i went to langage school in alajuela, costa rica for 8 weeks and needed a good guide book. i have used/reviewed other guide books for other trips (frommers, etc) and found that this book is far better. this book is for everybody, but is realy good for budget travelers. this book includes maps of ALL the towns (small towns too!) that you want to viset! (other books dont have this!) It also lists all the information you could ever need in not only major areas, but small areas as well. negitives: sometimes its hard to find specific info without looking for a few min. (its there, just a little hard to find). And i wish a new version would come out more often. (i had no problem using my 3 year old copy though) over all this book is great and you only need to buy it and no other guide book.