Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58098 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781841622422
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Customer Reviews

a good starting place
I just got back from my first trip to Colombia. This book has a lot of breadth and helped us in the early stages of deciding where to go and what to do. We didn't have any security problems whatsoever, sticking to the author's recommended areas in Medellin and Bogota. We visited many of the places that the Bradt book recommended in these cities. I felt like the book was well-researched in general.

I gave the book only 3 stars because it wasn't sufficient on its own. There weren't enough maps to really be helpful to us. Often, I felt like the book pointed out that a destination existed, but didn't provide enough information to actually get there. I was also surprised to see no information on tipping (restaurants, hotel staff, etc). I don't really blame the author -- I think she had to choose between breadth and depth, and admirably tried to cover most of the country.

We supplemented the Bradt book with city and transport maps we got for free in Colombia from the tourism kiosks, and two Spanish-language guidebooks we bought in Bogota: El Tiempo's guide to Bogota (El Tiempo is a newspaper)"Guias El Tiempo Bogota" and "Medellin Turistica" (bilingual, but the Spanish section is better). El Tiempo's book was especially useful with excellent maps, pictures, etc. I highly recommend it and I think it would be helpful even if you don't speak Spanish. The Medellin guidebook we used was just okay -- but necessary considering the Bradt guide's short section on Medellin.

Outdated info, but enough accuracies to get by.
I purchased this book a few weeks before my fiance and I were to take a four month trip all over Colombia. We just returned from our trip last week and had the trip of a lifetime. This book however did not live up to the expectations it should have. This book was published just last April 2008 and we were startled by the amount of innacuracies confirmed by locals in many of the towns we visited in the guide. The author recommends restaurants that have been out of business for at least 3 years, and some of the hostels recommended to stay in are located in very unsafe areas of the major cities.

The most frustrating and ridiculous part of the book were its reviews. The author, Sara Woods, took the liberty of vividly describing various towns in the country that were clearly contrived from her imagination or plagarized directly from a previous much older guide book. The best example of these false descriptions can be found in her description of the entire city of San Gil in Santander. Everything from places of business, to addresses are way off.

Sara, have you ever been to San Gil??

In conclusion, about 50% of the phone numbers provided in the book actually work, most of the hostels are still in existence but be sure to check whether they are safe or not - The hostel "Casa Vieja" in Cartegena is one of the worst - and most importantly, make sure your research extends way beyond the info in this so called guide book.

Excellent guide - definetively the one to get
The right guide for those looking to get the 'real Colombian experience'. Good references and all the off beaten track places you have to see when visiting this amazing country. The authour truly reflects all different elements that make this a special place in the world.
Well researched and reliable. Excellent starting point to prepare your trip.