Lonely Planet Eastern Europe 15

One wonders how can a used book can be so imaculate.... The book was on an impeccable shape!

Although still haven't field tested it on the road, it appears to hit the important elements of the journey--especially those off the main tourist trail. Good to see transportation details as well.

Eastern Europe is Lonely Planet's comprehensive travel guide compiled by thirteen authors who spent 4732 combined hours of on-the-road research, covering the nations of Albania, Belarus, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Each nation's section features maps, festivals and events, specific dangers and annoyances for travelers, a concise mini-history, recommended places to sleep, eat, and see, and much more. "Bulgarians shake their head 'yes' and nod their head 'no'... If in doubt, ask 'da ili ne?' (yes or no?)." At nearly one thousand pages in length, Eastern Europe strives to squeeze in everything a world tourist absolutely needs to know about a staggering diversity of nations, cultures, and customs, and is a top quality guide for business and pleasure travelers alike.

Not all Lonely Planet guides are equal, but I found this one to be very good! It covers pretty much all the former socialist countries westwards from Russia, including the Baltic states, Central Europe, the Balkans, Ukraine, and even obscure, very rarely visited Belarus and Moldova. It already has a separate country chapter for Montenegro, which only became independent in the summer of 2006! Inside, you will find all the details that can be expected from this series: in addition to the usual background info on history and culture as well as listings of recommended sights and activities, LP does provide useful practical details like prices and contact details of accomodation options as well as fares and journey times for public transport. These seemed pretty accurate to me, though are bound to change within the lifespan of this book. The detail provided about each country described of course can't compete with single-country guides, but is probably sufficient for most people planning to visit several countries in one trip. As a rule, there are enough places described to fill at least 2 weeks in each country. In comparision to LP's Europe on a Shoestring which covers the whole continent but goes into more detail about the more visited Western European countries, this one has about 3 times more info on Eastern European ones. I would highly recommend this book for both those who are still in the planning stages and need info to decide which countries in the region to visit, and for actual use on the road to those planning to visit several countries on one trip. Of course, if you only want to concentrate on 2-3 countries only, you may find individual country guides more detailed - though right now quite possibly less up to date! LP and Rough Guides both publish such guides to the more popular countries in this region, while Bradt covers even the more obscure ones like Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia or Slovakia as separate titles. For the region as a whole, this book is the one to get for sure though!

I used this book for planning and for advice a one month period of travel through Eastern Europe. Any book that tries to cover so many countries is going to be a compromise between very precise information and a lot of general information. I found that the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe has achieved a good compromise. For example, even a city such as Klaipedia, Lithuania has a few pages written about it even though it is not as popular as Kaunus and Vilnius. However, if you wanted more information about an even smaller city, you are out of luck since just a few cities are mentioned. The history sections are good introductions to each of the countries and the hotel reviews are helpful in planning.However, there still is key information missing. Key information such as that you must purchase a ticket for your backpack for the public transportation in Poland or you will be fined. A review of the LP web site shows lots of backpackers complaining about this, but the book does not include the warning. Also keep in mind that as Eastern Europe goes through rapid changes with membership in the EU and more and more people visiting, the whole travel industry will be changing. More hotels will be available and more people and places will be more accommodating for people speaking English. Therefore, any guidebook is going to have a difficult time keeping up to date on everything. Overall, I would recommend the book for travel through a number of Eastern European countries. However, if you plan to concentrate on just one or two, you may prefer to purchase country specific guides instead so that you have more information.