Australia (Country Guide)

When spending so much money on a trip in my experience it is always wise to take several guides. Others like the "Insight Guide" are excellent for wetting the appetite with all it's glossary pictures and is a good help to decide where to go. Once you are there, however, these guide offer much less information and you have to rely on the LP guide. No other guide simply offers you the opportunity once you have arrived simply to take a telephone and book the accomodation for the next day or to arrange special tours only a couple of days beforehand.

Given the size of the country it is a big book, well over 1000 pages, and it still covers only a part of what there is to see and to do. For the really dedicated I would recommend the territory LP guides, like e.g. the one on the Northern territories.

I disagree with other reviewers that it is only for backpackers; I have felt it quite useful driving from motel to motel. In particular, e.g. the info on Kakadu helped a lot planning our trip in this huge National Park and also the info on the Sydney part was very helpful to make our stay enjoyable and to steer us e.g. into the beautiful Blue Mountains.

Like any guide you have individual things like hotel prices which may have changed. Even then, it still permits you to select accomodation in your budget range, because if one has changed in a particular town, be assured the rest has as well!

Again, when spending so much on a trip, it would be very unwise not to spend the $ 25 on this guide.


good book - but not the kinldle version!   December 10, 2009
Joan (Washington, DC United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

from what i can tell, it is a good guide book. however it hasnt been indexed this means that you cant type in a word like a park name and go to it directly. instead you must seqentially go through every pqge in a chapter until you find it


Complete Guide   October 12, 2003
T. Hooper (Osaka, Japan)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is the crown jewel of the Lonely Planet series. It's no wonder since Lonely Planet is based in Australia. This guide is much more comprehensive than any of the other Lonely Planet guides I have used. To get an idea, the Lonely Planet Australia guide is about the same thickness as the Lonely Planet Western Europe guide. Is there really as much to see in Australia as in Western Europe? I don't think so, but I'm not complaining. I just wish the other guidebooks were as complete as this one. This guide goes into great detail for every region of Australia. There even listings for minor towns with populations of 200 or 300. I don't think anything is left out.

As is usual with Lonely Planet guidebooks, this give great listings for reasonably priced hotels and restaurants. Also it gives you great information on how to reach each location. Oh, and it covers all the main sights, and a lot of the minor ones as well. Basically, if you're going to go to Australia, you should pick this up. You won't regret it.