What do you recommend?
Thanks,
Carol

I've like Lonely Planet series so far. They have editions by state and each state edition includes a lot of detail. They are also very well organized. The downside is they sometimes leave out some of the high-end options. For Sydney, I also like TimeOut or Eyewitness guides. I bought the Western Australia guide from Lonely Planet and the TimeOut for Sydney.

I just realized it is less than one month before we leave on our trip to Australia ... Wooo Hooo.

I was just going to say how much I HATE the Lonely Planet guides for Australia.

When I was researching what guide(s) I wanted to take to Italy with me, I used Australian guidebooks to help me figure out which were good and which weren't. Here are the reasons:

1. Overt political bias. When I read the introduction to LP Australia it made Australia sound like a police state full of bigots when discussing Australia's immigration policy. Honestly, how many tourists actually care about Australia's immigration policy - and is it a guidebook's business to pass judgement on it?

It made me particularly mad when I opened up other LP books to see if other countries got the same treatment, but no. Only Australia. It's not fair, especially when other countries have similar issues and they're not crucified for it in other LP guidebooks.


2. Bad recommendations. Just looking at where they say to go in Adelaide, I'd say they have no imagination. The restaurants/bars/cafes they selected were "okay" run-of-the-mill kinds of places. I was also particularly amused in their recent Australia and New Zealand on a Shoestring edition when they recommended the most expensive winebar in Adelaide and a few of the most expensive restaurants too. So much for travelling on a shoestring!


3. Personal preference. This is my personal preference, but I don't like the way information is set out in LP guidebooks. I don't want pages and pages and pages of hotel recommendations - I can get that off the internet. I want descriptive information about the sights to see, and I think LP is pretty bad in this area. LP guides used to be for budget travellers but now, IMO, they've lost their target market and EVERYONE seems to use them. This means they don't know who they're catering for anymore and thus don't know what information to put in them.


As for guidebooks that I preferred... Rough Guides and Eyewitness Travel Guide.

The Rough Guide to Australia gives a positive spin about Australia as a destination to visit and enjoy. It also gives good and INTERESTING eating recommendations (at least in Adelaide). The Rough Guide is a guidebook that knows its target market: the middle traveller who is not on a strict budget but isn't part of the jetset either. Fewer hotel recommendations, but way more descriptive information about sights to see and historical contexts (without the political bias too!) Have a look at these extracts from the Rough Guide to Australia to get an idea of the style.

Eyewitness Travel Guide was just really nice to look at! The pictures can help you decide what sights you might like to see. Have to say, I've used one in London and have seen lots of things I wouldn't have otherwise seen, simply because they "looked good" in the picture.

Anyway, I hope this helps. But as always, head to your library or bookshop, look at as many guidebooks as possible and see which ones YOU like!

Claire.

Those are very good points. I am a huge fan of Rough Guides and they are typically our main guide. In fact this may be the first time we don't take a Rough Guide on our trip. For our trip to Western Australia, they don't have a lot of information for the region.

I second the suggestion of visiting your local library. It is the best way to try out several different styles to see what works the best for you.

Carol,

I'm so glad you deciding to come to Australia, just start asking questions, there are many Aussies that are members that can help within their own area.

i wish we had our own area (perhaps Australia and New Zealand) rather than being part of The Rest of the World on this site, it may encourage more visitors.

Frances

Thanks for the comments - always interesting when the opinions differ. Of course that is natural.

Frances,
Thanks - Australia has been my husband's dream for a long time, but we had about decided we wouldn't make it there.

But we are traveling a LOT for the next 3 years, ; at least we have a LOT of traveling planned! We want to see what we yearn to see while we are still in relatively good health as the years are zooming by now.

We will fly to Australia in Feb. 2008 and then fly to New Zealand and sail back to Honolulu. We are doing this to make a break in the long air trip that is increasingly difficult for us. (Bad backs, football knees, etc etc!)

I'll be asking LOTS of questions and yes, I agree with you that Australia and New Zealand should have their own space.

Also a dedicated space for South America! We are going there in Jan 07 and that's been one of my dreams too and never thought we would get there.

Carol

Carol,

I hope you have a great time. New Zealand is fabulous as well, not that i have been there but my in-laws did this March and intend going again in February/March 2007. They had four seasons in one day there.

Frances