grb9uk

My wife and I are visiting Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in the New Year and would be interested in views on the best guide book to cover this region. One book covering all countries would be prefered to reduce carriage and one containing some information about restaurants.

Smeagol

I used insight guides To Laos as well as we ll as the tiny but fabulous Luxe city guides.
For Vietnam i used the DK guide which covers Vietnam and Angkor wat. Luxe city guieds again for VN.

rhkkmk

take a look on amazon

Kathie

For the temples at Angkor, Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples is the best. For things like restaurants, look at offwego's thread on places to eat in Siem Reap.

Insight Guides has a slender little book on Laos if you are just visiting "on the track" places. If you are getting off the track, Lonely Planet is probably the best. LP is also the best for Vietnam.

Don't expect any of the guide books to be your best resources for restaurants. You'll do better with recommendations on websites like this.

The Luxe Guides are not guidebooks, but simply a list of recommendations for a few restaurants, hotels, etc in each place. Some people love them, some don't.

thursdaysd

I make a distinction between the books I use for planning and the ones I take on the road. For planning I like the ones with lots of photos, like Insight and DK but I's never take them on the road. For logistics when traveling I generally use Lonely Planet, but Rough Guide would work if you prefer their format.

Check your local library for books for planning, or hang out at your neighborhood bookstore.

Vientianeboy

Personally I would never buy a guide book. Guide books are outdated the day they are published. I would suggest you have a look at the Travelfish web site, which has PDF documents on the places you intend to visit. These are downloadable for a fraction of the cost of a guide, and better still, they are updated regularly.

Clark55

I always use Lonely Planet and D&K Eyewitness guides. Check out ebay for guides at a fraction of the cost in shops.

crellston

I second the use of http://www.travelfish.org/ it really is an excellent resource for travel in this part of asia. www.talesofasia.com is also worth a look for Cambodia

Vientianeboy

TalesofAsia is a good source of information as well.
By the way, if you have an iPhone, yes not everyone does, and I don't either. Travelfish has apps for the phone on varios places you may wish to visit.