daisyho

Dear all:

I am planning to go to Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne this Sept/Oct. Can anybody suggest which is the best travel guidebook among the list below or just suggest the one that!|s missing here:

1) Lonely Planet Australia
2) Lonely Planet East Coast Australia
3) Eyewitness Guide to Australia
4) Fordor!|s Australia 2003
5) Frommer!|s Australia 2003
6) Any other suggestions?

Thx
Daisy

johhj_au

Footprint guide.

KayF

We've always found Lonely Planet books terrific, good on detail, great street maps etc. They are also an Australian company so will have a different slant to an American book written for Americans. They do tend to aim at the budget/backpacker market. If you go for LP, get the one that just covers the places you are going to (East Coast) as that will cover the places you are visiting more in depth.
Kay

Miranda

I really need advice here too! I bought a ton of Australia guidebooks to help me plan our trip but simply can't bring them all. We are taking at least one plane ride on our trip with very strict weight limits. For planning the trip, I've found the Frommer's Australia guide to be the most useful. (Apologies to our host here!) But the real test of a guidebook comes when you are at the destination and really try out the advice. And the jury is out on that one for me. Also, I like to cross check things in more than one guidebook. I figure if more than one guidebook likes a given hotel or restaurant, that place is more likely to be good.

kareng

I've done this a couple of times and it works great: Go to a print shop and ask them to remove the bindings from your guidebooks. Take the loose pages home, assemble just the pages you need, then take your custom guidebook back to the print shop and ask for an inexpensive binding. Even with a laminated cover, the whole thing only costs a few dollars. This way you can bring the pages you need from all your guidebooks. I also type up useful info from sources like these message boards and include them as well.

alice13

I can't believe nobody's mentioned the "Rough Guide". LP scores usually on how to travel from A to B by cheap and cheerful public transport. RG almost as good here but usually better on culture and history - contexts, you might say. But both ARE aimed at independent travellers. Both the "F"s are pretty good on stuff like shopping and middle and above place to stay/eat - but they never seem to mention anywhere that isn't absolutely on the tourist trail.
But if you are visiting only the East Coast then LP's guide just for that area might be the one to go for. If you have lots of time beforehand you might like to read some general travel stuff as background.

And have a fantastic time.