Philippines (Greg Bloom)

I read this book cover to cover anticipating my trip so far it has given me a good geographical and planning ideas I can not say how it would turn out once Iam there.It appears though the authors are mostly europeans and canadians intent on giving their point of view rather than an american point of view.

I have read lots of criticism of the Lonely Planet Philippines guidebook but I feel much of it should be disregarded by the first-time visitor to the Philippines. When one is planning a trip to the Philippines, especially if the traveler has not been there before, what one needs is qualitative advice, help in figuring out where it's worth going and where not to bother with. In this, Lonely Planet is excellent, perhaps the best of all the guidebooks. It will give you good advice about which places are worth visiting and which are not of much interest. If you've never been to the Philippines, you need frank advice about these things. As you spend time in the Philippines (I live there full-time) you may make your own judgments, but I have found Lonely Planet's advice to be quite good. There is no question that Jens Peters' Philippines Travel Guide offers far, far more detail than does Lonely Planet; many more detailed maps, more complete listings of accommodations, transportation ... Read more

I have owned several editions of the Lonely Planet Guide for the Philippines since 1997. The earlier editions I owned were written by Jens Peters. I believe that those earlier editions were even superior to the 2006 edition written by the current authors. I used those past guides for traveling in Boracay and Baguio--I found them to be excellent even if they were written years after I visited the place. I had the chance to browse Jens Peters Philippines Travel Guide written in 2005 and I found it much better. However, I could only find a browser's copy of the book which was pretty beaten up. I purchased this LP Guide because I wanted to visit Puerto Galera. However, its Puerto Galera section is terribly inaccurate because the phone numbers for the resorts have changed a lot. Out of 4 numbers I called, only 1 was correct. Now how's that for a travel guide supposed to be published only 1 year ago? This current guide does not compare with the depth that the Jens Peters guide ex... Read more

Lonely Planet is a known quantity but I am impressed with the information on so many of the 1107 islands of The Philippines. Truly a good guide.

Many errors and omissions in ferry and flight schedules. We also noted the map in one of the major tourist destinations (Coron) did not even show the pier location correctly. All in all, a useful guide. But you may want to check out the guide written by the first LP Philippines author, Jens Peters, Philippines Travel Guide, which we have heard may be better. It's also available on Amazon.