what guidebook do you recommend for Australia? Thanks in advance for your response.

Lonely Planet,
enjoy, Mike

Footprint Guide to Australia

I looked for your book in amazon and I got this title from the close match "Footprint Australia Handbook" is this the same as Footprint Guide to Australia or is this another guide book?
thanks.

None of them are any good. If you want information then read Bill Bryson's book on Australia and then ask questions on this forum. That way you are getting to read a great book AND get the info you want.

Aaaw...c'mon Liz/Janese...
it's good to have you back
where is Alan these days?

Valen...it is the "Footprint Australia Handbook"
the footprint guides are an offshoot of the classic "south american handbook"

It is no coincidence that a lot of their opinions happen to be similar to mine.

JIW-

I guess it really depends on what you're after. For example, Lonely Planet is great if you're on a budget and want backpacker/low-to-medium end accommodation and restaurant options. LP also does a really good job of going through bits of culture and history for areas and towns. Footprint falls into this category, and is great as well.

If you're keen to do a bit more upscale, then the Insight guides are good, as are the Eyewitness guides and Fodors/Frommers.

All the options above are more "where do I stay, what do I do, and where do I eat". If you're keen for more history and cultural information, then you're best with travelogues (such as the Bryson book, which is funny reading to prepare you for the trip!) Some of the books noted above, such as Insight and Eyewitness, go a little bit further into culture (in terms of having nice, pretty pictures) but you'll get just as good information from LP and Footprint.

Hope that's helpful! I would actually suggest heading to your local Borders or Barnes and Noble (or whatever big bookstore is around) and take a look at the options. The stores are helpful in that you can grab a few and take a few minutes to look through them, and you'll see which book is most to your liking and focus. Then just buy the one that suits!

Hi Johnj au, I am only here for a couple of days as I am off to South America next week for 5 weeks.
I don't know where Alan is - probably tripping around Europe somewhere as I think he was going to go sometime this year.
I will be checking out the Bryson section myself at the airport to see if he has written a book for S.A. as I have only been once before and was not there for long either.

johhj_au, well I wasn't able to find it in amazon but found it on barnes and noble.

janese, will take your advice and read bryson's book.