Lonely Planet Reviews 330

I wish I had read the reviews earlier. I didn’t think I would have an issue with a company like Lonely Planet. Last Christmas posting date was Friday. I ordered first thing Saturday taking a chance that my gift would arrive. A week later and it has not been dispatched. It is impossible to gain any information. All the phone numbers I found were out of service. My emails were answered hours and days later but did not answer my questions. I decided to cancel my order and sent about 4 messages. I was told they would try and cancel the order and get back to me. No one has got back to me and neither has my order been dispatched.

Update: I have sent my details to your email address although this is the email address I have been using.

I have just perused my newly purchased LP Cuba & Jamaica guides. What a complete waste of time, effort and money! Gone are the practical suggestions of places to base yourself for exploring, eateries, bars etc, replaced by generic gushing over major sights which might easily have been drawn from any number of tourist brochures. I have previously been a devoted LP buyer and user. I have quite a nice collection of them from many trips over the years. Nowhere in these book is there any practical information as per earlier publications. Accommodation is reduced to a single page of "throw away" commentary about different types of accommodation...as if the reader had not ascertained this from even the most basic research. Where is the information about eateries tried and reviewed by the writers? Non-existent. Where are the suggested "highlights" itineraries as per other publications? totally absent. In short, this is little more than I had already found out through rudimentary internet searches. Foolishly, I had believed that LP was a quality brand that would maintain its standard. Wrong. I mistakenly purchased two "Guides" at the same time. I am kicking myself now but pleased that both were on special price offer. However, even at a substantial discount, they aren't worth the money or the time to read over them in detail. A little time spent reading over blogs and websites will give anyone about the same level of information that these inappropriately named "Guides" will do. They are no longer guides, rather they are glossy tourist brochures with lots of 'filler' describing "essential experiences". Nothing like the old reliable LP quality. Do yourself a favour and look out old format guides from the local library rather than spend money on trumped-up travel brochures.

We bought the latest edition of Cancun, Cozumel & the Yucatan, to replace our 2013 edition. It was a good thing we kept our old edition for reference, as the latest is a shell of its former self. The new edition is so void of information it is of no use to us. We travelled pre-internet and relied heavily on The Lonely Planet but now this edition may be useful to hold a door open or for toilet paper as we travel through the Yucatan.

Last year I bought LP Tanzania and was so surprised and disappointed over the lack of information, but I hoped this was a stand-alone poor guidebook.
This year I bought LP Belize and a LP Guatemala, same problem.
From the other bad reviews, I read that LP changed its approach entirely, what a loss! Totally useless, it looks like they are targetting tourists in organized group travel, instead of independent travellers.
Has this company been sold or what??
No more Lonely Planet for me, unfortunately. Maybe Bradt next time.

The new setup is awful. Lonely planet books used to be my travel bible but the copy I got most recently (Vietnam 2023) is more or less worthless as a travel guide. There are heaps of pictures, which is nice per se, but no useful information. What little information you get is superficial and inadequate.
This company will rapidly be loosing their former inpeccable reputation.

Nothing to add to what has been already said by pretty much everybody before me. These guides used to be *truly* great and have been my trusted companions for 20 years. But now all the practical info got binned and replaced with nice pictures. Had to return the newly edited Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles as it was gross really - full of oversights too. Got a Bradt instead and will continue to do so from now onwards if this is how LP intends to settle.

Just got the Sep 2023 LP Mexico, and to say it is useless is being kind. I've relied on Lonely Planet guides for 20 years, but now all the important information I used to look for is now eliminated: hours of operation, opening days, admission prices, phone numbers, addresses..... All gone. All the smaller regional maps - gone. Sights - drastically cut back. Restaurants down to just a few recommendations, and of course don't even bother trying to find any contact info or location, besides a vague "find this within walking distance of town", or "located 6km west of the city". But worry not, it's all been replaced with lots of worthless pretty pictures! Do yourself a favor and get a Moon Travel Guide instead - they are what LP used to be.

And: Hi Lonely Planet!

Make sure your bots thank me for taking the time to leave feedback here. I appreciate that all comments, negative or positive, will likely be completely ignored!

My feedback will in all certainty be passed along to your trash heap. The massive layoffs at the hands of Red Ventures have decimated this once most-trusted source of information, and we are all worse-off for your horrible business practise.

Sincerely,
A Lonely Planet Customer that now despises your entire company, for destroying what used to be a worthwhile guidebook.

I loved LP guides (I have been using them for 20 years), but the 2023 editions are terrible!! The book is filled of useless photos and contains so little information. Not as expected. Please go back to the old format!!

How to explain better the access to the Smoke Sauna in Kuopio Finland by public transportation
There is a frequent bus number 7 bringing you to its terminal where there is a path sign to the Sauna (1 kilometer)
It starts from the North West corner of Kuopio Market Place

Ordered a map on august 13th for South America, haven't received it...
Now after a month I've got a refund, but yeah, no map... Ow, I only got the refund because I texted them where my map was..
For me, the last time I order from lonely planet.

I ordered a few guidebooks from the Lonely Planet website. Not once but twice they failed to ship the guidebooks from their warehouse. Customer support was friendly and I got my money back pretty quickly.
It was probably better they never arrived, because the 2023 guidebooks are really a great disappointment - what a way to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The 2023 edition looks very nice, but they only include a few highlights of the different places, many places are not listed at all anymore, it doesn't have the extensive list of festivals and events it used to have, the maps are not easy to use anymore, opening days/hours are missing, etc etc.
For Sweden I purchased the Rough Guide instead, which will probably be the first publisher I'll check from now on. For Denmark, I did purchase the Lonely Planet guidebook (at another store), as I couldn't find a better guidebook. This guidebook has some suggestions for Helsingborg in Sweden if you take the ferry. But the Lonely Planet guide for Sweden itself doesn't even cover this city anymore (it was included in previous editions). I really don't understand what the new owners of Lonely Planet tried to achieve with the updated versions - there is hardly any practical info included and the selection of places is so minimal, that you'll end up searching online for more options and opening hours etc.
The LP website is full of positive reviews - but even though I did buy an ebook, I couldn't find any link to leave a review. The rest of the internet is full with negative reviews for the 2023 edition, so I really hope they'll go back to the old format. I rarely leave reviews somewhere, but now I felt I had to. It's sad to depart from Lonely Planet after they've accompanied me around the world for almost 20 years.

After 30 years in the useful, always sheltering company of LP, getting in touch with the LP England 2023 was shockingly disappointing and useless. Almost no infos about the locations and how to reach them, respectively with a totally insufficient selection of (posh) accommodation and food choices. Why should I have a book like this one f it does not help me plan my trip? And if I need the internet by my side all the time to complement the missing LP infos? The LP website as such does not work well. To sum up, I am feeling deceived and abandoned by LP. Unfortunately and most likely, this has been my last LP purchase - unless the traditional quality is regained.

Just started looking through the new, July 2023 Cambodia LP. I have been buying Lonely Planets since 1987 and have always found them invaluable. Recently the quality seems to have gone down. The Cambodia Lonely Planet has totally lost that winning formula - detailed maps, sections on Things to do, hotels, restaurants etc. There is just rambling text with a very small number of hotel or restaurant recommendations on the side of the page, most of which are not marked on the map and without an address. In the past hotels and restaurants used to be listed with address, phone number and website. There was also no proper history section.

It seems that Lonely Planet can no longer afford to send researchers out. I suppose we have to use the LP now more as a reading book and only in combination with Google maps etc.

I just looked at the 2023 LP guide for Portugal. It is terrible, confusing and a mess. Full of pretty pictures but not much detailed practical information with websites, approx prices for hotels etc or critical comments any longer. I always loved LP because the guides very different but now they are just like many of the others. How disappointing.

Just received the new edition of Vietnam (july’23). I don’t know whether other new LP are the same layout now but what a mess.

Hardly any history section, the highlights of the area are not very clear, accommodation and food is no longer at the end of the area’s section but placed along the city at the bottom across several pages or on the side so you need to flick several pages to find what you want.
Why can’t it be in the same section?

There are a lot more photos but the layout is messy, confusing, not properly thought of and all over the place.

Too difficult to find quickly what you need.

Don’t look in the contents page for accommodation or restaurant pages, it it not there. Just have to go to the specific city and start turning pages to find these.

If it is the way forward for lonely planet, even though I have been a customer for many many years, I will have to switch to a different Guide because I absolutely hate what they have done.

A total mess!

( Have decided to send it back and awaiting the new edition of a competitor coming out in October)

I found this site while browsing for Lonely Planet reviews. The reason I was doing this? I needed confirmation that the new guidebook format is indeed shockingly bad, full with very poor content and that it was not just me being weird.

I returned "Greece 2023" 3 days after I bought is as I can still not believe how bad it was. Basically an overpriced stock photo album with minimal information on basic sights, ALL of which is easily accessible online here and there. Almost - if not more than - 50% of the content from the previous issue is gone.

After 40 guidebooks I will only buy LP again only if it is still in the old format.
Until then, good bye after 25 years.
I had some sort of personal connection with LP guidebooks as they have accompanied me to my travels to more than 50 countries.
Too bad they can not do that any more as they no longer fit their purpose in this shocking state, content and format.
They better change it back to what it was soon, otherwise, (and judging by the fury of other reviewers), I do not see LP having any future at all.

Goodbye LP. You used to be good.

Can say w confidence that i will never buy another lonely planet book ever again. Bought a Barcelona 2022 editionin July 2023: states that Parc Guell has both free access and paid entry areas of the park. That is wrong. Since 2020 all parts of the park are regulated and require a ticket.

The rest of the book is muddled, not engaging and biased. Maps are far from comprehensive for requirements too. And this is a whole book for 1 little city.

Overall, ugly.

Ordered a lonely planet book as a gift for a friends honeymoon, after 6-weeks I messaged to chase as I hadn't heard any update. LP advised they could not locate my order. I was offered a refund or to re-order, chose to re-order. The second order did not arrive, again chased and was again advised that they could not locate my order. Very poor customer service, no compensation for the additional hassle or delay, and 3 months later, I still do not have the item I placed an order for.

In reply: I would love to know how you’ve made ‘new and better updates’, when you seemingly can’t successfully deliver the products people are ordering directly from you….from reading other comments this is a common theme; I would argue this is basic necessity for any business to function.

Was a big fan and just bought the new format for Sweden (8th edition July 2023). I found it terrible. For me lonely Planet lost it's purpose as a guidebook; with only about three random 'highlights' for each region covered. It's just some sort of global experience guide now without the in depth information for each region which made Lonely Planet what it was in the first place. Maybe I am very old fashioned, just not my thing anymore. Time will tell if they find a new audience.

Been ordering from Lonely planet for years. Never expected a big supplier like LP not to be able to figure out customs declarations so customers don't experience delays and extra charges when ordering from abroad. It will be my last time ordering and highly recommend that if located outside of the UK to stay well away from LP. Not at all happy with the 'service's extra charges, which has added an addition 16 pounds to the order of 1 book! Not impressed at all.