Hi all-
We are planning a trip to Costa Rica for early July, and I am trying to find some guidebooks! We had great guidebooks for Hawaii that told us about out of the way places, hikes, restaurants, etc. and I would love to find one similar for Costa Rica. Any suggestions aside from Lonely Planet? We love to hike (on our own but will likely use a guide in Costa Rica) and are looking for a book that details beautiful hikes.
Thanks so much in advance!
Melissa

Most guide books from what I can see do vary on the type of info offered. Some offer more, some offer less. Some cater to the less expensive travel. Others offer history as well as travel info. If at all possible, I would recommend you go to a book store and look through several. Check the date of publication to get the most up to date info-things are changing pretty quickly in regards to the hotels. So many new ones. Pick one of the touristy areas to look at like Manuel Antonio and see which ones give the most info that you want. Generally I like the Moon guides but they are way out of date right now. Chris Baker is supposedly working on updating it for next year but right now it is behind. He also writes for National Geographic. Don't know what is going on with Moons guides but my husbands cousin wrote the only guide to the Honduras on the market for a long time several years ago and it is still on the shelves. They do offer a lot of detailed info on areas.

Melissa, I know what books you are talking about for Hawaii (we used them for Kauai and they are great!), but we did not find anything comparable for Costa Rica. In our 3 trips there we relied on Frommers (to a lesser extent) and Lonely Planet (which we found very detailed and helpful). Go to your local library and check out their selection. Our town library has a very good selection of guide books for Costa Rica, even if some of them were a couple of years old.

I've got no less than eleven Costa Rica guidebooks on my shelf, and that's where ten of them are going to stay. My wife and I travel by bicycle so we can't afford dead weight and that's what the others are compared to Baker's Moon Handbook. There isn't really any competition if you are looking for details and out of the way places. Baker accurately describes more than the two closest competitors combined, and the geological, cultural, historical etc. background is interesting, comprehensive and well written.

As Suzie pointed out it's due for an update (but all of the major ones are). If you want an up to the minute (but much less comprehensive) guide to compliment it try Exploring Costa Rica, from the travel and tourism staff of the Tico Times Newspaper, the 2004 edition is available at http://www.ticotimes.net/guide.htm. It has advertizing in additon to the guide, but that helps keep the cost down I suppose.

By the way, Baker's 2004 addition of Moon book will be out around September.
Pura Vida,
Neta Talmor

I meant 2004 EDITION....

That's what I heard too Neta. Hopefully. It does have the most information.

Thank you all for the information! We're traveling in July, so it looks like I'll miss Baker's 2004 edition. I will take you up on your other suggestions and appreciate the thoughts. I always find it most helpful to use the books others have found useful!