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Product Description
Review
Lonely Planet guidebooks are, quite simply, like no others.' --New York Times
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
With 10 authors hitting the islands everywhere from the Solomons to Pitcairn and Easter Island, Lonely Planet's South Pacific is more comprehensive and more rigorously researched than any other guidebook. See inside for the real story on tropical beaches, island resorts, blue lagoons and friendly Pacific cultures.
Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.
In This Guide:
Honest assessment of resorts. Read this book before you book!
Diving chapter takes you to the best of the Pacific beneath the waves
Unique Green Index to help make your travels ecofriendly
Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.
In This Guide:
Honest assessment of resorts. Read this book before you book!
Diving chapter takes you to the best of the Pacific beneath the waves
Unique Green Index to help make your travels ecofriendly
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good,
By
This review is from: Lonely Planet South Pacific 4th Ed.: 4th Edition (Paperback)
The Book is pretty good. I was just reading it for knowledge and travel passion. I Have been to the Cook Islands twice(a real paradise, let me tell you!!) and their chapter seems to be pretty updated. I noticed a few typos mistakes. For the rest of the chapters i cannot say because i haven't been to the places yet. the book seems to give very interesting info about the countries especially the less known ones (like Tokelau, Pitcairn and Tuvalu).
3.0 out of 5 stars
Below the LP standard, and biased in the region's favour,
By
This review is from: Lonely Planet South Pacific (Paperback)
As all of Lonely Planet's guidebooks, this is of course an excellent travel tool, and truly "sets the standard". Any traveler is surely better off to the South Pacific with, rather than without, this densely written and wonderfully filled book (even though, for this particular destination, the Moon Handbook for the South Pacific would also be a very good choice). However, two things should be said about this particular LP guidebook. First, its coverage is hampered by the region's magnitude and diversity. The effort to cover so many different islands, with their own realities, their own peoples and cultures, is surely a noble endeavour. Yet, it resulted in lack of clarity, and data which is vague or uncomplete, especially on some countries (such as those of Micronesia) more than others. Getting separate LP guidebooks for individual countries or sub-regions (Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga & Cook Islands, Tahiti & French Polynesia, etc) would be a much better choice for the discerning traveler - even though it may involve carrying a bit of extra weight around the beautiful seas and skyes of the South Pacific. Second, this guidebook suffers from an evident's "author's bias" in favour of the region. It is quite natural and inevitable, and also very positive, for authors to feel that their region is the best and nicest on our planet, home to the finest wonders of this world (to have the opposite, namely authors who are biased against their own regions, would be horrible). Yet, not all regions of the world can be great and perfect, and their peoples the finest and most friendly. Unknowing travelers should not be led to believe this. The South Pacific can indeed be a very tough place: not all islands and places are as great and beautiful as they may appear from this guidebook, getting around and having a nice time is not always easy (in fact, the region can be horribly frustrating), and the people are not always as pleasant as one might wish. By following indications for visa requirements for the Republic of Kiribati ("British citizens do not require visas"), I found myself pushed back on the aircraft, having to force my way in order to remain on the ground, and avoiding one nigt in a cell only thanks to the intervention of HM High Commissioner. Likewise, in Nauru it is not true that "you'll get a visa on arrival, provided the hotels have rooms". The Otintaai Hotel in Kiribati (allegedly the best in the country) does not have hot water as is claimed in the guidebook, and the Waterfront Villa Hotel in Palau (allegedly "the best deal around") is apparently so simply because the owners are extremely rude and prone to cheating, able to make your stay in beautiful Palau a real hell. Altogether, many countries which may sound like earthly paradises, are simply not so. The people, who are made seem friendly almost without exception, can be extremely obnoxious and difficult, not always happy to receive foreigners - especially in Micronesia and to a lesser extent in Melanesia, yet not so much in Polynesia. The advice contained in this guidebook should be taken with great care. Yet, in the end this remains a truly valuable tool, in a region so hard to get to know, where getting around and finally managing to enjoying one's trip - for those who do decide to go - can be truly hard. The sections on culture, wildlife, etc., despite their being rather summary, are extremely valuable and provide enjoyable reading. This book may not be up to the Lonely Planet standard (we should also consider that this is only the guidebook's first edition); but, considered LP's already high standards, it is not bad at all.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Below the LP standard, and biased in the region's favour,
By Maurizio Giuliano - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lonely Planet South Pacific (Paperback)
As all of Lonely Planet's guidebooks, this is of course an excellent travel tool, and truly "sets the standard". Any traveler is surely better off to the South Pacific with, rather than without, this densely written and wonderfully filled book (even though, for this particular destination, the Moon Handbook for the South Pacific would also be a very good choice). However, two things should be said about this particular LP guidebook. First, its coverage is hampered by the region's magnitude and diversity. The effort to cover so many different islands, with their own realities, their own peoples and cultures, is surely a noble endeavour. Yet, it resulted in lack of clarity, and data which is vague or uncomplete, especially on some countries (such as those of Micronesia) more than others. Getting separate LP guidebooks for individual countries or sub-regions (Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga & Cook Islands, Tahiti & French Polynesia, etc) would be a much better choice for the discerning traveler - even though it may involve carrying a bit of extra weight around the beautiful seas and skyes of the South Pacific. Second, this guidebook suffers from an evident's "author's bias" in favour of the region. It is quite natural and inevitable, and also very positive, for authors to feel that their region is the best and nicest on our planet, home to the finest wonders of this world (to have the opposite, namely authors who are biased against their own regions, would be horrible). Yet, not all regions of the world can be great and perfect, and their peoples the finest and most friendly. Unknowing travelers should not be led to believe this. The South Pacific can indeed be a very tough place: not all islands and places are as great and beautiful as they may appear from this guidebook, getting around and having a nice time is not always easy (in fact, the region can be horribly frustrating), and the people are not always as pleasant as one might wish. By following indications for visa requirements for the Republic of Kiribati ("British citizens do not require visas"), I found myself pushed back on the aircraft, having to force my way in order to remain on the ground, and avoiding one nigt in a cell only thanks to the intervention of HM High Commissioner. Likewise, in Nauru it is not true that "you'll get a visa on arrival, provided the hotels have rooms". The Otintaai Hotel in Kiribati (allegedly the best in the country) does not have hot water as is claimed in the guidebook, and the Waterfront Villa Hotel in Palau (allegedly "the best deal around") is apparently so simply because the owners are extremely rude and prone to cheating, able to make your stay in beautiful Palau a real hell. Altogether, many countries which may sound like earthly paradises, are simply not so. The people, who are made seem friendly almost without exception, can be extremely obnoxious and difficult, not always happy to receive foreigners - especially in Micronesia and to a lesser extent in Melanesia, yet not so much in Polynesia. The advice contained in this guidebook should be taken with great care. Yet, in the end this remains a truly valuable tool, in a region so hard to get to know, where getting around and finally managing to enjoying one's trip - for those who do decide to go - can be truly hard. The sections on culture, wildlife, etc., despite their being rather summary, are extremely valuable and provide enjoyable reading. This book may not be up to the Lonely Planet standard (we should also consider that this is only the guidebook's first edition); but, considered LP's already high standards, it is not bad at all.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Incomplete,
By Readz Alot - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lonely Planet South Pacific (Paperback)
A typically good LP guide, but be aware that while earlier editions of the title included the whole South Pacific area, this edition does not include Micronesia. (And LP hasn't updated their micronesia guide since 2000.) So if you're planning to visit Kiribati, Palau, or other countries in Micronesia, this guide won't meet your needs.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great starting point for the South Pacific,
By N. Hawkins "whereishawkins" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lonely Planet South Pacific 4th Ed.: 4th Edition (Paperback)
I'm extremely impressed at the South Pacific book by LP. Sometimes with books that are published as multi-country guides, you're worried that they're going to totally miss the smaller islands that themselves don't warrant their own individual books. To my surprise, places like Niue, Tuvalu, Pitcairn Island (itself a curious choice) were covered and yet misses Nauru and Palau.However, nitpicking aside, this is a really good book, even for travel book standards. It's pretty comprehensive, and you can tell that the book had boots on the ground instead of less dubious LP authors just writing about what they find on the internet. As someone who likes to find a brand of travel books and stick with them, I feel that Lonely Planet fell apart over the last few years and are slowly getting back to the top of the heap. I plan to use this book as the primary source of information for Fiji and Tuvalu for starters, and then see where the winds take me. I'm happy with a travel book for once, and that says a lot. |
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