Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Best guide book for puglia?? is it lonely planet?

Search

Best guide book for puglia?? is it lonely planet?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Aug 14th, 2014, 08:09 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 146
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Best guide book for puglia?? is it lonely planet?

we are spending one week in puglia.

what is the most detailed guide book for the area?

lonely planet italy seems good. from what i can tell on amazon, lonely planet's Southern Italy book does not have more pages on puglia area than the Lonely planet for all of italy and there is not much price difference.

the LP puglia book is several years older.

Any recommendations?
alainr is offline  
Old Aug 14th, 2014, 08:41 PM
  #2  
kja
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I went to Puglia in 2007, as part of a trip to Southern Italy more generally (including Sicily, the Amalfi Coast, and Matera in addition to Puglia); for that trip, I used a combination of regional and broad guidebooks. SO: my comments could VERY easily be out of date and/or a bit off-base. But FWIW, I found both the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet MUCH better than just about anything else that was available at the time. The National Geographic Traveler Guide to Italy covered some things in Puglia that weren't covered in any of the other guidebooks I consulted. As I recall, the Cadogan guide had received positive reviews at the time, but I found it almost useless in comparison to my other books.

Enjoy!
kja is offline  
Old Aug 15th, 2014, 01:40 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 11,212
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Get a few books from your library and compare them. I find that several guides work best no matter where I'm going.

You can go to each guide's web site and download the sightseeing information and then decide which guide most suits your needs and buy that one.

You also might want to look at the Slow Travel board which has lots of information on Italy.
adrienne is offline  
Old Aug 15th, 2014, 03:56 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 25,632
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
rough guide or blue guide
bilboburgler is offline  
Old Aug 15th, 2014, 05:34 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,925
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I used a Lonely Planet Puglia and Basilicata when I went in 2011. Found it very good.
gertie3751 is offline  
Old Aug 15th, 2014, 08:32 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 660
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
How old an edition is doesn't make much difference. The places of interest, street maps, etc. don't change from year to year. Only things like prices, restaurant suggestions etc. change and the information on those is already out of date in the time between the research being done and the guidebook appearing on the bookstore's shelf.

Often a new edition continues to have information that is many years out of date as well. They do not re-write the entire guidebook every time they put out a new edition. So I would suggest you ignore the 'age' of the guide on concentrate more on how much detail is provided.

A book on Puglia alone is likely to contain more info than one on an entire region or all of Italy. Which one to choose is as adrienne suggests, the one that most suits YOU. There is no one 'best'. The writers have different slants on things, some target different budgets, etc.
https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=...glia+guidebook

Personally, I longer bother with guidebooks. Everything you need is available free online. All you have to do is download and save it.
Sojourntraveller is offline  
Old Aug 15th, 2014, 05:37 PM
  #7  
kja
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
>Everything you need is available free online.

While much -- even most -- information about many destinations is available online, one great advantage of a guidebook is that it will cover the things you don't know to look for -- which could be information about places, foods, or things, or about local norms or transportation tips or unique experiences or whatever.
kja is offline  
Old Aug 16th, 2014, 07:21 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 660
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes, if you don't know to look for something then you may not come across it. Of course, you could say the same about someone who buys a guidebook and does not read all sections of their guidebook.

What is there about Puglia that you don't think will be covered in this online site for example. http://www.thethinkingtraveller.com/...to-puglia.aspx

What's more, anything you are really interested in and search for online will get you far more information than you will get in a guidebook. For example, if you want to visit Lecce, a guidebook on Italy or Southern Italy or even on only Puglia alone will provide you how many pages of information do you think? Compare that to this: https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=...guide+to+lecce

Which way are you likely to find more about 'things you don't know to look for'?

The real question is how much time will the person spend reading in either case. One guidebook vs. one search, the Google search will turn up more info every time. Reading it all is another story.
Sojourntraveller is offline  
Old Aug 16th, 2014, 06:41 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,508
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Bookmarking
tedgale is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
saulmax
Europe
9
Aug 28th, 2016 11:15 AM
gaillondon
Europe
7
Sep 8th, 2012 05:07 AM
KellyRome3
Europe
10
Aug 27th, 2012 08:22 AM
Kate
Europe
5
Jun 7th, 2005 05:38 AM
JennieH
Europe
7
Jul 27th, 2004 06:21 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On



Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -