Thailand 14 (Lonely Planet)

Lonely Planet has by far the most relevant, easy-to-use, and well edited travel guides for all countries. I wouldn't even think of using another brand of travel guide for independent travel. The Thailand guide is no exception, although I'd recommend buying the pdf versions, as this is a pretty thick book for one country. The book gives recommendations for housing, food, activities, highlights, etc. for every budget. The writers know the country in and out.

Don't open this book expecting to learn everything about Thailand. When you wake up in Pai with a hangover and no idea how you got there though, this book is your best friend. Great recommendations, easy to read, some fun lil tid-bits about prostitution and transvestites. Very user friendly. Word of advice though, don't do any drugs if you are traveling to Thailand they don't mess around. Anyone traveling to Thailand have fun! Reply if you need any recommendations, I had a wonderful month there. Can't wait to go back.

A friend of mine is joining the Peace Corps. and will be stationed in Thailand. I then began collecting as much cultural information as I could for this friend of mine. I always start people with the Lonely Planet books to give some good insight into travelling safety, language, food, culture and a brief history of each region. Nothing but good to say about these series of travel books from Lonely Planet. I'm a big fan. Of course it is up to the individual to dig deeper into the culture than Lonely Planet can take you.

I used the hard copy of this guide during my first trip to Thailand. It was GREAT. I SO wish I hadn't traded it for the one I needed in China... but I digress. The main problem I see with the e-book version of this guide, is that it just doesn't work well. It's tough to navigate - even tough to know what's there. The tables of contents are intermittent and work differently from one another, and where the highlighted lists should have links to take you directly to different parts of the book describing those highlights, they are completely missing or incomplete. Some of the maps have English road names, some don't. And the ones with no English are worthless unless you read Thai. All the maps are difficult to read, and they way they open makes it difficult to find locations from the lists that refer to the maps. You have to close and open the map, then find the page with the landmark, then go back and open the map... tedious! In my opinion, an e-book that is this kind of guide should work like a web-site with consistent use of active links to different kinds of information throughout. I used book marks and the back button to jump around, but it was so clunky and difficult to use, I ended up even forgetting I had this guide on my phone. I have the Bali/ Lombok e-guide and it's MUCH better. I don't know about the structure of e-books, but if they had used one more like that one it would have been more useful to me. The information about places, landmarks, etc., was good and accurate as usual. Again, just difficult to navigate smoothly. I hope LP will work on the e-book version of this guide.

with the Lonely Planet guides. This one seems to offer fewer suggestions for housing and so forth, but the housing recommendations were excellent as is all the cultural information. The only problem with travelling with the Lonely Planet is that it is so packed with information it is heavy to carry. It is the guide against which all other guides should be measured.

The Kindle edition is terrible. I used to carry Lonely Planet books in my suitcase, then replaced them with PDFs for lighter travel. Recently, I have bought the Kindle versions for Thailand and also for Laos (the latter includes other countries as well). Both are EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AND CUMBERSOME TO USE. My strong dislike for the Kindle format causes me not to use the guides when I otherwise would, and also makes me likely to procrastinate my travel planning -- serious disadvantages to the Kindle version. In brief, navigation is downright user unfriendly. Example: I am currently in Laos, flying to BKK tomorrow & I need to find a Lonely Planet recommended hotel near the airport. In the paper edition, it was simple: Open to BKK, and move to the "Sleeping" section, then look for recommendations near the airport. Likewise for the PDF version available at Lonely Planet. With the Kindle version, I've been leafing through for about 20 minutes, and I'm just now getting to Bangkok Sleeping information. It is found at "Location 2589 of 32287". Call me dense if you must, but how in the world can I manage 32,287 "locations"? I don't even know what a "location" is, much less how anybody can think that thirty-two thousand of them are in any way useful. Paper and PDF pages seem to work just fine. Likewise for clickable contents or even searchable text -- I can't for the life of me figure out how to use these on the Kindle version. So I am writing this strongly negative review -- and I still don't know which hotel or guesthouse I'll be staying in BKK tomorrow! Using paper or PDF editions, I'd have already made my decision by now. As it stands -- I'm still looking for the correct "location" among 32,287...?? I pause, take another five minutes -- I'm up to a half hour just trying to find the page or "location" for airport area hotels. Finally, on "location" 3437 -- after moving thru some 848 "locations", there appears to be a clickable link to airport area hotels. Let's see if that works! It does... so after a half hour of navigating, I've finally arrived at the "location" I'm looking for. Now, I can begin to look for a place to sleep. With paper or PDF editions, I'd already be finished and doing something much more interesting with my travel time! If I can save one person from the frustration I have endured in using the Lonely Planet Kindle edition, then the time spent writing this review is surely worth it.

日本のガイドブックにはない情報量。細かい都市までカバーしていて素晴らしい。

Für Thailand der beste Reiseführer. Jederzeit wieder.

This was very helpful for our trip to Chaing Mai region. It will also be helpful for the other areas when I get there. The book was the reason we chose the area of Thailand and ensured we have a great holiday ...adventurous too.

Just back from 2 weeks in Thailand and this book was an invaluable tool for a firt time lone traveller there. I would have missed so much if I hadn't done my analysis with this book first. The sections on Bangkok are great plus there is a separate pull out map which was never out of my hand. Tips on which Skytrain station to get off for canal rides into the City were spot on and better than most locals' knowledge. Advice on other areas such as Pattaya [don't both] were correct, but I still had to go there just to check myself. On other areas of Thailand the book is equally as good. Getting to Chaing Mai by plane from Dong M? airport with various providers again spot on, as was advice on 3 day jungle treks [what do you do at night, and what if you don't like your travel companions?] all good advice. I opted for a day trip, much better. Only criticism, the prices quoted for goods and services are way too low!!! If you are budgeting do NOT rely on the prices shown as inflation has defiitely hit everything from food to air travel and accommodation cost.

A chaque fois que nous partons en voyage, nous achetons le Lonely Planet du pays concerné et nous ne sommes jamais déçus. C'est pareil pour le guide de la Thaïlande. C'est un indispensable à posséder. Tout est détaillé, pensé intelligemment. Une vraie mine d'informations et de bons plans.