Fodor's South America, 6th Edition

Rating:
Summary: A banal guide. There are definitely better
Review: Of the three guides that I took with me to South American (Footprint, Rough Guide and this guide) all have their strengths and weak points: Fodor's has more of the latter.

Fodor's South America guide excels as a business person's guide. Its usefulness is limited to a few principal cities in each country and the main tourist attractions. Fodor's recommendations of hotels and restaurants are normally well worth heeding, and this was often the primary reason I used this guide; however, I need to caveat this point.

I am a firm believer that any guide book worth its salt has many `easy to read' maps - Fodor's does not. Location maps, help you to locate the recommended restaurant (or hotel) listed in the guide and are essential to all guides. Fodor has location maps ONLY for 7 cities out of the10 countries that are profiled in the book (FYI - there are thirteen countries in South America). This guide has NO OTHER location maps. A serious failure.

This is a 2004 publication (thus the information was gathered in 2002 & 2003, normal for guides) and Fodor's does list the webpage of `most' of the hotel in profiles, but none of the recommended restaurants have their web listing included, and in today's Internet world, most all of the upscale restaurants have a web page with photos, menus and prices.

Finally, the layout was more cumbersome to use than either Footprint or Rough Guide. The guide does not separate their recommended accommodations and restaurants. The guide uses a quirky, icon dollar sign rating to delineate the cost of accommodations and restaurants, so you flip back to the legend to remember how much $$$ was, BUT, that reference changes in every country. So three $$$ dollar signs equal one amount in Peru but a different amount in Paraguay. A hassle indeed, it would be much more sensible just to tell the reader what the cost of rooms or food will be in dollars. Keep it simple Fodor's.

For those that will actually explore South America Rough Guide is my first choose, [see my review] followed closely by Footprint. Fodor's is an `also-ran' guide. Conditionally recommended 2.5 stars