Reviews (7)

Good Map - Maybe Over Priced
I do appreciate the fact that it is made of very sturdy material.The quality is very high.

There's a lot of rain on the plain & everywhere else
These maps are highly prized in Costa Rica and not that easy to come by. I paid $11. US for one down there last summer - and was thrilled to find it. If you're going surfing, rafting or to the cloud forest - you'll be happy you aren't carrying the old paper kind.

Get a free map once you get into the country
Very nice map, but I got an equally detailed map for free from the tourist information office once I got into the country.The main difference between the two maps was that the free one wasn't waterproof. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Costa Rica    2. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Mexico    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Costa Rica    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Central America   

Editorial Review

Many Costa Rica guides provide hotel, restaurant, and arrival information, but Lonely Planet's stands out from the pack. Written by Rob Rachowiecki, an award-winning travel writer and naturalist, this guide delves into Costa Rica's flora, fauna, and nature reserves like no other. Rachowiecki's Read more

Reviews (38)

This is a lucky book.
My friend said he has loaned this book to six people, all of whom have returned from Costa Rica, ecstatic and safe.This book is good luck... I said write to the author to tell him, and he said, "No, this is a really popular book, he gets hundreds of emails every week."I thought I'd try anyway.

Outdated, sorely lacking, get Tico Times in-country
I bought this book for my Costa Rica trip (8 weeks w/ a class, 3 weeks w/o), and replaced it within the first week. Most of the hotels are priced above what is listed, if they even exist anymore. Same with the restaurants. Also, LP over-emphasized many extreme tourist hotspots without giving enough info about smaller towns (don't miss Cauhita!), lesser-known forests (check out the Children's Eternal Rainforest), getting around by bus, super-budget hotels or border crossings. My advice: wait until you get into Costa Rica, then get the Tico Times guidebook, updated EVERY YEAR, written by the local english newspaper. It's easy to find and so much more relevant, with maps of every town, bus schedules, local festivals (where and when), border information, updated hotel + restaurant info, and how to find the information you can't find anywhere else.

Least helpful travel book I've ever used
I bought this book before a trip to Costa Rica, based on the "Lonely Planet" name alone.Lonely Planet usually publishes the best travel books, but not in this case.We found that the directions to many of the establishments were incorrect, as were the descriptions.Some of the locals even pointed out parts of the book that were blatantly incorrect, such as certain restaurants or bars that were in a different part of town than stated in the book. This particular book could have used a better fact-checker.I will not be taking it with me on my next trip to Costa Rica. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Mexico    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Costa Rica    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (4)

Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus
The zydler guide was ok in its time. But the new Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus is very, very much better than the Zydler. ALL PAGES IN COLOR, beautyful photos and nearly 200 precise charts. Dont dream of cruising panama without it.

New Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus is way better
We just finished (July 2006) cruising the Pacific side of Panama and through the canal and found the Zydler guide to not be as useful as the newer Bauhaus guide. The major difference is in the charts & chartlets - the Bauhaus guide is all color charts that look like real charts - the Zydler guide is all B&W hand drawn sketches that are extremely hard to read - virtually useless. The Zydler guide has more words but less useful information as it's quite a bit older and some information isway out of date - eg. the Western Panama Islands like Coiba.

the panama guide
excelent book Tom and Nancy,proffesional piece of art.Finally i found you Tom,im your old buddy from naval academy in Gdynia,contact me pls.Chris kowalski E-mail-kowal17@hotmail.com ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Panama    2. Pilot guides    3. Reference - General    4. Ships & Shipbuilding - Engineering    5. Transportation    6. Travel    7. Yachting   

Reviews (6)

Out dated material
I find nothing worse about a travel guide that is old before it is issued. I found almost every area of this book to be not just one or two years behind what the writer was saying about prices but even places that had been closed for more than two years before this book was sold. Maybe this writer should have done a little checking on his own, before letting it be published.
A Great Read as Well
Bill Friar is enjoyable to read. His books on Panama and the Canal have always appealed, because he is interested in the environment as well as the necessities of travel, hotel, restaurants.He brings the reader close to the sights, sounds and smells of a country, and off the usual beaten path.I recommend this book highly. Hal De Mun

Indispensable!
Just returned from 2 weeks in Panama with Mr. Friar's guidebook close at hand. We also had, by way of backup, a copy of the Lonely Planet guide. Without doubt the Moon Handbook is the superior guide and I would consider it indispensable for anyone traveling to Panama. Friar's writing style is highly readable and we found the research and his assessment of the opportunities to be spot on. From budget travel to luxury stays, Friar covers the gamut with humor and perceptive insight. The only caveat I would offer is that the prices quoted by the author are already out of date. We found lodging to be consistently $5 - 15 higher than the prices quoted in the book. This is the challenge of writing about a dynamic world using a static medium, and in no way is meant to be a negative comment about the book or author. The reality is that Panama has "been discovered," and prices are rising to reflect increasing demand. Still, we had a great time and the success of our trip was due in no small part to the guidance set down in Moon Handbooks Panama. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Panama    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Central America   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (6)

Great recipes, easy steps, wonderful results.
This book puts you on the fast track to grafting the styles of famous artists into your own work through more than five dozen easy-to-follow recipes. Not surprisingly, you'll find yourself learning more than you originally expected to about Photoshop.

not-so-fast ...
Earlier this year I reviewed what many will see as the companion volume to this book ("Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook for Digital Photographers"), written by the same author. Unfortunately, the newer publication is less useful. It seems to have been written on a pretext that it's clever to be able to duplicate what traditional artists can do. This seems - from my own personal viewpoint - to be greatly undervaluing the power of Photoshop (and similar software). Practitioners of digital fine art should (really, constructively) be looking to explore what the principles of prior and traditional art can mean within a new domain.
Excellent!
Wonderful effects for the artistically inclined.The recipes in this book truly are easy to reproduce.You can apply these techniques to any of your digital photos. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Operating Systems - Macintosh    7. Operating Systems - Windows    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    9. Computers / Other Applications    10. Computers/Operating Systems - Macintosh    11. Computers/Operating Systems - Windows    12. Digital techniques    13. Image processing    14. Photography    15. photoshop, adobe, digital photography, digital effects, photoshop effects, artistic forgery, artistic effects, daguerreotypes, calotypes, tintypes, pre-raphaelites, muybrudge, stieglitz, man ray, lissitzky, paul strand, edward weston, walker evens, dorothea lange, answel adams, bill brandt, henri cartier-bresson, brassai, cecil beaton, yousuf karsh, irving penn, arnold newman, angus mcbean, ernst haas, les krims, don mccullin, jerry uelsmann, david bailey, robert mapplethorpe, annie liebowitz, david hockney, sebastiao salgado, martin parr, mick kent, mantegna, da vinci, durer, caravaggio, el greco, rembrandt, vermeer, turner, caspar david friedrich, impressionism, seurat, van gogh, gauguin, cezanne, whistler, munch, hokusai, chagall, modigliani, picasso, futurists, salvador dali, hopper, o'keefe, grant wood, diego rivera, warhol, lichtenstein   

Reviews (8)

The Surfer's Guide to Costa Rica by Mike Parise
Simpy a must have for anyone traveling to Costa Rica. Don't think too much about it, it would be foolish not to buy. It will definitly pay for itself many times over.

A board, towel and this book
are the only things you need for Costa Rica.I saw this on Cutback.com, bought it and it told me everything I needed to know.
Excellent book
this is a great book if you are going to costa rica, it has great detail and maps, nothing to detailed but it tells you what maps to buy, would reccomend ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sports    2. Sports & Recreation / Water Sports    3. Travel / Central America    4. Central America    5. Costa Rica    6. Guidebooks    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Surfing    9. Travel    10. Water Sports   

Reviews (12)

better, more accurate info available on the Internet
I did a lot of research on our trip.We live in Honduras and are driving to the US over a three week period as we leave the area for good, so ordered the book.I was already very versed in the trip from countless stories on the Internet, and from exploring Central America over the last three years, so found the book simple, badly written, and not very helpful at all.I suggest that instead of spending your money on this book, you do research on the Internet and you will get much better information for free.

Read but not tested
We have not yet driven the Pan-American highway, but were given the Pritchard's book as a gift in preparation for an eventual trip; therefore, I can't comment on the traveler tips. I was, however, amused and distracted by the incredible number of typos on each page (coastal is consistently spelled "costel"). The book seems very basic and at times naive (toilet paper discussion). I had the feeling that my grandfather was explaining the ropes to me... That said, the book seems to have some helpful information and tries to be specific regarding border crossings, the roads, etc.

Outdated
We bought this book before our RV trip in 2003 which eventually resulted in our own book, "99 Days to Panama" (www.99DaystoPanama.com).We found the info mildly useful but not accurate, e.g. Hotel Guanacoste Travel Lodge in Liberia, Costa Rica, hardly has a "trailer park".We recently bought the 6th edition of "Christopher Howard's" version with a new cover but it is exactly the same as the 6th edition of Pritchards book we bought three years ago. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automobile travel    2. Canada    3. Central America    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Guidebooks    6. Mexico    7. Pan American Highway System    8. South America    9. Travel    10. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (3)

Lonely Planet comes through again!
I purchased three Belize guide books, and this was by far the best! Fantastic Book - RIGHT ON THE MONEY
Bravo Lonely Planet!
Good for some, not for budget travel
How to rank this book depends upon what you are looking for. In my case, I've been using Lonely Planet guides for many years and am accustomed to their assistance for traveling on a real budget. This book was different in that it focused much more on the mid-range of travel, and was really lacking on the budget end. For example, it assumes that you will use a tour and tour guide to visit many archeological sites instead of pulling it off using public transportation and your feet. And the least expensive hotels are often not covered.
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Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Mexico    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Belize    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (16)

Extremely Helpful
I just returned from a trip to Brazil, and though I know some Spanish, I had no previous exposure to Portuguese.This phrasebook proved invaluable in helping me bridge the gap, and contributed to me having an even better time, and blending in better with the locals.

Passable
Beware of serious pronunciation errors in this book.Although it was overall pretty useful, there were some glaring errors in areas where there likely shouldn't have been.Case in point, the phonetic pronunciation for tchau (goodbye) in the book is spelled out as "tee-show."At least in Bahia, it was pronounced by the locals just like the Italian "ciao."The word "vinte" (twenty) is spelled out "veeng-te" in the book, while again everyone we encountered in Bahia pronounced it "veen-chay."I don't know if these are regional differences in Brazilian Portuguese, but if so, they need to at least be addressed in the book.Take care when using the phrasebook to listen to the local speakers as well.

Best Brazilian Portuguese phrase book I've found!
I'm just a lonely writer wanna-be in the heart of the middle of nowhere, so what do I choose to write -- a period piece of Brazil.I can't even begin to praise this book enough.Not only do I get phrases and words, but there are all sorts of little historical and cultural details.
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Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. General    4. Language    5. Miscellaneous    6. Multi-Language Phrasebooks    7. Portuguese    8. Spanish    9. Travel    10. Brazil    11. Brazilian Portuguese    12. Language self-study & phrasebooks    13. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

Great book, although more $$ recommendations
My husband and I just returned from a 16 day trip, and this book was definitely worth the money!! It is the most up to date Belize guidebook you can buy right now, and almost all of it's information was right on. We also bought the Belize Moon Guidebook, and comparing the two, I would say that Fodors is more upscale. Usually, it's assuming you're going to rent a car and hire guides for your trips (both of which cost $$$), and it does a better job of describing more expensive hotels and restaurants. This is great if you have the money, but we were on a budget, so this info was useless for us. The Moon book did a better job covering places and topics for a budget traveller (like what to do if you get a GI bug--something no one wants, but when it happens, you're glad it's covered in the book!). That said, Fodor's was still really helpful because it's the most up to date, so it's maps, attractions, restaurant, and lodging recommendationscould usually be relied on (Kudos for the Fodor's recommendation for Tradewinds in Plancencia--this tip alone made me glad I bought the book!).Overall, it's the perfect book if you are planning a more upscale trip, but it's still very helpful (4 star) if you're abudget traveller and I would defintely recommend purchasing it along with the Moon Belize book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Belize    6. Guatemala    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Central America   

Reviews (1)

Whet your Appetite!!!
I read this book cover to cover before my first trip to Costa Rica and had highlighted a number of places I intended to visit.This book was EXTREMELY helpful in giving an accurate description of geographic regions, landmarks, customs, and general travel information.It made my trip much easier knowing what to expect.In addition, after returning, it was fun to compare the photos in the book to the ones I had taken.The beautiful photos in the book were not just "travel" photos to entice you to visit, but accurate photos of how beautiful and incredible Costa Rica is! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel - General    6. Travel Guides    7. Costa Rica    8. Travel & holiday guides    9. Travel / General   

Reviews (23)

Well organized and useful
This is a handy phrase book for those who have no knowledge of Spanish and for those situations where you just need to be that much more specific in communicating your needs.It's not too big, so it's relatively easy to travel with.

Thisbook has phrases for every occasion!
Tins book will help you in just about every situation; meeting people, getting around, accommodations, food, illegal drugs, Dating, Romance and Intimate phrases, dealing with police, and lots more!
Please add local expressions
This phrasebook is very well organised. This is its strong point, I think. This is what I told some English people who asked for my advice (I am a Costarican). I also told them that I think it covers all the expected areas of vocabulary, like airport, travelling, food, but it could cater better for local expressions, the voccabulary local people use. This is what I am asking for, perhaps for the next edition. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books    3. Foreign Language Study    4. General    5. Language    6. Spanish    7. Costa Rica    8. Language self-study & phrasebooks    9. Latin-American Spanish   

Reviews (5)

Vastly overrated
I recenty returned from a month long trip through Central America, during which I visited all 7 Central American countries, in this order: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.I brought two guidebooks with me on my trip: this one and the Rough Guide to Central America.I soon found myself using the Rough Guide almost exclusively and this Lonely Planet Guide hardly at all. This was a surprise and a disappointment, because for the last 17 years I have consistently found the Lonely Planet guides to be the ones most consistently most useful for adventurous travelers.But not this one.Here are some of the problems I had with this guide:
Maps are useless - as are much of the comments
This has rotten country maps - then try to find the "Highlights" to the countries - like Tikal in Guat. is a highlight - but try and find it on these terrible country maps - that have no ABC-123 coordinates - you spend hours scanning miserable maps trying to figure out where the "Highlights" are - and highlighting them yourself - and yes - they're in the same small font as the rest of the map. And if you're gonna rent a cheap car and drive yourself - there's nothing. Acres of bus crap - no road info.

You can't do better
You can't really do better than this book if you're traveling in multiple countries in C.A.Overall, it was an invaluable resource.My complaints are that it almost provides TOO much detail, the kind of things people should find out on their own while they travel.Also, so many people use this book that you'll run into gringos every time you follow their 1st recommendation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Guidebooks    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (9)

useful, but disappointing
on every backpacking trip, a lonely planet was always one of the must-haves because they are always so on it when it comes to accuracy and reliability. well, i was disappointed by this guatemala edition. the author raved about the country: antigua, tikal, the people...so i had all these warm fuzzy expectations. that was mistake number one.
This book is spot on.
I traveled to Guatemala for two weeks in the summer of 2005 and used Lonely Planet the entire time.It was my first trip there, so I needed and wanted extensive detail and maps, which this book provided.I found it to be right on about everything from restaurants and hotels to ATM locations.I appreciated the small bits of cultural and historical information as well.The transportation sections were the most helpful.On several occasions I had people ask to borrow my LP to look up bus connections.Overall, I thought it was excellent and recommend it highly to anyone traveling to Guatemala.

Very helpful guide to travel to Guatemala.
Lonely planet is very popular in this country.You'll see a lot of travelers with a copy of the book.The maps are very acurate and you'll find good recomendations. What's great about this country is that people are friendly, so you only need the basics and the book has them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Guatemala    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Panama    2. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Reviews (13)

Required for a trip to Nicaragua
This was an excellent book!!!Went on our first trip to Nicaragua and this book was invaluable!!!It is so well written that we read it cover to cover and is organized in such a manner as to make it very easy to find what you're looking for.Would highly recommend it!!!

Best Guidebook I've Read
This is easily the most entertaining guidebook I've ever read. I found myself reading entire paragraphs or descriptions out loud to my fiance. The problem with most guidebooks is that they're incredibly boring to read and often leave out the most useful information. This book is the exception! Leonardi tells you exactly what you most need or want to know--such as how quickly you'll want to get out of a particular town you can't avoid passing through, at which hotel you might want to keep your shoes on when walking across the floor at night (yikes), or which local hotel offers the best boat rentals. This book is incredibly useful and a real page-turner--I actually read it almost cover-to-cover.

This is a very impressive guide which I strongly recommend.
I used this guide during my three weeks in Nicaragua and enjoyed Leonardi's informative writing style.This handbook is more exhaustive, and more up to date, than "Footprint's Central America & Mexico Handbook".Read more

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Guidebooks    3. Nicaragua    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Central America   

Subjects:  1. Central America    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Costa Rica    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Central America   

Reviews (1)

Basically very good with accurate information
We used this guide in our recent trip to Costa Rica. In this review I will tell you the benefits of the formatting style of this guide; the strengths of the guide, and then a few weaknesses where more information would have been helpful. I will end the review by relaying my assessment of the finest resource in Costa Rica and recommendations regarding use of the guide for travel in Costa Rica.
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Subjects:  1. Central America    2. General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel Guides    6. Travel / Central America