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Summary: search for the new edition
Review: A 5th edition of Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands (ISBN 1566914124) was published in September, 2003. Search for it on this site!
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Summary: David Stanley's TAHITI: the best there is on the subject
Review: After three islands & two trips to Tahiti, I can say: 'Don't leave home without this guidebook!' When David Stanley publishes a 5th edition, we will buy that one for our next trip. I've read other guidebooks (LONELY PLANETS) and found not only mistakes on their maps, but their reviews on accomodations to be lacking. If you're not looking to stay just within the confines of a luxe resort (he reviews those too), but want unbiased reviews (he travels incognito) of mid-priced, upscale & budget accomodations, no one is more reliable. He includes prices for rooms, restaurants, reviews hikes, dive operators, beaches, car rentals. We have found his advice to be reliable. I would never have gotten some of the bargain, or had some of the adventures, if not for this guidebook. I also bought the LONELY PLANETS guide on Roratonga & the Cooks, and Stanley's 100+ pages on the Cooks in TAHITI are far superior to the LP's guide. Not only are his maps & hikes more accurate, but his writings on the more remote islands of the Cooks are far more detailed. Stanley listens to his readers; feedback I wrote to him on a first Tahiti trip, appeared in this latest edition. Save yourself disappointment, don't rely only on a travel agent's advice, read this book and you will be able to get the most out of your visit to this magical country. Be sure to buy the most recent edition.
Rating:
Summary: David Stanley's TAHITI: the best there is on the subject
Review: After three islands & two trips to Tahiti, I can say: 'Don't leave home without this guidebook!' When David Stanley publishes a 5th edition, we will buy that one for our next trip. I've read other guidebooks (LONELY PLANETS) and found not only mistakes on their maps, but their reviews on accomodations to be lacking. If you're not looking to stay just within the confines of a luxe resort (he reviews those too), but want unbiased reviews (he travels incognito) of mid-priced, upscale & budget accomodations, no one is more reliable. He includes prices for rooms, restaurants, reviews hikes, dive operators, beaches, car rentals. We have found his advice to be reliable. I would never have gotten some of the bargain, or had some of the adventures, if not for this guidebook. I also bought the LONELY PLANETS guide on Roratonga & the Cooks, and Stanley's 100+ pages on the Cooks in TAHITI are far superior to the LP's guide. Not only are his maps & hikes more accurate, but his writings on the more remote islands of the Cooks are far more detailed. Stanley listens to his readers; feedback I wrote to him on a first Tahiti trip, appeared in this latest edition. Save yourself disappointment, don't rely only on a travel agent's advice, read this book and you will be able to get the most out of your visit to this magical country. Be sure to buy the most recent edition.
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Summary: A very comprehensive, readable and accurate guidebook.
Review: David Stanley has covered the Pacific Islands for a long time with his various guidebooks. He continues doing an incredible job with his latest Tahiti Handbook. This is a very comprehensive, readable and accurate guidebook on travel through Tahiti and the islands of French Polynesia plus the Cook Islands and Easter Island. This books covers a huge chunk of Polynesia and it does it well. The 140 pages of intro material, important background and travel info is very useful. First-time South Pacific visitors intending stops in Tahiti, the Cooks and/or Easter Island will find this book essential. It's well-organized, easy-to-read, has great maps and interesting historic and contemporary photos. Knowing a bit about the complexities and problems associated with travel between and among these far-flung islands, I think the indepth coverage says much about Stanley's journalistic skills and diligence in collecting information and presenting it in a practical, useful manner. He covers just about everything necessary to know about travel through Tahiti and related island groups, the Cook Islands and Easter Island. There is a very useful resources listings as well with website/internet sources, bibliography, glossary, an Islands at a Glance vital stats table, accommodation and subject indexes, etc. You won't need any other book to travel easily, comfortably and intelligently through these islands.
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Summary: Tahiti Handbook by David Stanley
Review: Dog eared. Water damaged. Trampled, underlined and torn. That's how my copy of David Stanley's excellent Tahiti Handbook looks after my first trip to French Polynesia. It's been to luxury resorts, great restaurants and in my back pack on the trail between Vaiare and Pao Pao on Moorea. It's been up jungle trails on Huahine and along on scuba trips on Bora Bora. It helped us find Lou Pescadou in Papeete, light years away from the tourist traps, although only 300 meters off the main street.This is the best investment I could have made prior to embarking on my trip. It saved me hundreds of dollars and helped me make the best of use of my vacation time. One exception to Mr. Stanley's recommendations. The Sofitel Heiva on Huahine is a huge disappointment, a poster child for Deferred Maintenance Syndrome. This hotel property offers all the quaint charm and run-down qualities of a Baja California beach motel at ten times the price.
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Summary: The best! Don't leave home without it.
Review: For those traveling across the Pacific, Stanley's book covers everything you need to know, from the Cook Islands through Tahiti and onward to Easter Island. If it isn't in this book, you don't need to know it. HIghly recommended.
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Summary: The best current guide for the Cook Islands
Review: Hi--- I live here on Rarotonga and am the author of the "Cook Islands Companion" guidebook, which is in its second edition. We are just about sold out, however, and I don't plan to do a third edition, as I am operating my Shangri-La Beach Cottages... here on Rarotonga. I got a copy of David Stanley's guidebook, which now includes the Cooks with Tahiti. It is very accurate, fun to read, and provides almost all the information a visitor to the Cooks would need. I highly recommend it. Now, I must admit it's not as in depth as my own guidebook, but of course mine is just about the Cooks. And, of course, I am a bit biased. The Lonely Planet guide is OK, but I think if you are serious about coming down here to Rarotonga, you should definitely pick up a copy of David Stanley's Tahiti/Cook Islands guide. As someone who lives here, and has been involved in travel to the Cooks since 1977, I think he's done a great job in letting people know about our little paradise. Since I won't be writing a third edition, let me suggest that all of you take up Mr. Stanley's guidebook as the best one available on the Cooks....
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Summary: A reason to visit French Polynesia
Review: High prices in Tahiti and the other islands of "French Polynesia" forced me to choose other destinations in the South Pacific so far. Reading Stanley's book, however, I found out that even in these islands there must be good and inexpensive places to stay. As a user of other books by David Stanley I do not fear to rely on his findings. Stanley's remarks are based on personal experiences as a traveller rather than on deals wih tourist agencies, hotels, and so on. Besides, his personal involvement with and love for the people in the Pacific favors his book to similar publications by other authors. You do not need to agree with all his political and other statements, but I personally appreciate that Stanley does not present only the sunny sides of life in the area. He also dares to point at the darker sides as well. This enables me to arrive in a country with a more balanced view of it and its society, rather than only the perspectives given in the more general tourist brochures and travel books.
Rating:
Summary: A reason to visit French Polynesia
Review: High prices in Tahiti and the other islands of "French Polynesia" forced me to choose other destinations in the South Pacific so far. Reading Stanley's book, however, I found out that even in these islands there must be good and inexpensive places to stay. As a user of other books by David Stanley I do not fear to rely on his findings. Stanley's remarks are based on personal experiences as a traveller rather than on deals wih tourist agencies, hotels, and so on. Besides, his personal involvement with and love for the people in the Pacific favors his book to similar publications by other authors. You do not need to agree with all his political and other statements, but I personally appreciate that Stanley does not present only the sunny sides of life in the area. He also dares to point at the darker sides as well. This enables me to arrive in a country with a more balanced view of it and its society, rather than only the perspectives given in the more general tourist brochures and travel books.
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Summary: He'll make you not want to go
Review: I have never read a more contradicting book. He is writing a travel book, but seems to despise tourists. At one point he describes Bora Bora as reaching a "tourist glut". And in the next sentence says the luxury hotels "stand almost empty". It does provide some helpful information but this man does not seem to be very happy with society or his life. He manages to turn a beautiful location into something terrible. (Both Fiji and Tahiti.) If you are travelling to a luxury hotel he seems to be angry at you and definitely promotes pitching a tent instead. He does impose all his political beliefs. I have returned my two books by him to the bookstore and did not ask for my money back. I wanted them to know I just did not like the book. I will never buy another book by David Stanley.
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