Company Name/Publisher: Lonely Planet
Product Category: Travel Guides, Guidebooks
Where to buy: Lonely Planet / Amazon.com
Our overall rating: 9.5 out of 10
You will need useful information on your journey – Lonely Planet has it all
When you travel you will – amongst others – need information about the destination(s) you will visit. You can certainly research a lot of information on the internet today. That is fine! The disadvantage of doing so is that you do not have all information you may want “in one place”. Therefore, besides the research we do on our travel destinations online, we usually buy a suitable guidebook before our journeys.
Nearly everybody who has done some traveling will know the Lonely Planet Travel Guides and may also have used them. So do we. But: Are their travel guides helpful and worth the money? Would we recommend buying them? ABSOLUTELY YES! In the following review we want to explain you why.
Lonely Planet covers many destinations and topics – A sort of one-stop shop
Lonely Planet guide books are available for literally every destination you can think of in a print or digital (eBook) version. Their print versions have a handy format, are rich on relevant information and very well-arranged!
The layout varies (a bit) depending on the destination covered by the travel guide you bought. Many of them (if not all) are also available in various other languages as well (for example Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Russian, Czech, Hebrew).
On top of their guide books Lonely Planet offers a wide range of additional travel-related books (“special editions”) providing valuable information on outdoor adventures, road trips, honeymoon, amazing architecture, mind-blowing beaches or festivals just to mention a few. Language guides are also available as well as books for kids.
Also check out their new releases or subscribe for their magazine if you want on the Lonely Planet website.
What is included – A Lonely Planet guidebook is quite a comprehensive thing
We have certainly not reviewed every single guidebook or other Lonely planet product (what would probably be impossible because of the huge number of products that is still increasing) but here is a rough overview on what you should usually get with your “standard” travel guide depending on your destination:
- Sights, beaches and activities
- Tours and courses
- Festivals and events
- Sleeping, eating and nightlife
- Entertainment and shopping
- Additional Information (e.g. history, cuisine, budget tips) and transport (getting there and around)
“Must-visits” and special recommendations as well as expert tips by locals (if available) are highlighted in the guidebook. It also includes many maps so that you can find the stuff mentioned above quite easily. Price ranges of the accommodations, attractions, restaurants etc. are also added what will help you decide if you want to book or visit an of the places. In general there are accommodation recommendations as well as restaurant and other tips for different budgets. The guidebook also provides symbols and legends what makes it easy for you to find the information you are looking for at one glance.
Depending on the destination of the travel guide book there are more (or less) pictures that give you a first visual impression of the things you are about to see. There may also be a short “language” section included with some words and phrases that might be helpful for you.
On many occasions we followed their tips and we found very good value for money deals with regards to accommodation and restaurants recommended in the guidebooks in particular.
Price of the guidebooks – Competitive and fair
Prices depend on the product you buy but are in our opinion quite fair and pretty comparable to that of other publisher. As already stated you will receive tons of useful information. When you order directly on their website you may qualify for free shipping, depending on your location and your order value.
Their guidebooks are full of nearly every information you can think of. Therefore, we think they are absolutely worth their money.
Our overall rating – Lonely Planet is a no-brainer
For us (and we guess for many others as well) Lonely Planet is a brilliant pick when it comes to buying travel guides and books 
related to traveling. They really offer value for money (otherwise they would not have been able to exist since 1972 already!). My wife and I just had a discussion and brainstorming about disadvantages of Lonely Planet travel guides – but we didn’t really find one. We do not want to say that other publishers of guidebooks do a bad job – we also used others and were pretty satisfied with them. But we also bought some that we didn’t find so good.
So: Just have a look at the Lonely Planet website or at Amazon and you will certainly find what you are looking for. We strongly believe that you will like their guidebooks as much as we do 😉