Lonely Planet Discover New Zealand [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

As a long-time user of Lonely Planet travel books, I was surprised and disappointed with this book, and will look to other brands for future travel books. Took this one to NZ, but quickly found it contained limited information relative to older style LP books. Purchased a Rough Guide for NZ and found it far superior in the quantity and quality of information for our travels. The Lonely Planet books historically had gobs of information on each town. This LP book had limited information, detail, and content. Few restaurant and lodging listings, lack of a good overview of each town, and lack of good street maps. This is a good book for "package tour" style travellers in NZ, but not well suited for independent travel. Looking for grocery stores, laundries, sights, lodging or food (i.e., where to stay and eat) at various price points? Lonely Planet previously excelled at this. Not anymore, judging from this LP book.

My wife and I are former inveterate world travelers ("former" because, thanks to 9/11 and near-worldwide chaos today, our trips to international destinations are now few and far between). Over the years, we've visited 50 countries. Of all the places we've been to, we have a special fondness for New Zealand. In fact, it is the only country we've vacationed in twice. Driving a "hire car," staying in B&Bs and eating meat pies from tiny takeaway shops, we've seen New Zealand from the tip of the North Island to Invercargill on the South Island. What a stunningly beautiful country it is!

Lonely Planet's "Discover New Zealand" is a great guidebook for both the independent traveler and for those on package tours. First up, an 18-page well-illustrated section lists the country's "Top 25 Experiences." There's something for everyone, whether your interests are sports, Maori culture, tramping, architecture or whatever. A brief "Top Itineraries" section offers five-, 10- and 14-day itinerary suggestions, and "Planning Your Trip" deals with costs, travel seasons, what to take, useful websites, books and films, and a yearly calendar of events.

Then "Discover New Zealand" hits its stride. It divides the country into six sections: Auckland; Upper North Island; Lower North Island; Marlborough & Nelson; Christchurch & Central South; and Queenstown & the South. Each section kicks off with a full-color map (of excellent quality considering the size, but not a real "road map"). Next is a list of "Highlights," with color photos. For instance, the Bay of Islands, Waitomo Caves and Rotorua are a few highlights listed for the Upper North Island. All are genuine must-sees for any itinerary. Then comes a page or two of "Best" attractions, such as scenic drives, short hikes, etc., followed by practical "Things You Need to Know." Several suggested itineraries follow, and then comes the real meat--specific, detailed, well-organized information about sightseeing, accommodations, food and drink, local tours, entertainment, outdoor activities, etc. This information is comprehensive, well-organized by region, and, I assume, accurate--prices are now much higher than when we were there! A 46-page "New Zealand in Focus" section rounds out the book.

I have just a few minor gripes. For example, Lonely Planet's modern "USA-Today-like" visual style doesn't appeal to me (this book is not as bad as some others), and sometimes it seems that similar subjects that should be grouped together are scattered throughout the book. These quibbles don't detract from its value and usefulness.

I have high expectations for travel guidebooks, and I'm a pretty harsh critic of those that don't meet my standards. When I travel, I usually haul along an armload of books, brochures and website printouts. I'm not sure that any guidebook can be the only source of information for a trip to New Zealand (or to anyplace else, for that matter). But Lonely Planet's "Discover New Zealand" comes pretty close to being such a book. I recommend it highly for planning your trip, to use on your trip or just to read while relaxing in your armchair. It's an excellent introduction to one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾ Recommended with warm fuzzies.

The Lonely Planet "Discover ..." travel books are a series of compact travel guides that are intended to provide the essential information about a country while being compact, light in weight and small in size, and replete with the heavy use of full-color photographs and maps throughout its pages. While this travel guide's 400 pages is much more compact than Planet's far more thorough coverage of New Zealand in their similarly-priced Lonely Planet New Zealand (Country Travel Guide) book, I get the impression that their "Discover ..." series is more meant to compete with the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides and Apa Insight Guides, which, for years, were the main travel guide books that offered plenty of tantalizing color photos, albeit at the expense of informative text. Frommer's and Fodor's have also gotten into the "In Full Color" competition to offer more color photography in their travel guides too.

This travel book provides a good all-around high-level coverage of the main highlights of the various regions in New Zealand. It offers suggestions for New Zealand's top 25 experiences, 5-day, 10-day, and 2-week itineraries, some general trip planning information, and various general maps are interspersed throughout the book. The end of the book has a very useful "Directory & Transport" section that describes various essential information that you should know. In fact, I would have preferred that this section was moved more towards the beginning of the book.

A chapter called "New Zealand In Focus" briefly touches upon the flora, fauna, food and drink, and outdoor activities that may be experienced in this beautiful country which, like places such as Costa Rica and Alaska, is filled with rugged and stunning natural scenery.

If you are totally planning a trip to New Zealand by yourself, this travel guide would make a great "starter book" to read, and whet your New Zealand travel appetite, before you acquire more in-depth books and maps once you start planning, deciding upon, and finalizing your itinerary. But you could definitely use more in-depth information, either by reading other books or researching on the Internet, before departing on your trip. Just reading this compact guide by itself might be sufficient if you are joining a package tour group to New Zealand where everything has already been planned out for you. But even then, you should read other books and research your tour group's itinerary to learn more of the background, history, and information about the places that you are about to see since New Zealand is a country that is very rich in history. For example, New Zealand's history of their Maori culture and European interactions are only covered by 10 pages in this travel guide.