Lonely Planet India

Best overview on India. If you want more in depth you need to buy books related to a particular subject. This book gives an overview on everything Indian. Really important resource for a traveller in India.

It is almost a crime to try to fit a great country such as India into a one volume guidebook. However, being such the understandable proposition -- tourists are unlikely to want to carry many guides -- this guidebook does a very nice job of putting it all together. There are very interesting historical section which are often deeper than what one would get from a local tourist guide. It covers all the major attractions (at least in the places I visited) and gives the tourist a good idea about the culture, history and socio-economic conditions of the places being visited. The list of hotels, restaurants and places to go out at night is quite current, as of July 2006. It is the only guidebook I used in India, so I cannot compare, but this is quite a good guide that is unlikely to let you down.

When Lonely Planet India first appeared in 1981, it raised the standard for all India guidebooks in the comprehensiveness of locations covered and the detailed information useful to independent travelers, especially those on lower budgets. Twenty years later, it remains the guidebook I personally rely upon most, despite my familiarity with India from extensive travels since 1980 researching my historical novels such as India Treasures. I first learned about that wonderful nonprofit home-stay organization Servas from a Lonely Planet guide, which led to many of our best experiences in India, including lasting friendships. Although my wife and I aren't backpackers, and we're probably mid-range in terms of the amount we spend on accommodations and food, the book is extremely helpful. It's the most up to date and highly detailed regarding such information as transportation options within India, the scams travelers can encounter, and a wealth of other tips too numerous to get into in a brief review. Given the India guidebook's thickness and weight, I've found it convenient to cut it into sections and only take the parts with me for the regions I plan to visit. It's still desirable to get supplemental maps for any city or region one plans to spend much time in, as the maps in the book are usually pretty minimal in terms of detail. And other guidebooks do indeed have useful information this one doesn't (browse the travel shelves in your favorite bookstore to find the additional guides most suitable for your own interests and style of travel). I also advocate reading the better novels set in India, to experience insights into daily life that guidebooks can only hint at. No single guidebook on India can be all things to all persons for all occasions, but this one surely comes the closest, especially for travelers who don't have their arrangements taken care of on organized tours.

I cant believe how previous reveiewer criticized this book by staing "wrong map, description...etc."!!! This is not true! Those wrong reviewers must be working for other travel guide publishers or must be the ones just laid off from LP. HAHAHAI have travelled India three times. I travelled there more than six months. I had three guidebooks with me since I was bagpacking alone. LP is the only one with exact map, right price, description..etc. LP is updated with newer editions alomst every year. SO almost everything in the book is up to dated unlike other guides. It is very informative and even fun to read. If this is not the book you need for travelling India, there must be nothing else!

I used the 98 edition while travelling in Sept/Oct 99 and found it extremely informative even though the prices were outdated. Prices may change overnight but 1,000 year-old temple ruins probably won't. It did seem as though every other traveler (and hotel owner and rickshaw driver...) owned a copy, yet it provided an excellent orientation to the places I visited and served as a great reference tool for further exploration.The maps were better than anything I found locally and the cultural info was very helpful.The book is bulky/heavy but tearing out key sections can easily solve this. I cut my book in half this way and got lots of envious stares from others lugging their entire LP or Rough Guide around and actually referring to maybe a third of it.Get this book, get the LP Hindi-Urdu phrase book, but skip the LP travel atlas unless you want to walk across India.