Lonely Planet Cyprus

I used Lonely Planet Cyprus a week after it became available (June 2006) and appreciated its compact size, Highlights section, Itinerary suggestions, up-to-date prices, and organizational format. Having said that, I only used it about 5% of the time while my wife and I drove throughout the entire island. Carrying 3 other guidebooks (Rough Guide, DK, and DK Top 10), I found Lonely Planet to be far too brief in explaining the sites, falling well short of Rough Guide's more insightful and intelligent writing. I used Rough Guide 75% of the time and found that to be much better. Still, if someone only had Lonely Planet, they would have a fairly good tool to get around Cyprus to the main sites. It is only half the size of Rough Guide(272 pages vs. 550), which could be handy for travelers seeking to minimize their load. For in-depth understanding and off-the-beaten track exploration, however, Rough Guide would be the better choice.

Will leave this week for my first trip to Cyprus for a business and partial pleasure trip. The book had all the information I needed so far and found it very useful to plan my trip. It was set up in a logical and easy to understand manner and I will take it with me for reference. It even had some basic language phrases and local customs that might come in useful. After the trip, I could then judge better if it was accurate. At this time I assume it is because it is of a recent printing.

You can't go to Cyprus without the Lonely Planet Cyprus (Travel Survival Kit) by Paul Hellander. It is literally the only travel book in English on this part of the world! Though part of the ancient world and visited by such luminaries as the Apostle Paul, almost nothing is written today in the guidebook area except this! Used books? None. New books? Try to find them. About all you can find are political analyses of Cyprus and its recent past. While many books exist on the Carribean, few exist on the Mediterranean! There are books on the Greek Isles, but not Cyprus. Thank you Lonely Planet for this guide book. It is like gold for the tourist to Cyprus!