Lonely Planet or Rough Guide? which other guidebooks?
 

It's time to get down to some serious planning for our trip to Australia and New Zealand in October/November. I'm reading guidebooks like crazy, and would like to get opinions about whether you prefer Rough Guide or Lonely Planet?

I borrowed a Lonely Planet guide from the library, and it seemed to have the greatest amount of detail. Do they cater to different types of travelers? Am I right in thinking that LP slants younger/budget travel?

We're certainly not "young", nor will we be backpacking anywhere -- but I do appreciate the details, and it's good to know the available options at various price levels.

So many guides, and so hard to decide! Need help...

Fodors guide to Australlia is very comprehensive and accurate.

We took the Lonely Planet for NZ and found it to be excellent in terms of detail although I did find teh print very small and difficult to read in less than perfet light - the print always seems to light on LP guides.

For Australia we bought the Fodors which was hands down , the best guide for the country - very informative and well written.

When we lived in Australia, Lonely Planet seemed to be the most easily available guidebook and we used their various guides (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, etc.) when we travelled. We were neither young (late 40's) nor backpackers and we found it a great source of information for interesting things to see and do in Australia. If you want info on some off-the-beaten track sights as well as the more traditional ones, LP is a good choice. It also provides info on places to eat and stay that range from "budget" to "moderate".

I guess there's no outright "best" here - all the major brands are pretty good, just may have a bias to different demographics.

Young Americans don't travel to anything like the extent of their Aust/NZ/Canadian/European counterparts, so there hasn't been much incentive for the major US publishers, Fodors and Frommers, to stray from the middle-income/middle-aged market. They are however both very good at what they do.

Lonely Planet was an Australian-owned company from its founding until it was recenty sold to the BBC, so it would be reasonable to expect good Aust/NZ coverage - even though back in the '70s the focus was more on young Australians and Kiwis on the well-worn trail to and from London. In time they extended its marketing reach further towards the mainstream traveller.

We've used LP for NZ, Vietnam, Bali, China, the US and Canada and always found them a big help - but having said that we may have been equally satisfied with any of the others.

My last two experiences with Lonely Planet have been very uninspiring. I first used their West Asia on a Shoestring Guide in the 1980s when doing an overland trip and it was fabulous. I think the edge they once had is long gone.

I used LP guidebooks for Ireland and Brazil. The Brazil book was compiled by that guy who reccently confessed that he hadn't visited half the places and it showed.

Time Out guides, when they are available, seem to me to be the current leaders of the guidebook pack.

Thanks for the responses. As I re-read my question, it occurs to me that it was a bit cheeky to post this particular question on the Fodors forum... :-D

I should have added that I did start by reading Fodors and Frommers, but as Neil Oz says, they are more targeted to an American audience. LP is very dense with details about some places outside the main tourist destinations -- places that I haven't found elsewhere. I've got enough time to delve into as many as possible, and compared to the cost of the trip, not too expensive to do that!

We found that the guidebooks titled "Australia" were good for macro planning--where to go, the highlights, but the individual state's LP guidebooks were the best for the details. The "Australia" books that I used the most were the DK Eyewitness for the lovely photos, the AAA Australia for the biggest highlights, and the Fodor's and Frommer's for accommodations and to fill in the gaps. This forum was the BEST BEST BEST place for detailed information, recommendations for out of the way places, friendly people, and reality checks for overambitious planning. I also think the internet is a great resource once you decide on your itinerary to see distances, check out different accommodations in an area, etc. Happy planning!
Sally in Seattle

Thanks Sally -- couldn't agree more about the value of boards like this, especially for the reality checks! It's the only way I found out how to use my BA miles to get the tickets we needed for the trip, and I use TripAdvisor and this board for more detailed information on where to stay and how to organize the adventure. I guess I'm a bit of a board junkie! :-)