Product Description

V!VA Travel Guides: Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of Ecuador's most popular destinations. Written by a team of travel writers who have lived and traveled throughout this fascinating country, the guide contains extensive coverage of the Galapagos Islands including reviews of over 80 Galapagos boats and more than 30 maps of the visitor sites and islands. The book details more restaurants and hotels in Quito than any other guidebook, plus our community of writers have found the top eco-lodges and tours for an unforgettable stay in the Amazon rainforest and tips on visiting the jungle. A special Adventure Travel section provides detailed information about rafting, climbing, riding, mountain biking and hiking around Quito. In addition to coverage of the not-to-be-missed destinations of Otavalo and Banos, in this, the latest edition, you can find new, and completely up-to-date sections on Cuenca, the Southern Andes and the Coast. V!VA Travel Guides has re-designed the travel guide book from the ground up using the internet, community participation and online geographic databases. All V!V A Travel Guide's books begin as web sites, collecting reviews, comments, rants and raves, suggestions, and updates from travelers like you. The community's favourites are then compiled into a book. Most guide books rely on the opinions and research of one single person who may or may not share your tastes. V!VA Guides, on the other hand, rely on unbiased first-hand accounts from fellow travelers. This process guarantees that you have the most up-to-date, accurate information available for planning your travels.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1178555 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

An awesome book for reaaly experiencing Ecuador
I just returned from a semester abroad studying in Quito, and I
constantly used this book when I traveled around Ecuador and while in
Quito. I felt like it always led me in the right direction and helped
me discover all the places and people that became the most
memorable parts of my trip.

In Quito, this book has all the best restaurants and bars that only
the locals know about. Other guidebooks on Ecuador seem to recommend
only the touristy places where you hardly even hear people speaking
Spanish. I also bought a "new" 2006 Lonely Planet book, but after the
first few weeks didn't use it (except for occasionally the maps), and
ended up
giving it away because it was so touristy and almost all the prices
were really out of date already and many places recommended were out
of business.

The Viva book's maps could use improving and it was a little hard to
find some info quickly, but once you found it, it was 100% on target.

I liked how this book is created by many different people who have
lived and traveled in Ecuador, and the reviews of places and quotes
from other travelers were cool, as that's how I like to travel anyway
-- asking other travelers who have been somewhere what they liked and
where I should go. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who
wants to get off of the well trodden gringo trail and experience the
country's true culture.

An essential, useful and informative guide to Ecuador!
This "community" guide is not only good for essential information, maps and reviews, but for over all enjoyment too, with short stories and comments from other travelers. I guess it takes people who live, travel and work in Ecuador to really make a guide that works!

What is really cool is that unlike other guidebooks who suggest three or four token places for travelers to eat or sleep, Viva lists many reviews not only by the authors, but by their online "community" of travelers as well. It's like virtual tourist type of thing, but in a book.

Not a book I'd buy again
I have used Moon, Lonely Planet, and Let's Go guides in my travels and I have to say Viva is my least favorite. The index really sucks. I could not find any of the terms and place names I searched for, like Isla de la Plata for example. There are no good pictures or maps in the book either. In some sections the book does not even tell you how to get to certain places. I could not find any part telling me how to take a bus to Otavalo from Quito for example. I also couldn't find prices of bus tickets in some sections. I like Lonely Planet because even if it is not completely up to date, with the price quotes they give you you'll have a general idea of what to expect.

I like Lonely Planet because it is well-organized and has all the information you'll need. Ridiculously enough I had to go to a bookstore to look at a Lonely Planet and get information the Viva Guide was lacking. They pride themselves on providing more restaurant reviews and such but I find that less important than the basic information you need to get from one place to the next.

If you do a google search for Ecuador, you will find a website called Ecuador Explorer that tries to sell this guide but obviously the site is connected to this guide because there is no way I can see anyone in their right mind recommending it.

I am not trying to sell Lonely Planet. I have nothing to do with Lonely Planet but in my personal experiences it is a good guidebook. I like Viva's philosophy and ideally would support a small start-up over a big company like LP but the guidebook is just not worth the money unfortunately. Any positive reviews written here are probably written by people who work there... that's how bad this book is to me. No offense but this guide truly has a long way to go. I do like the descriptions of hotels and restaurants but I would never be able to recommend this guide to anyone.