviewers, I feel this book glossed over a lot of information. Generally it seemed aimed more to the older traveller than the budget backpacker, which may reflect the age of the author! I'll be buying the more comprehensive guides in the future.

good, but a bit dated (28/29 people found this helpful)

we've just flown back from budapest this afternoon so this is as up to date as it could be.
We always use Lonely Planet. The books are nicely laid out, with all the nitty gritty info you need (like bus numbers) and with a range of budgets in mind. And fab photos. And this book is no exception.
We did find however that this one is a bit out of date. One is the prices- with LP's publishing schedule we always make allowances for that but these prices seemed quite off the mark. We also were unimpressed with some of the eatery recommendations (Fakanal and Cafe Miro in particular).
However the guide to Hungarian food, the walking tours (of which there were an great number of options), the section on Taking the Waters, and the general history were excellent.
We attempted to use the Hungarian phrasebook section but were more embarrassed than fluent- can LP please add a phonetic pronunciation guide?
So it still gets 4/5... and wait for the new edition.

A must have in Budapest! (12/15 people found this helpful)

This book has ben a life saver in budapest: pocket sized, I kept it on me all the time. I never got lost, visited evrything, eaten to the best restaurants. This book is a real jewel!

An average guidebook (15/18 people found this helpful)

Budapest is such a vibrant, amazing city which I felt the Lonely Planet to Budapest failed to recognise fully. The person who did most of the writing for the book seem jaded with his topic, and indeed backpackers in general. It was a feeling which was consistent throughout the book & as the series are backpacker oriented, something which I hope is rectified for the next edition. There were great walking tours but little fluency with the city & I ended up abandoning it for all but transport information.

Well below the usual Lonely Planet standard (15/19 people found this helpful)

The guide has a reasonable overview of Hungarian history and culture, but misses the mark as a practical guide. The 'sights to see' section is based around ten or so walking tours, but provides no maps or useful instructions on how to reach individual sights. Also disappointing on some of the practical tips, a better explanation of the Budapest bathing ritual would have been useful and some of the markets listed are very difficult to find and seriously dodgy.

Budapest (Lonely Planet City Guides)

Stephen Fallon

Reader Reviews:

Not the usual Lonely Planet high standard (0/0 people found this helpful)

good, but a bit dated (28/29 people found this helpful)

A must have in Budapest! (12/15 people found this helpful)

An average guidebook (15/18 people found this helpful)

Well below the usual Lonely Planet standard (15/19 people found this helpful)

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