Lonely Planet Brazil (ISBN 1741040213)

Another edition, another chance, another pass:
I have been doing Brazil vacations for decades (literally) and have seen every guidebook in the English language. For some reason - perhaps because Brazil is such a big country with a limited English-language guidebook market - publishers have never found it worthwhile to invest money and time into producing a truly first rate guidebook. This latest edition of Lonely Planet is no exception. I cannot endorse ANY of the English language guidebooks out there today as a one stop guidebook(although each has a few redeeming qualities). So what is a would-be Brazil traveller to do? Do what I have been doing for the last ten years: supplement your English language guidebook with a first rate, up-to-date guidebook from the Quatro Rodas series published in Brazil by Abril publishing. In other words, get an English language guidebook for background information (I prefer the footprint book, but LP is adequate for a broad overview of the country). Then, with a limited reading knowledge of portuguese (how much do you really need to know to be able to look up hotel names, street addresses, and phone numbers, right?) your trip will be made a lot simpler if you get the Quatro Rodas guides. The Quatro Rodas series is constantly being updated, and in my experience provides the widest, most complete, accurate, and thorough coverage of hotels, restaurants, tourist sites, directions, and logistics of any guidebook. And best of all, the Quatro Rodas guides are specialized: on a budget, get "Viajar bem e barato" (requires a bit of portuguese reading ability); visiting specific states, get the state guides for your destinations; doing driving, get their road atlas; and best of all, going to the beach, the get the Brazil beachcomber's bible, the "Guia Praias" (truly one of the most amazing guides in the world!). So where do you get these books? In any airport book store / news stand. Trust me, your life as a Brazil tourist will be made a lot easier if you learn to use the Quatro Rodas books.

Many errors in LP Brazil:
Lonely Planet is usually the best travel guide out there. Unfortunately, there Brazilian version is full of errors. A friend of mine purchased LP for our trip to Brazil in May 2005 while I got Let's Go Brazil. Like another review stated, there are several errors in Sao Paolo alone. We were search for a Italian restaurant that is suppose to have the "best pizza in Brazil". When we got to the restaurant, we were told by the owner that the restaurant has never sold pizza. I was told by one travel agent/guide in Sao Paolo that the person that did the section on Sao Paolo was only there for 1-2 days and there was no way he could have accurately gotten all the information that he needed in that short time span. We also had a problem finding out hostel in Rio using the map in LP. For a book that was release in Jan. 2005, it is missing much information. I would purchase Let's Go just to have another reference guide book.

A reliable guide out on Brazil, but dated (this is a review of the 6th edition 2005).:
I took three guides with me on my 5 week journey through Brazil (Sept/Oct 2007): L.P., Footprint, Frommer's. Lonely Planet would have been my first choice, BUT, it's dated. Its publication date of 2005 means that the research was done 2003-2004. Many things have change in four years. The prices in this guide have doubled and some restaurants and hotels that are listed have closed and/or the quality of some has seriously declined. But first, the positive. No other guide except Footprint (see my review) comes close to the covering all of Brazil. However, LP is the best guide to have if you are backpacking and thinking of crossing into other countries at remote border crossing. Lonely Planet has excellent sections on Brazil's history, economy and culture. L.P. segregates Brazil into five geographical areas and introduces each city or region by explaining the history and climate. Kudos! The descriptions of the towns and cities are top rate. There are many maps, easy to use and well defined. Sadly, in this guide, unlike other L.P. guides, there are few sidebars or text boxes that give you interesting tidbits about the country. Also, if you are looking for a guide to help you with Carnival, L.P.'s section is bit anemic (best is Frommer's, see my review). There are many restaurant and accommodation recommendations, but all have terse descriptions that leave you wishing for more. MONEY: If you are from the European Union, sing praises for the Euro. If you're from the USA, weep. The fall of the dollar's value is very evident in Brazil. Reality check: Rio, a decent hotel (not great a hotel, just decent) is at least $100 and up. A good, not great, meal is at least $20 to $30. I traveled during the "Low Season" and I found that I needed $100-$150 a day to travel at a 3-4 star level and eat OK (not including my airfares). You should add at least 20-30% in high season and at least 60% at Carnival. Backpackers can do it for less, but not near what the guide quotes. Lonely Planet would have been my first choice if not for the dated coverage. If a new edition comes out, buy it! Still, Lonely Planet is a great backup text to have. My first choice for guides is Frommer's (see my review). I also highly recommend Culture Shock! Brazil 2007 (see my review) for anyone wanting to know more about the ethos and customs of the diverse, colorful country. Happy travels.

Really out of date:
We went to Rio using this book and were very disappointed. While the background information in the books is helpful, the book is very out of date, and often inaccurate. In particular: 1) Most of the restaurants recommended that we tried to go to were closed down. Those that we found were not as good as the review suggested. 2) Maps are small, hard to read, and often inaccurate, placing locations on the wrong block, or leaving off crucial information, such as there are buildings blocking routes through neighborhoods. This often caused us to have to backtrack quite a distance to get where we were going. 3) There was not much useful information about Ilhe Grande.

lonelyplanet brazil:
Lonely Planet Brazil i go in september to brazil but i started reading already in my book from brazil it's filled with good tips for excursions and other things to.