<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Well laid out and very contemporary
Review: For the last seven years I have lived in, and traveled throughout Peru. Frommer's keep surprising me with new relevant information about Peru. Kudos. Especially informative is Frommer's first section: "What's New in Peru". In Frommer's the Cusco, the Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail section alone take up 100 pages and the information is excellent. If you are going only to these locations then this portion of the guide is reason enough to buy Frommer's.
In the world of Peru guides (this year I have reviewed five) there are two types of guides; those guides that are written for the wandering/explorer/backpacker who wants travel to the normal visitors' sites, but will also go `off the beaten track' (Footprint, Let's Go and Lonely Planet [see my reviews]), and then there are the guides for the traveler who like comfort, have money and will visit only the main tourist attractions: Cusco [Machu Pichu], Puno [Lake Titicaca], Arequipa [Colca Canyon], Lima, Iquitos and the lines at Nazca (Fodor's [see my review] and Frommer's).
Disappointing is Frommer's recommendations of restaurants in Cusco. At least half of those that were recommended bombed out, and the rest were fair to good; but none of the Cusco restaurants deserve the `star' rating of exceptional that this guide liberally gives.
Cusco has, at most, two or three restaurants that deserve `kudos' and your money, but because cooks (and the occasional chief) change as frequently as table napkins it is best to ask a professional Cusquena (doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc.) where they recommend eating. Take care when asking the local guides for restaurant recommendations, as they will normally direct you to a tourist restaurant and thereby get a free meal and commission from the restaurant.
Frommer's is much better than Fodor's in many aspects, and in comparison to all the guides, Frommer's excels in providing you with the important and essential information needed to plan your trip (entry requirements, health, travel resources, when to go, suggested itineraries, recommended reading, etc.). Thus, if you are staying on the tourist route then you will do well to have this guide in your knapsack.
Rating: 
Summary: New Frommer's Guide
Review: Frommer's Peru, First Edition; is a comprehensive and informative guide covering all the main tourist destinations in the country. The new star system helps in zeroing in on the best hotels, restaurants and attractions. I particularly like Chapter 3, The Active Vacation Planner. It lists the best places to go according to various interests. The book also lists various tour companies which specialize in that area. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: New Frommer's Guide
Review: Frommer's Peru, First Edition; is a comprehensive and informative guide covering all the main tourist destinations in the country. The new star system helps in zeroing in on the best hotels, restaurants and attractions. I particularly like Chapter 3, The Active Vacation Planner. It lists the best places to go according to various interests. The book also lists various tour companies which specialize in that area. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Overpriced and overrated
Review: I was really disappointed with this, the most 'recent' book about Peru. I have recently moved here, and was looking for some information about places to go and things to do when I had holiday time. The information is often incorrect, the prices are exorbitant and the whole book reads more like "go where I suggest because they let me stay here free in exchange for a promotional blurb" than a truly objective presentation of options. The whole book is skewed towards the requirements of people who are going to use their two weeks holiday to come here and spend all their money with people who will tell them what they should and shouldn't see, (and screw them on the prices in the process), and really only see the Peru that they could have just as easily seen on the Discovery channel for 1000th of the price! Prices quoted mostly all pander to(and therefore legitimise)the inflated prices that the tourist industy sharks try to inflict on travellers. General rule - take prices quoted and reduce them by a third, and you are still being generous. Travellers here should try to ensure that their money is going to the people who actually work for it and need it - not to those who live in the top 15% of the income bracket - and Frommer's Peru is just helping the rich keep the poor down. I say go with the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide, and buy the "Inca Guide to Peru" when you get here (if you can't buy it elsewhere). It is a little older now, but the maps are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Overpriced and overrated
Review: I was really disappointed with this, the most 'recent' book about Peru. I have recently moved here, and was looking for some information about places to go and things to do when I had holiday time. The information is often incorrect, the prices are exorbitant and the whole book reads more like "go where I suggest because they let me stay here free in exchange for a promotional blurb" than a truly objective presentation of options. The whole book is skewed towards the requirements of people who are going to use their two weeks holiday to come here and spend all their money with people who will tell them what they should and shouldn't see, (and screw them on the prices in the process), and really only see the Peru that they could have just as easily seen on the Discovery channel for 1000th of the price! Prices quoted mostly all pander to(and therefore legitimise)the inflated prices that the tourist industy sharks try to inflict on travellers. General rule - take prices quoted and reduce them by a third, and you are still being generous. Travellers here should try to ensure that their money is going to the people who actually work for it and need it - not to those who live in the top 15% of the income bracket - and Frommer's Peru is just helping the rich keep the poor down. I say go with the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide, and buy the "Inca Guide to Peru" when you get here (if you can't buy it elsewhere). It is a little older now, but the maps are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Good on Frommer's!
Review: It appears to me that the first reviewer may have a chip on his shoulder and ought to have stayed home, wherever that is. As someone who was raised in Perú and return often, I believe that the author of Frommer's Perú did a very good job, especially considering that most guidebooks don't include much about how tourism is endangering many heritage sites in the country. Neil Schlecht obviously cares and let's readers know, politely, that they need to walk softly through this beautiful nation. I loved the fact that I recognized many of the places he recommended - La Casa de Melgar in Arequipa is indeed a marvelous place to stay, for example and it was a thrill to read his section on Cajamarca, my second favourite Peruvian city, after Arequipa. I liked his Best of Perú section, although I believe that he missed on the best markets/shopping section and would have liked to read more about how tourists are also endangering the textile and folk art traditions given that they want cheap shopping. For example, more and more textile artists are using synthetic yarns and dyes because they're fed up with visitors bartering them down to pennies for an object that took weeks, if not months to make. Take a moment to consider that the folks who make authentic Peruvian textiles and folk art need to eat, feed and educate their children and have a right to have their work and themselves treated with respect and dignity - heads up to the first reviewer! Perú is, in many ways, like India in that one could travel there every year for the rest of one's life and not see everything. Personally, I would follow Schlecht's advice and get off the "tourist trail", into the north, the central highlands - the Mantaro Valley, Tarma, the Chanchamayo Valley for a taste of the *real* Perú, not yet the flavours of the month. Good for you, Neil Schlecht and good for Frommer's. I hope that you will continue to publish Frommer's Perú and update it frequently.
Rating:
Summary: Good on Frommer's!
Review: It appears to me that the first reviewer may have a chip on his shoulder and ought to have stayed home, wherever that is. As someone who was raised in Perú and return often, I believe that the author of Frommer's Perú did a very good job, especially considering that most guidebooks don't include much about how tourism is endangering many heritage sites in the country. Neil Schlecht obviously cares and let's readers know, politely, that they need to walk softly through this beautiful nation. I loved the fact that I recognized many of the places he recommended - La Casa de Melgar in Arequipa is indeed a marvelous place to stay, for example and it was a thrill to read his section on Cajamarca, my second favourite Peruvian city, after Arequipa. I liked his Best of Perú section, although I believe that he missed on the best markets/shopping section and would have liked to read more about how tourists are also endangering the textile and folk art traditions given that they want cheap shopping. For example, more and more textile artists are using synthetic yarns and dyes because they're fed up with visitors bartering them down to pennies for an object that took weeks, if not months to make. Take a moment to consider that the folks who make authentic Peruvian textiles and folk art need to eat, feed and educate their children and have a right to have their work and themselves treated with respect and dignity - heads up to the first reviewer! Perú is, in many ways, like India in that one could travel there every year for the rest of one's life and not see everything. Personally, I would follow Schlecht's advice and get off the "tourist trail", into the north, the central highlands - the Mantaro Valley, Tarma, the Chanchamayo Valley for a taste of the *real* Perú, not yet the flavours of the month. Good for you, Neil Schlecht and good for Frommer's. I hope that you will continue to publish Frommer's Perú and update it frequently.
Rating:
Summary: Good on Frommer's!
Review: It appears to me that the first reviewer may have a chip on his shoulder and ought to have stayed home, wherever that is. As someone who was raised in Perú and return often, I believe that the author of Frommer's Perú did a very good job, especially considering that most guidebooks don't include much about how tourism is endangering many heritage sites in the country. Neil Schlecht obviously cares and let's readers know, politely, that they need to walk softly through this beautiful nation. I loved the fact that I recognized many of the places he recommended - La Casa de Melgar in Arequipa is indeed a marvelous place to stay, for example and it was a thrill to read his section on Cajamarca, my second favourite Peruvian city, after Arequipa. I liked his Best of Perú section, although I believe that he missed on the best markets/shopping section and would have liked to read more about how tourists are also endangering the textile and folk art traditions given that they want cheap shopping. For example, more and more textile artists are using synthetic yarns and dyes because they're fed up with visitors bartering them down to pennies for an object that took weeks, if not months to make. Take a moment to consider that the folks who make authentic Peruvian textiles and folk art need to eat, feed and educate their children and have a right to have their work and themselves treated with respect and dignity - heads up to the first reviewer! Perú is, in many ways, like India in that one could travel there every year for the rest of one's life and not see everything. Personally, I would follow Schlecht's advice and get off the "tourist trail", into the north, the central highlands - the Mantaro Valley, Tarma, the Chanchamayo Valley for a taste of the *real* Perú, not yet the flavours of the month. Good for you, Neil Schlecht and good for Frommer's. I hope that you will continue to publish Frommer's Perú and update it frequently.
<< 1 >>
|
