[bizt]

Hi there,

I am planning to travel to oz later in the year and was going to buy a book quite soon. I was considering either the Lonely Planet book or the Rough Guide as I used both when I was in Europe and found them very helpful and reletively accurite.

The current version of Lonenly Planet: Australia is Jan 2004 with the next version not out til Dec 2005. Rough Guide's most current version is Nov 2003 so I was hoping maybe their next version would be out soon. Ideally just the most current version of the two will do.

Anyway, if anybody has any recommendations of the two or perhaps another series please reply. I think Ill buy the Lonely Planet one as its most current and I have found their books in the past to be ok. Cheers

Bizt

[Tim Uden]

Hey what about the BUG guidebook [img]smile.gif[/img] . The next one will be out in March 2005.

The current edition of BUG Australia was published in February 2004 so even that is more up to date that the books from LP and RG.

The BUG guides have more detailed reviews of more hostels than any other guidebook. Considering how Lonely Planet has dropped a lot of hostels from its latest books and how Rough Guides write such brief accommodation reviews maybe it is time to look for a better alternative.

The next BUG Australia book will be the third edition. It's available from most major bookstores (Waterstone's in the UK and Chapters in Canada) or from amazon.co.uk.

At under ten quid BUG is much cheaper than RG and LP.

It is also a much more relevant guide for backpackers. Everything is written specifically for budget travellers as opposed to other guides that try to cater to everyone from backpackers to old folks looking for five star luxury. To cater for all these different types of travellers these general guides like LP and RG cut out a lot of information on hostels to make room for fancy hotels.

Pop into your local Waterstone's store and compare what the various guidebooks write for a popular backpackers destination like Cairns. See how detailed the accommodation reviews are and compare how many backpackers hostels and youth hostels each of the three main guides (BUG, RG and LP) include in their books.

BUG Australia is that only travel guidebook that reviews (with accurate star ratings) virtually every hostel in each destination.

I will post more detailed information about the new editions of the BUG books on this site in the next month.

[ 08. January 2005, 22:33: Message edited by: Tim Uden ]

[bizt]

That sounds ideal, Im sure I can hang on for that. cheers