Lonely Planet Sri Lanka (Travel Guide)
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Lonely Planet Sri Lanka (Travel Guide) Paperback – July 1, 2012
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By
Mark Colan
TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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I have been a fan of Lonely Planet for years, and I own dozens of them. I have always preferred them because, once familiar with the design, it was the same for all books, making it fast and easy to find what I wanted.
No more, it seems. Somebody decided to give LP a face lift, and the result makes it much harder to find what I am looking for. It is SO different that there is no value to buying LP for familiarity's sake as before; it's like another brand in many ways.
TABLE OF CONTENTS and INDEX
The worst parts are a scant table of contents that isn't at the beginning (in this guide, it is on page 45, and has ONE entry for each major destination, including Colombo (which has 29 pages in it), and an index that does not even list major attractions.
For example, the index does not list the most important Buddhist temple in Colombo, Gangaramaya, which is displayed in bold text where they have it. What this means is I spend a lot of frustrating time paging through the guide trying to find what I'm looking for. And unfortunately, this new design is consistent among other LP guides; I have had exactly the same trouble with several others. Consistent is good, except when it means consistently bad.
I like the cover, and wonder where it is. Well, after 10 minutes studying the front and back material, and paging through, there are no hints about it.
MAPS
The maps are poorly labeled. The text for Gangaramaya Temple tells you what street it is on, but the map does not have any of the streets in that area marked. Yes, it is called out with a numbered key, but without a better map, it wasn't easy to find, and so we spent more time walking in the heat and humidity.Read more ›
No more, it seems. Somebody decided to give LP a face lift, and the result makes it much harder to find what I am looking for. It is SO different that there is no value to buying LP for familiarity's sake as before; it's like another brand in many ways.
TABLE OF CONTENTS and INDEX
The worst parts are a scant table of contents that isn't at the beginning (in this guide, it is on page 45, and has ONE entry for each major destination, including Colombo (which has 29 pages in it), and an index that does not even list major attractions.
For example, the index does not list the most important Buddhist temple in Colombo, Gangaramaya, which is displayed in bold text where they have it. What this means is I spend a lot of frustrating time paging through the guide trying to find what I'm looking for. And unfortunately, this new design is consistent among other LP guides; I have had exactly the same trouble with several others. Consistent is good, except when it means consistently bad.
I like the cover, and wonder where it is. Well, after 10 minutes studying the front and back material, and paging through, there are no hints about it.
MAPS
The maps are poorly labeled. The text for Gangaramaya Temple tells you what street it is on, but the map does not have any of the streets in that area marked. Yes, it is called out with a numbered key, but without a better map, it wasn't easy to find, and so we spent more time walking in the heat and humidity.Read more ›
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By
K. Burman
on October 17, 2012
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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Wow, I was really shocked when I recieved this LP. A big departure from it's usual offerings. Not sure if this is just the Sri Lanka guide or just a general trend at LP but most of the hotels listed were extremely expensive. Many of them over 200 or 300 dollars.
To take just one example in the Galle area they list 8 luxury hotels, 5 mid range and just 4 budget hotels. It then says in the intro to nearby Unawatuna that its packed with budget places but then goes on to list just 2! Most of the other listings are around the 50 plus dollar mark, definitely not budget for a country like Sri Lanka. And it's the same all the way thoughtful the book - shocked at how many luxury hotels are listed. Also the differently priced hotels are all mixed together on the list insteadof being grouped by price as in the past so it's difficult to pick out likely places. It although it does list bus and train information it is not very detailed as it tends to make the assumption you'll be hiring a private car
One thing I did like was the two color maps and headings which make the text clearer but it doesn't make up for the other shortcomings.
If you are a couple wanting to travel independently and stay in good quality hotels this would be a great guide for you but if you are a solo traveler or budget backpacker stay well clear. I'm glad I've got my old out of date Rough Guide to supplement
To take just one example in the Galle area they list 8 luxury hotels, 5 mid range and just 4 budget hotels. It then says in the intro to nearby Unawatuna that its packed with budget places but then goes on to list just 2! Most of the other listings are around the 50 plus dollar mark, definitely not budget for a country like Sri Lanka. And it's the same all the way thoughtful the book - shocked at how many luxury hotels are listed. Also the differently priced hotels are all mixed together on the list insteadof being grouped by price as in the past so it's difficult to pick out likely places. It although it does list bus and train information it is not very detailed as it tends to make the assumption you'll be hiring a private car
One thing I did like was the two color maps and headings which make the text clearer but it doesn't make up for the other shortcomings.
If you are a couple wanting to travel independently and stay in good quality hotels this would be a great guide for you but if you are a solo traveler or budget backpacker stay well clear. I'm glad I've got my old out of date Rough Guide to supplement
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By
No BS guy
on March 25, 2013
Format: Paperback
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I appreciate that there is a guide out there for Sri Lanka. It did help. However, the Lonely Planet guys really go out of their way to praise hotels, shops, restaurants, etc. that are really dumps. The descriptions of the historic sites are decent, although their history of the hilltop palace at Sigiriya is totally at odds with everything everyone told me while in country. I wish Eyewitness had done a guide on Sri Lanka. Until they do, you may be stuck with the Lonely Planet guide.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By
Amazon Customer
on January 23, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
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Buy the book, not the Kindle version.
A travel guide is typically not read cover to cover, but browsed by the reader for relevant and specific information that they need. That is almost impossible to do with a Kindle. There is no way to quickly access specific pages or even find the information one needs. So while the information is good (hence 2 stars)the inability to easily access it makes the Kindle version almost useless.
A travel guide is typically not read cover to cover, but browsed by the reader for relevant and specific information that they need. That is almost impossible to do with a Kindle. There is no way to quickly access specific pages or even find the information one needs. So while the information is good (hence 2 stars)the inability to easily access it makes the Kindle version almost useless.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
Matth
on December 4, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition
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This is the first Lonely PLanet we have bought for Kindle/Ipad, and will be the last.
It has very little functionality, and is impossible to navigate. Very disappointing.
It has very little functionality, and is impossible to navigate. Very disappointing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By
sandy
on December 16, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
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I found this impossible to use. no index to scroll through. Totally un Kindle friendly. Would be much better as a book.
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By
kinYY
on August 31, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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The electronic version is difficult to read
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By
J. Beiss
on January 27, 2014
Format: Paperback
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This Lonely Planet guide assumes you know little or nothing about Sri Lanka so they provide some basic history and background that's so essential for getting the most while visiting a new country. And, all the basics of currency, climate, visa info etc is presented clearly in the "need to know" pages up front.
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