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Rating: 
Summary: Good for budget travellers
Review: I reviewed numerous Costa Rica guide books and found this one to be one of the few that actually included plenty of budget options. And it is written in a fun style. Good times.
Rating:
Summary: Good for budget travellers
Review: This guide has accurate descriptions, up-to-date maps and a good introductory section. Its drawback is that it only has a very limited sample of hotel and restaraunt listings for many locations (like Monteverde). The descriptions are quite good but limited. I know it is impossible to cover everything, but I cannot deduce a strategy or a pattern used for including some hotels and eliminating others. This is a good guide for a person who is in Costa Rica for 7-10 days and is going to cover so much ground that too much detail would be overwhelming. However, if you intend to travel at a slower pace or spend more time in Costa Rica,there are better choices.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the best
Review: This guide has accurate descriptions, up-to-date maps and a good introductory section. Its drawback is that it only has a very limited sample of hotel and restaraunt listings for many locations (like Monteverde). The descriptions are quite good but limited. I know it is impossible to cover everything, but I cannot deduce a strategy or a pattern used for including some hotels and eliminating others. This is a good guide for a person who is in Costa Rica for 7-10 days and is going to cover so much ground that too much detail would be overwhelming. However, if you intend to travel at a slower pace or spend more time in Costa Rica,there are better choices.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad for Harvard College students
Review: This guidebook has a lot of good info, but it lacks the depth found in other travel guides. The recommendations are largely by and for college students, although other people are catered to. We liked Explore Costa Rica for background information--as well as for its online updates, which we found on the publisher's web site.
Rating: 
Summary: Come on, now!
Review: This guidebook is no where NEAR as bad as the other reviewers are making it out to be. It's just that it's scope is very defined: Budget travelers who are visiting the country for 1 or 2 weeks. I found the entries to be very honest and simple; some guidebooks fall all over themselves being "exactamundo" if you know what I mean. All I know, is that it was very helpful WHILE traveling there, especially in the restaurant listings. Another book I found helpful BEFORE I went, was a more general social history of the country, "Costa Rica: The Last Country the Gods Made."
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: Thought I would give some of Lonely Planet's competition a try, and I was sorely disappointed. The book had little useful information and hardly any accomodation or restaurant listings above their "1" rating (which is the least expensive). I ended up finding more useful information from the free maps and brochures I got when I was acutally in Costa Rica. Do yourself a favor and get the Lonely Planet version instead...
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: Thought I would give some of Lonely Planet's competition a try, and I was sorely disappointed. The book had little useful information and hardly any accomodation or restaurant listings above their "1" rating (which is the least expensive). I ended up finding more useful information from the free maps and brochures I got when I was acutally in Costa Rica. Do yourself a favor and get the Lonely Planet version instead...
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