Moon Handbooks: Costa Rica 4 Ed

Rating:
Summary: naturewonder
Review: Traveled in Costa Rica a month ago with this book and was very disappointed. The information in the book is badly outdated. My travel companion had the Lonely Planet Guide to Costa Rica, which was much better. My advice is to go with the LP Guide to Costa Rica

Rating:
Summary: Outdated and Disappointing
Review: Traveled in Costa Rica a month ago with this book and was very disappointed. The information in the book is badly outdated. My travel companion had the Lonely Planet Guide to Costa Rica, which was much better. My advice is to go with the LP Guide to Costa Rica

Rating:
Summary: naturewonder
Review: Very nice book. Not so many pictures but great and reliable information. Especially the remarks about the accomodations were really good. A bit heavy in your backpack but a MUST for every traveller to costa rica

Rating:
Summary: A Great Travel Guide
Review: We have just returned from a four-week trip to Costa Rica. We bought three guides to plan the trip: the Moon Handbook, Lonely Planet, and Footprint. Of these the Moon Guide was by far the best. Author Christopher Baker has a great way of identifying interesting places to stay, eat, and visit and helping the reader visualize what they are like. As a result we discovered mnay exceptional places to stay and found that his desciptions were right on target. If you are planning more than a one-week quicky to Costa Rica this is the guide to plan your trip.

Rating:
Summary: Data is not the same as info
Review: We just spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica, carried 4 of the major travel books and Mr. Baker's was the one we used constantly. The others mostly took up space in our luggage. The long introductory section was very complete and interesting - history, ecology, geography, lots. We found that this book had much useful information about the many parks, about small towns and large. We liked the small local maps. We enjoyed the hotel reviews and found them to be reliable. Funny! Mr. Baker uses more adjectives per sentence than anyone we have ever read! The book only lacks a good map for drivers. Why not add one?

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: We just spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica, carried 4 of the major travel books and Mr. Baker's was the one we used constantly. The others mostly took up space in our luggage. The long introductory section was very complete and interesting - history, ecology, geography, lots. We found that this book had much useful information about the many parks, about small towns and large. We liked the small local maps. We enjoyed the hotel reviews and found them to be reliable. Funny! Mr. Baker uses more adjectives per sentence than anyone we have ever read! The book only lacks a good map for drivers. Why not add one?

Rating:
Summary: If You Can Only Afford One Book This Is The One To Buy !
Review: We purchased the 1999 edition directly from Moon (it was so new Amazon had not received it yet) hot off the press ! We also purchased several other competitors guidebooks to take with us. The Costa Rica Handbook came back from the trip very worn! Of all the books, this one has the most travel information, the best maps, most useful suggestions and funny traveler's stories that were relevant to our trip. We tried using and referring to the other books many times while in Costa Rica, but we found ourselves reaching for the Costa Rica Handbook by Moon time and time again! If you can only afford to buy one book with information on travel to this country buy this one! One shortcoming you should conisder before buying this book - it contains little about wildlife...you will need to purchase another book that contains pictures and identification information about animals, plants, insects, birds, etc. of this country if your primary purpose for going is to sight animals and birds native to Costa Rica ! Another note: If you are planning on driving outside of tourist areas you might want to learn a little Spanish...we speak intermediate Spanish and while I was in the country, I couldn't help thinking that someone who had no knowledge of the Spanish language would find traveling by car and stopping outside of tourist areas (lodges, restaurants and gas stations) a bit confusing (they speak almost no english outside of tourist areas)...Know your road signs in Spanish! it helps a lot - buy a beginner's guide to Latin American Spanish with a tape so you can hear pronounciation.

Rating:
Summary: Data is not the same as info
Review: Yeah, this book contains a lot of data, more than any other guide I've seen yet. But that does not mean it's a good guide.
First of all, the data is not organised in a very handy way. You'll keep thumbing the pages.
Secondly, the data is not always useful. This book contains f.i. a lot of info about Rincon de Vieja nat'l Park. But useful info (can I go from one sector to the other, where should I go to see fumeroles)is hard to find. This guide is not to be used when on the road.
Thirdly: the data is not up to date, and even incorrect. It is obvious that the authors did not visit all places recently, even not for the newest edition. In my opinion (as a professional travel journalist) a lot of the data has been gathered by hearsay and written info, not by visiting the places. If you'll follow teh hotel recommandations in San José, you'll might and up in a brothel, described as clean, cheap and nice, which it ain't (3x)!
In my opinion: by all means by the book as a second opinion, but stick with the lonely planet!