Vietnam (Country Guide)

By: Nick Ray   List Price: $24.99 Amazon Price: $14.38 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days   Go to Amazon

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Book Description:

Experience the best of Vietnam with Lonely Planet. Our 10th edition is so full of practical information that you'll be watching the sunset from a junk on Halong Bay, sucking back bia hoi street-side in Hanoi, or bargaining like a local in Ho Chi Minh City in no time.

In This Guide:

Detailed itineraries on beaches, food, the Ho Chi Minh Highway and more
Comprehensive information on everything from food and language to health and transport
Full-Color chapter on the hill tribes of Vietnam

Product Details:

• Amazon Sales Rank: 20032
• Date Published: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Binding: Paperback
• 540 pages

Customer Reviews

Great guide

I was born in Vietnam myself and this guide was my bible to planning a 2 week vacation with my boyfriend... I used this guide along with Eyewitness Travel Vietnam and Angkor Wat (also recommended; colorful with lots of pictures). The lonely planet guide gave detailed information on hours and prospective costs of sites and attractions and valuable information like where the nearby post office and banks are in each town. Invaluable!!!

Okay, but not good if you're looking for interesting restaurants/bars in Hanoi or HCM

I've made one Hanoi trip and one HCM trip. The standard tourist destinations are identified and covered. However, the restaurants and bars section is very weak. It is the typical "white man's choice" kind of places. If I go to Vietnam I want to find good places that the locals go to. The guide provide both expensive and cheap choices but most are of the "white man's choice". Finally, the new editions of the these books are a joke. It is more a way to make money than to update content. Most of the content remains unaltered across editions. If they can't update all content, they shouldn't issue a new edition. Or at least provide a way of telling when a new edition is a major new edition.) I would recommend thodia.vn and using Google Translate to find interesting place to eat and drink.

Out of date and inadequate

I've been using this latest edition of the Vietnam LP during my current trip to Saigon, Nha Trang, Hue and Hanoi. I've found it to be inadequate. Maps provide misinformation, hotel and restaurant information is completely out of date, and choices seem arbitrary. LP dominates the travel guide book market, but they leave a lot to be desired.

Never lets you dowm

Another good LP book:) The "Bibel" never lets you down and was a great help on our journey. Was so lucky to visit Vietnam 2 times in 08 and used it both times. Vietnam is a lovely country!!

Trustworthy, comprehensive with excellent maps.

I am reviewing the L.P.2007 guide. Note: most of the other reviews are for older editions, ie. Pre-2007. I was in Vietnam January-February 2007 and used this guide.

The guide has maps that are superb and easy to use. Both the accommodations and restaurants I chose from the guide's recommendations were good to very good. The cost for accommodations are listed in dollars, instead of the insipid icons that other guides use. Kudos!!! The restaurants cost quotes are in Dong. Caveat! Because the dollar is in a free fall against world currencies, you will need to add at least 20% to the quoted price for hotels, maybe more.

Vietnam is a country of paradoxes: Communistic-Free Market. Traditional-Progressive. Etc. To capture a caricature of Vietnam is as demanding as it would be enigmatic. Yet, Dragicevich, Ray & St. Louis (authors) have written an outstanding brief profile of this country. "The Culture" is a section not to miss. No other guide is as complete if you are going to go "off the tourist track." I found towns and places in L.P. that other guides don't even list. The information was accurate and trustworthy.

Unlike Rough Guide's Vietnam (8 pages) this guide has only a smattering of book/film recommendations. Sadly, in this guide, unlike other L.P. guides, there are few sidebars or text boxes that give you interesting tidbits about the country and its people. Though most all accommodations have an email address, there are NO webpages. NOT GOOD. This guide needs serious improvement in this area.

The 2007 is a significantly revised guide and one of the best guides in print for Vietnam. This is a highly recommended guide - happy tramping. 4.5 Stars.

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