[.ca] Lonely Planet Philippines (ISBN 1740592107)

Worst Guide Book to the Philippines !!!:
Im an Australian living fulltime in the Philippines and travel extensively as I'm a realtor selling islands & beaches here. Do not waste your money buying this book. Firstly, it is a second rate copy of the previous editions written by Jen Peters. You are better of buying his "Philippines Travel Guide" also available on Amazon. Secondly, its full of so many errors and danger warnings that I'm suprised anybody would come here if it were really true. For instance they write that Palawan is dangerous based upon a bomb being found at the airport. The bomb was in fact a defunct WWII hand grenade which was found in the grass at the edge of the runway, hardly something designed to kill tourists. It warnings about danger in Palawan are COMPLETELY wrong in every instance. I live there and crime and danger are almost non-existant. Yes the Abu Sayeff kidnapped people from a resort, but they were from Mindanao on the other extreme of the Philippines and there has not been 1 single incident since then .. 5 YEARS AGO! El Nido, one of the best places in the Philippines see EL-NIDO.NET The authors came for 1 day and how can the possibly have researched a whole town in 1 day? The write that the trip from Puerto to El Nido by road is 14 hours, when in fact it is now only 7 hours and half of that on the new concrete highway. Yes, there are dangers in the Philippines, but I feel safer here than living in any western city. Provided that you follow common sense you wont have any trouble here. This is one of the most under-rated tourism spots on the globe, exactly because of lame travel books and stupid travel advisories from overseas embassies. Do yourself a favour buy the Jens Peters Guide and ignore whatever the Lonely Planet Guide says.

Really outdated:
Just got back Jan 2006 and found out how badly this book needed to be redone. Rumours of a book written by a former Lonely planet writer being a million times better has urged me to find that for my next trip. Don't rely on this book if you are thinking of going there without a plan. And whatever they say, never bring traveller's cheques!! I ended up getting stuck with all of my money tied up in cheques and had to call home to get money transferred. So don't bother with this book if you are going to the most beautiful place in the world!!

Lonely Planet, do you screen your authors?:
Despite a new batch of authors, the listed places were almost a direct lift of Jens Peters' work (including the ommission of Bulacan). What is different is the condescending way it is written. After reading the guidebook, you would think the Philippines is there with Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda and other wartorn countries. Although there are dangers, the risk level in Manila is about the same as any other major city in the world.

Lonely Planet is not reliable!:
Ive seen the Philippines despite of the travel warnings that i have read in the Lonely Planet guide... Unfortunately not any of the warning in the Lonely planet guide was true.... Philippines is truly safe and tourist friendly... You can expect more surprises in this lovely paradise islands...

Ah such a Beautiful Country!:
Contradictory to the last reviewer, I believe that the book did a good job of warning people of the dangers in certain areas of the country, which of course, happen anywhere and everywhere you go in the world. But it did not deter anyone from entering those areas. The book does have a certain reponsibilty to its readers and even after reading the guide, it did not put me off the trip. What a wonderful country. And extremely affordable. Prices were accurate in the guide. I spent three weeks this past February at a time when Army Helicopters where crashing off the coasts of Minandao and the Americans had sent in more troops to aid the Filipinos in capturing the terrorists. 60% of the countries tourism has disappeared. But I felt so safe. I thank the book for warning me of being cautious. As a woman travelling on my own, the book actually encouraged in many areas. The guide did a good job of explaining how to get to many destinations, although I wouldn't be so brave as they had indicated. One of the bus depots that they suggest departing from in Manila, is in one of the poorest poverty striken areas of the world. Where theives and beggars hang about. So this is where the book goes wrong in explaining details. But it keeps straight to the facts... Boracay's details were accurate, especially when it came to hunting down a hotel and as they explained, there was no problem in finding lodging. I only give the guide a three because I do believe the country has made such great progress since the books published date of October 2000 and is in well need of updating. Filipinos travel quite alot by plane now and there are many more destinations on the list. The guide was correct in saying that internal flights where extremely cheap. I wish that the guide would have gone more into detail about the many festivals in the Philippines. After all, this counrty has the greatest number of festivals of any country in the world and amoung the most colourful! There is no other guide that I have read better than this one! The country is so enormous that it is not possible to cover everything in it's entirety. The guide is in need of a challenge.