Lonely Planet Croatia - European Travel Books

Paperback - March, 2005 - Lonely Planet Publications
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By: Jeanne Oliver
ISBN: 1740594878

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Reviews by readers

Indispensable guide to Croatia

My husband and I just came back from Croatia and used this guidebook religiously for the past three weeks. We thought it was just great. All of the information was spot-on and the descriptions were amusing and accurate. The author clearly loves Croatia and offers in-depth insight into the country. We particularly liked her choice of itineraries and highlights. Traveling around Croatia is so complicated that we really needed to rely on the boat information. Here again, the book didn't let us down. We checked out a lot of guidebooks before settling on this one and we weren't sorry.

good, but has some defects

like all travel guides, you can find something that is not there in 'lonely planet croatia'... i will be traveling croatia this summer and have had the advantage of using several guidebooks in my planning... they all have their pros and cons, so a review of any of them must necessarily discuss these:

the pros: the maps and city plans are substantially better than in the competitors' guidebooks... lonely planet is one of the few cheap-o style travel guidebooks that gives you information on at least a few hotels that are not youth hostels, dives or other forms of bottom-barrel accommodation; in other words, they at least give you a few mid-range and expensive options if you wish to go that way... all the essentials are there, with great suggestions on places to sleep, eat and visit

the cons: as with ALL of the backpacker/youth travel guidebooks (LP, rough guide, let's go and company), the information on sights/monuments/museums, etc., is SEVERELY lacking... there is just the most basic of information on the history of the sights that you have gone so far to see... which makes it necessary to buy another book, pay an expensive guide or some such thing... (for instance, you will rarely read detailed descriptions of the artwork to be found in a church and are often left wandering about saying 'this is so beautiful, i wonder what it is...i wish the guidebook would tell me more!') i know this would make the guidebooks huge, but even 50% more information would be wonderful so as to have a little bit more of a grip on what you are looking at after taking a 12-hour ferry ride across the adriatic to get there!

which is why, despite its quality, i always felt the need to take another guidebook along, just in case...using my usual technique of tearing out just the pages i would need from each book

Uncomplete and dated

Shortly: this is the worst ever Lonely Planet Guide that I bought. I have just returned home from Croatia and this book didn't help me at all. I could have had a 5-pound stone in my pocket and it could have helped me more.

Explained: the book is absolutely incomplete because it simply doesn't cover the north half of the country (about half the territory of Croatia). It misses towns like Sisak, Virovitica, Cakovec and it doesn't contain anything about the Osijek castle. I don't know why the writer ignored this part of the country, I suppose she might have liked the beautiful sea-shore better but this doesn't make an excuse at all.

Then: it ignores some significant towns near the Bosnian border, like Knin and Sinj, I know these places aren't the most likeable ones but they have a historical significance - these were the cities most affected by the civil war and these places are a part of Croatian history and quite an important one.

Moreover: even though she spent most of her time on the shore, what about Novi Vinodolski, Senj, Karlobag, Umag, Porec and the inner Istria? These places are worth discovering and there isn't a single word about them in the book.

It is dated, because it doesn't contain up-to-date information about the country. For example: if you drive a car (having a picnic in the countryside) or walking around you should be prepared for mine fields - there are still many of them in the country. These fields aren't on the map and they are near main roads, too. The section on driving is incomplete in another aspects, too. There are also other failures and mistakes that I don't want to list, it would be too long to fit into a review.

So I don't suggest anyone buying this book. Try something else. This time Lonely Planet is your worst choice.

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