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Rating: 
Summary: my least favorite Lonely Planet guide
Review: I'm hooked on Lonely Planet guides, and have a whole collection of them from past trips. The Budapest guidebook has always been my least favorite of the bunch. I suppose it's not significantly worse than the norm as far as content. My real objection is to the snide, slightly embittered tone of the author Mr. Fallon. On several occasions in the book he actually insults the reader, which is really unnecessary when writing a travel guide. To give just one example, there is a point when he tries to warn us about an apparent Budapest scam that uses flirty attractive women to soften up Western tourists who are then robbed at ATM's and other points. Instead of simply offering a discreet warning, Fallon says "Trust me, guys, AND THE MIRROR. If it seems too good to be true, it is." It seems like an odd way to build a rapport with your readership to insult their looks, and this is not the only example of Fallon's insulting tone in the volume: for example, he scolds the reader in advance for trying to pull the old trick of not buying a Metro ticket and then pretending that as a foreigner one didn't know the ticket rules, something I would never dream of doing in the first place and don't wish to be sneered at about by some jerk author who thinks he is oh-so-sly about human psychology. (Lonely Planet needs to clean up the garbage from this guy's turf.) I also agree with the complaints about the lackluster descriptions in this volume compared to the others in the series. The maps are adequate, if memory serves.
Rating: 
Summary: good travel information and hints; routine descriptions
Review: In preparing for a trip to Hungary, I examined thoroughly the choices for Budapest. My favorite guidebook series has been Lonely Planet, and the Budapest Lonely Planet is fairly helpful. Although it doesn't give as thorough a treatment on accomodations, the book gives a lot of travel hints and secret. I found its facts for the visitors to be the most helpful, and the maps (placed at the very back of the book) to be the easiest to use. The frommer book, on the other hand, put the maps close to the section of the book referring to it. The organization of LP makes it easiest to use in the field; they tend to have the best background, history and cultural information. LP was particularly good about including rules, regulations and things like closing times. ON the other hand, there are not many photos, and they don't plan as many walking tours as the frommer book does. I didn't find the written descriptions that engaging, although the cultural background seemed well done. The Frommer's Budapest book (3rd edition) gave the best information about finding and choosing accomodations, but the book has no pictures and aside from a nice subway cover on the inside cover, the maps are hard to find and not very easy to use. Frommer's gives excellent information about prices and shops and restaurants; it's almost a guide to buying things rather than a tour book. I didn't find it particularly thorough about travel information, customs, or those sorts of details. That is not entirely fair. They have a nice section in the front a kind of "best of" list for things in budapest. The nice thing about the book is that it recommends things to do if you have only one day, three days or a week. They also suggested some itineraries for walking tours. The Fodor's Budapest pocket reference is drab and not full of much information. Don't get it. The Eyewitness Travel Guide on Budapest by Tadeusz Olszanski is the most eye-catching and the least helpful. It contains lots of graphics and diagrams and maps, and not too much information. The multitude of pictures are helpful in describing architecture, geography and art. On the other hand, its information on accomodations is very limited. Don't get me wrong; it's a beautiful and interesting book; it just is not as helpful as the other three. And it is two years old. I'm not necessarily saying that this book is bad, merely that it may not help you very much on the excursion. The Budapest: A Critical Guide by Andras Torok, 4th edition is a less complete and more personal account of things to do in Budapest. The other books were like encyclopedias, but this book was just a few personal recommendations about things to do and places to stay. Also, the writing for this book seems to be better than the other books. If you already are a little familiar with Budapest, but just want to learn about new and undiscovered places, this might be an excellent book. It certainly covers most of the bases, but it just doesn't try to list a huge number of accomodations or restaurants. I ended up buying the Frommer's and a used copy of the Eyewitness travel guide.
Rating:
Summary: good travel information and hints; routine descriptions
Review: In preparing for a trip to Hungary, I examined thoroughly the choices for Budapest. My favorite guidebook series has been Lonely Planet, and the Budapest Lonely Planet is fairly helpful. Although it doesn't give as thorough a treatment on accomodations, the book gives a lot of travel hints and secret. I found its facts for the visitors to be the most helpful, and the maps (placed at the very back of the book) to be the easiest to use. The frommer book, on the other hand, put the maps close to the section of the book referring to it. The organization of LP makes it easiest to use in the field; they tend to have the best background, history and cultural information. LP was particularly good about including rules, regulations and things like closing times. ON the other hand, there are not many photos, and they don't plan as many walking tours as the frommer book does. I didn't find the written descriptions that engaging, although the cultural background seemed well done. The Frommer's Budapest book (3rd edition) gave the best information about finding and choosing accomodations, but the book has no pictures and aside from a nice subway cover on the inside cover, the maps are hard to find and not very easy to use. Frommer's gives excellent information about prices and shops and restaurants; it's almost a guide to buying things rather than a tour book. I didn't find it particularly thorough about travel information, customs, or those sorts of details. That is not entirely fair. They have a nice section in the front a kind of "best of" list for things in budapest. The nice thing about the book is that it recommends things to do if you have only one day, three days or a week. They also suggested some itineraries for walking tours. The Fodor's Budapest pocket reference is drab and not full of much information. Don't get it. The Eyewitness Travel Guide on Budapest by Tadeusz Olszanski is the most eye-catching and the least helpful. It contains lots of graphics and diagrams and maps, and not too much information. The multitude of pictures are helpful in describing architecture, geography and art. On the other hand, its information on accomodations is very limited. Don't get me wrong; it's a beautiful and interesting book; it just is not as helpful as the other three. And it is two years old. I'm not necessarily saying that this book is bad, merely that it may not help you very much on the excursion. The Budapest: A Critical Guide by Andras Torok, 4th edition is a less complete and more personal account of things to do in Budapest. The other books were like encyclopedias, but this book was just a few personal recommendations about things to do and places to stay. Also, the writing for this book seems to be better than the other books. If you already are a little familiar with Budapest, but just want to learn about new and undiscovered places, this might be an excellent book. It certainly covers most of the bases, but it just doesn't try to list a huge number of accomodations or restaurants. I ended up buying the Frommer's and a used copy of the Eyewitness travel guide.
Rating:
Summary: lacking
Review: The restaurant descriptions seemed very vague and generally unhelpful. I think that the maps could be organized better, so that they would be easier to use. The description of the Metro did not adequately describe the different types of tickets and where and when they are valid. I found out at the end of our trip that tickets are cheaper (admittedly, only a bit) when bought from a ticket window rather than a ticket machine. And by the time I left, even after searching two guidebooks, I still wasn't always sure which type of ticket I needed for a given journey.
Rating:
Summary: Questionable Investment
Review: This book has good general resources for the Metro, and general services, but I found the descriptions of sites to see a bit lacking. The placement of the maps next to the corresponding sites of interest or sections of the cities would have made touring much easier. Flipping to the back constantly was nerving. Also, I found the walking tours hard to follow, and would have preferred some pictures as a reference (descriptions of sites are lacking). If you are a visual person like I am this book is not for you.
Rating:
Summary: lacking
Review: This is a really great guide to Budapest. The maps are excellent, accomodation options are viable and wide-ranging (everything from youth hostels to luxury hotels), the eating section is fantastic, and the sightseeing sections and lists of things to do are as good as it gets. All in all, well worth five stars. My main issue with this guide (as with all of Lonely Planet's city and regional guides) is that it doesn't contain any more information than the general guide to Hungary -- it's just easier to carry. So whether you need LP Budapest as opposed to the full-scale Hungary guide (which actually only costs a few bucks more, so check it out) depends on your travel plans. I wouldn't have used this one myself if I hadn't found an abandoned copy sitting on a train from Prague. If you're only going to spend a couple of days in Budapest, the friendly tourist information office at Nyugati Station can give you loads of brochures and maps for free and arrange accomodation for you. If you're going to spend a week or more in Budapest, this guide is perfect -- the maps alone are worth the money (keep in mind that over 2 million people live in Budapest, twice the size of Prague, so it can be pretty hectic to navigate and exhausting to walk). Finally, however, if you want to venture out into the rest of Hungary (and frankly you'd be nuts not to), go ahead and get the general Hungary guide. As my friend Zsolt warned me, way too many tourists get cooped up in the capital and ignore Hungary's many alternative charms. The beautiful resort towns of the Danube Valley about an hour north of Budapest are a great place to get away from the traffic-choked streets of the big city. I'd also recommend taking the train down to the old Turkish town of Pécs in the far south. It's a beautiful and historic town in its own right, and the trip will take you right across the Great Hungarian Plain -- an impressive sight.
Rating: 
Summary: Great guide to Budapest, but check out LP Hungary
Review: This is a really great guide to Budapest. The maps are excellent, accomodation options are viable and wide-ranging (everything from youth hostels to luxury hotels), the eating section is fantastic, and the sightseeing sections and lists of things to do are as good as it gets. All in all, well worth five stars. My main issue with this guide (as with all of Lonely Planet's city and regional guides) is that it doesn't contain any more information than the general guide to Hungary -- it's just easier to carry. So whether you need LP Budapest as opposed to the full-scale Hungary guide (which actually only costs a few bucks more, so check it out) depends on your travel plans. I wouldn't have used this one myself if I hadn't found an abandoned copy sitting on a train from Prague. If you're only going to spend a couple of days in Budapest, the friendly tourist information office at Nyugati Station can give you loads of brochures and maps for free and arrange accomodation for you. If you're going to spend a week or more in Budapest, this guide is perfect -- the maps alone are worth the money (keep in mind that over 2 million people live in Budapest, twice the size of Prague, so it can be pretty hectic to navigate and exhausting to walk). Finally, however, if you want to venture out into the rest of Hungary (and frankly you'd be nuts not to), go ahead and get the general Hungary guide. As my friend Zsolt warned me, way too many tourists get cooped up in the capital and ignore Hungary's many alternative charms. The beautiful resort towns of the Danube Valley about an hour north of Budapest are a great place to get away from the traffic-choked streets of the big city. I'd also recommend taking the train down to the old Turkish town of Pécs in the far south. It's a beautiful and historic town in its own right, and the trip will take you right across the Great Hungarian Plain -- an impressive sight.
Rating:
Summary: Vaguely useful
Review: We did a thorough comparison of the Budapest Guide and the Budapest section of Lonely Planet's Hungary Guide. The extra information provided in the Budapest book was (for the most part) simply more detail about the material already reported in the nationwide guide. It was more conversational, more spread out, yet with no genuine added content. Reviews of eateries and lodgings were no more in-depth and only slightly greater in number. Take a pass on this one. Lonely Planet's Hungary Guide is roughly just as useful in Budapest, and has the added advantage of telling you about so much in this fascinating country that's outside the standard tourist line.
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