Philippines (Lonely Planet Country Guide)

Very disappointed with this supposedly updated edition. Hotel reviews were woefully inaccurate and have obviously been done without being visited - on my trip I came across the previous edition which described one hotel as being rundown - the same hotel was described as the best hotel in town in the new edition and it was obvious it hadn't been done up in the intervening period! Restaurant recommendations rarely describe the food on offer and, when they do, seem to focus on pizza or burgers. And I would truly love to know what is meant by a 'cookie cutter' hotel which is how one place is described. Easily the worst LP guidebook I've ever come across - and unsurprisingly a view shared by several other travellers I met. My top tip? Never stay at the first hotel listed by LP as it always seems to represent astonishingly bad value for money with complacent staff and inflated prices.

best of the bunch (4/4 people found this helpful)

none of the travel guide book companies seem to be interested in keeping their philippines titles as up to date as many of the other more popular asian destinations, but this version of the lonely planet seems to be the most comprehensive and current.
this is not one of the biggest lonely planet guides but sufficiently covers the main areas vistied by the majority of visitors to the philippines, it may be a little out of date on the ground, and the photography and layout seem a littel dated compared top other guides, but in terms of usabilty, it is way out in front.
Of particular note there are some very useful maps of some of the lesser visited islands, and the diving section is a little long winded but useful.
in need of a big update without doubt, but currently the most useful guidebook to the wonderful philippines islands.

Needs an update (5/5 people found this helpful)

After several visits in the last year to the Philippines I have come to realise that this guidebook is seriously out of date. Mostly because this print is already an update of an earlier print. Especially with regards to Northern Luzon (information about Baguio), Mindoro (a.o. Puerto Galera and Roxas) and about transport from and to Metro Manila (due to frequent changes in busterminals). About other regions I can't give any statements because I have not been there. But based on what I have found out so far I'm first making use of the Internet and local contacts (through e-mail and telephone) before turning to this guidebook. Of course the book can be used for reference material.

Would recommend (5/5 people found this helpful)

Found this book useful and informative. I've often found Lonely Planet to be quite out of date, but not on this occasion - price guides seemed quite accurate and didn't find anything that had disappeared. I've seen some other reviews (by Americans) criticising it for having an anti-US bias in the history sections - but I didn't agree with this. The Philippines has had a very difficult history and has suffered at the hands of other countries colonial interests - the US included - and I thought this was well explained. The general commentary is informal and I would recommend this guidebook for all generations.

Lonely Planet Guide to the Phlippines (7/7 people found this helpful)

An excelent guide that I found both very informative and easy to use. There are plenty of maps and photographs to enable the reader to get a real feel for the place. I found this guide a very useful aid in the planning of my itinery for my visit to the Phil's, esp' the web addresses as these allowed me to find more information, maps and photos on the internet.
Excelent!

Chris Rowthorn, Greg Bloom, Michael Day, Michael Grosberg, Ryan ver Berkmoes

Reader Reviews:

complete rubbish (1/1 people found this helpful)

best of the bunch (4/4 people found this helpful)

Needs an update (5/5 people found this helpful)

Would recommend (5/5 people found this helpful)

Lonely Planet Guide to the Phlippines (7/7 people found this helpful)

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