Lonely Planet Philippines (Philippines, 8th Ed)

Rating:
Summary: Lonely Planet sells out
Review: This is a total re-write of the previous 6 editions. This is usally a good thing, but I thought the previous author, Jens Peters had a keen insight to the types of things the traveler who would purchase a Lonely Planet guide was looking for. I found the new edition to be much less informative and interjected the writers opinion a little too much in some areas and not enough in others. For example, on Angeles City the writer basically said not to waste ones time there and that only middle aged Australian or European men would want to visit there. My wife and I regually visit there to buy quilts and trek to Pinitobo, not to visit the bars. But we do not judge people for where they visit. The hotel and restaurant reviews seem to been scaled back also. I am taking my 6th edition with me on my trip.

Rating:
Summary: This is the guide to take with you
Review: This is not only the newest travel book for my homeland but this edition continues to provide the most useable information. Like others from the Lonely Planet travel series, it is smaller in page size but has over 500 pages of good information. Unlike many guides it also is current in its descriptions of smaller towns in the rural provinces, which are truly the best places to vacation. The photos are smaller and in B&W so while you may prefer a larger travel book to read at home before you leave, take this book with you. Blessings, Jean of FilipinaCupid.com

Rating:
Summary: Good value but sometimes inaccurate
Review: Unlike some other reviewers, I don't think the travel warnings should be suppressed. Yes these things happen rarely, but better safe than sorry! The Philippines are a very friendly country but let's not forget there are rebels in Mindanao and guerillas (even though almost inactive) on Luzon, not to mention the high crime rates in the big cities, especially Manila - and Lonely Planet as usually does excellent job warning about all of these. The locals I was talking to confirmed all the information.

It looks though like except for the travel warnings this guide is not updated frequently. A small example: it claims that the voltage in Baguio City is 110V while it looks like they switched to the countrywide standard when the US military has left, 15 years ago.

Rating:
Summary: This is the guidebook to take
Review: We just returned from two and one-half weeks in the Philippines. Before we left we bought and read just about every guidebook to the Philippines that is available in English. While some of the others may give more in-depth background information none are even close to matching the new Lonely Planet in providing the up-to-date, practical, and comprehensive information needed by travellers such as lodging, restaurants, bus and ferry connections, phone numbers and so forth. In general their commemts on the quality and character of Philippine places seemed right on.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and Full of Innacurate Information
Review: While it would be difficult to rate this edition as completely useless, it certainly is quite a disappointment from previous editions. The last two editions of Lonely Planet's Philippine Guide Book have been an mish-mash of out-dated and incomplete information. There is just too much information that is not accurate to list them here. But for instance, the Centrepoint Hotel which has been shut down since 2000, is listed as still open for business as of 2004! The information regarding hotels and restaurants in Baguio City is both incomplete and biased. And La Trinidad is not even mentioned any more! Also, the information about resorts on Panglao island are just wrong and incomplete. How can the publisher's at Lonely Planet call this information current or up-to-date? Did the contributors visit recently the places they wrote about? I literally walk through places in the Philippines with the book in hand noting any discrepencies as I go. I have my pages filled with notes!

Also, this edition has many instances of a strong social or political bias in the writing regarding several places in the Philippines. I don't want a political diatribe, I'm interested in accurate information about getting around the Philippines!