Footprint India Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Forget Lonely Planet - this is the one necessary guide
Review: Great introduction to the regions and their attractions? Check. Detailed descriptions of even the smallest places of interest? Check. Quick but practical hotel and restaurant ratings? Check. In-depth information on history, politics, geology and landscape, vegetation, including crops, wildlife, religion, culture, festivals, economy? Check! Extensive information on getting around, routes from A to B (and many alternatives), trekking, air and train travel, cycling etc? Check.

This guide really has everything you need, practical and educational - and in a very practical little package to boot (hard cover, small size, paper-thin pages to avoid too much bulk). The authors' biographies are revealing: one of them is a bona fide expert, a professor of South Asian Geography at the School of Oriental and African Studies. It's that kind of company you need to get a grip on a country like India. And you usually don't get it - most guidebooks are written by people who are simply more experienced in travel than your average joe, but have no in-depth knowledge of the country.

What it lacks, compared to Lonely Planet/Rough Guides is a chummy, get-a-load-of-this tone. Unadorned information me seem dry to some, but to others it is a relief compared to guides whose authors assume you share their prejudices. For instance, hotel listings are terse. A typical entry reads: "Category E, 130 rooms, some A/C (better rm on upper floor),restaurant (Indian veg.) rec; reasonably clean but gets crowded and noisy"

It's worth looking through other guidebooks if you want restaurant and hotel listings fleshed out for you. But if you only carry one guidebook to India, let it be this one.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Top-Notch
Review: I spent two months backpacking through India in the summer of 2003, and the Footprint guide was tremendous. I also brought the Rough Guide to India, but Footprint was much more useful (though both blew away Lonely Planet!).

There is great coverage of smaller towns in all regions of the country, something that is invaluable if you're spending an extended period of time in the country. Almost every time I'd be overnighting in some obscure town as part of a bus journey, I'd at least find a paragraph or two, which saved the day more than once.

The maps are great. The most readable I've seen in any guidebook. The detailed maps of the whole country in the back were extremely useful.

The background section was also the most in-depth I've seen among India guidebooks. Very good.

All in all, this is definitely the best guidebook to use for India. One of the biggest benefits of it though, is that it isn't very popular. If Lonely Planet says a place is cheap, you can guarantee they've quadrupled their price since then. Footprint India really helps you stay off the beaten tourist path... I rarely had encounters with other travellers... almost all of my time was spent with locals, and the Footprint guide is definitely geared towards that. Most of the hotels reviewed aren't backpacker-focused (though those are there), but are mostly used by locals travelling for various reasons.

Highly recommended!