Lonely Planet Reviews 330

Bought a book from LP about southern Italy. It literally misses the point. I discovered any self proclaimed travel writer on the intetnet has more to say then LP.

Have used the guides from Lonely Planet for over 15 years and was very satisfied with all the practical information. So I just bought new guides, written in 2023. I do not know what I saw. There is no real information in this guide. All information is global. For example information about transport says only that you can take a taxi or a bus. No practical information about location of busterminal, important buslines, distances, costs etc. No information about opening times or costs of musea/ sights etc. No information about off the beaten destinations. So everything you would buy a Lonely Planet buy for is not there. Plus layout is unclear.

beware of the lonelyplanet task scam. I got scammed with the supposedly job doing tasks but have to put out money through crypto wallet. Just because I wanted to get my money back, I was told I needed to finish the task. In the end, I finished the supposedly task, but it just asked for me to send bigger money.

Placed an order for three books at the beginning of April, two weeks later had not had any updates, contacted customer support who took a week to get back to me. They said they can re-send the order so I waited again for this replacement order but again - no progress past the order confirmed stage so after contacting their customer support once more I am left waiting for a refund.

Tl:dr; don’t order directly from their website as the only thing you will be receiving is frustration and disappointment.

I really like their products. But I ordered a book 9 days ago as I'm going on a trip. I have received a tracking link, but that tracking just says that they have received data about the package. This usually means that they have not even received the package yet.

I will likely not get the book in time for me to use it for planning and maybe not even to bring it on my trip.

These days, I think 2-3 days from order to receiving the goods would be best in class. 3-5 days would be ok. More than a week is substandard and disappointing. Its been 9 days, and its not even shipped yet - that just sucks.

If you can't do direct-to-consumer sales better than this, maybe you should stop doing it or let someone else take care of it.

Order MHI-358-GM123634. Not even arrived within the preposterously long 10 day delivery (10 days? We're in the 21st century, right?). I've been to the destination and back without the guide I paid for. Nowhere on their site to comment on this. I suppose a refund is out of the question, you useless lot?

So disappointing. The latest Vietnam Lonely Planet had absolutely no useful information. Maps, transport options, prices, emergency information, eateries and addresses, all non existent. Maybe useful for emergency toilet paper.

RIP LP, ZERO stars

Can you please give some basic information about bus and train companies operating in a particular area, and maybe even some route information, instead of the CONSTANT 'You really need a car'?! It's also disgusting that you're charging the same price as before, but now we get about 1/4 of the advice and 100 times as many pictures.

New Loneley Planets are completely useless! I really hope you will do something with all the bad reviews!

LP has been our travelbible for over 40 years. Always lóved the lay-out with the streetmaps and traveldirections. To our dismay LP has changed the lay-out completely (LP Egypt Nov 2023). It has been turned into one in a dozen travelbooks now. The word guide is sadly not applicable anymore. What a loss !
We sincerely hope that LP will jump back into the niche they left since we do not want to be 'guided' by our smartphones whilst exploring new areas.
Emma and Willem

Having used LP for over 35 years we bought the latest Morocco edition for our recent trip, having visited the country several times before.

What a shadow of their formal selves these books have become; it is utterly useless.

There is just no information on Accomodation, Eating, Practicalities or Emergency information. The maps are so poorly printed they are unusable, and for some reason have overprinted circles obscuring what detail there is underneath. But this doesn't really matter as there is so much missing and inaccurate on them they hold no value. Even the very few places mentioned in the superficial text might be omitted, as are tiny details like railway stations, Emergency Hospitals, Police Stations and even attractions.

What we do get are shallow, chatty, blog-like opinion pieces which tell you how great Morocco is, but not actually how to find the greatness.

I understand that the world has changed and many folk travel head-down, phone out and rely on review sites for information. However, a guide book should be both our planning resource and a reliable fallback to get a decent room, meal, help in emergencies and inspiration for the next day’s travel. This book is neither.

If i could give 0 stars I would; as it is the one star is arguably merited since not all Moroccan toilets provide paper.

Lonely Planet in the past was a most valuable resource to take on holiday abroad. However, the recent library copy on Vietnam (2022) I took was sadly very much out of date, lacking in detail it used to provide, so I found this somewhat disappointing. By way of example, information on Hoi Ann on My Son Sanctuary was very limited, the Japanese Covered Bridge has factually incorrect details. There there was no inclusion of the famous railway in Hanoi (apart from a photograph) which was televised so well by Michael Portillo. Perhaps the authors need to revisit the areas to ensure the next copy is up-to-date.

Very disappointed with the current book content. It feels as if publisher started a new publication and deliberately destroying the iconic publications.
Why? What is LP trying to achieve? Impossible to say, except I would not be wasting my money on this new format!
Very disappointing!

Guides used to be full of useful information to help plan a trip. Now that is all gone - the books are hard to navigate and have very little use other than some nice pictures and discussion. Not worth the money any more sadly. Very sorry to see such a previously great brand in decline.

I have been using the Lonely Planet books for over 35 years......and the last one I bought re: Ecuador was not as useful as previous books. However, I was prepared to gave them the benefit of the doubt.
But i must say that I am SO disappointed with the latest Vietnam edition. I waited until the newest version was released so that it would be the most up to date info. However, as I am sitting here planning my trip it is NOT user friendly, and I am getting sooo frustrated with it, to the point that i will not take it with me to Vietnam NOR will I ever buy another Lonely Planet book!!
There is no clear street map of Hanoi, or other places, with no clear idea of where any eateries, bars, hotels etc.
I could go on and on, but quite frankly i haven't got the time!!

I wish I’d read these reviews before I bought the newest Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia, but how could I have known that Lonely Planet would abandon the excellent format for which so many of us buy it? This new version is useless. I don’t buy a travel guide to look at pictures and read the kind of articles I could read in ordinary magazines. I’ve been buying Lonely Planet guides for decades, but I’ve bought my last.

Wow. What a disappointment. I have been an avid LP reader for many many years, so preparing for my trip to Cuba I ordered the new digital guide to replace my old paper one. What a shock. None of the practical info was left, only a couple of vague suggestions on where to go, eat or sleep but none with contact info or a good description of what to expect. The other valuable thing that completely disappeared is the “How to get there and away” with practical info on different modes of transport and how to arrange it. Also, when a suggestion is made, for instance to go diving somewhere, zero info on how to contact the organization and/or how to even get there. Completely useless guide! In fact, not a guide at all. I had to bring my old paper one instead to at least have some useful info at hand.
I sincerely hope they discontinue this mishap of a magazine type of new format, or they have lost me as a client forever.

I can just fully agree with the latest review. The Lonely Planet travel books have been completely modified and is now only a list of Top "what to do" and do not contain anymore all the information you need to decide your routes among the various possibilities that a country can have.
Yes the new version is beautiful but I do not buy a travel book to only have pictures.
Very, very, disappointed with this new version.
I would have hoped my bad experience was just reluctance with change (which would disappear with time) but I have been trying to use the Vietnam new format for days and let's be honest : I have to look on the web and other travel guides to get proper information and tips.

I ordered a book on Peru on 11/20/2023. I just received it yesterday on 12/22/2023. Not only should it have NEVER taken a month, but even though there is a MAP LEGEND in the back, there is no fold out map like it was supposed to have. Not only that, but they mailed it in some flimsy envelope, which had a huge slit in it and the cover and pages were all damaged. I was going to give it as a gift, but NO WAY would I give this as a gift. Like everyone else has said, I only wished I had read the reviews before I purchased from them. I have disputed the charge with my credit card company.