Lonely Planet Peru by Charlotte Beech, Rob Rachowiecki (2004, Paperback)

Lonely Planet guide to Peru is the most comprehensive and concise guide book on Peru. The guide book has excellent coverage of the historical and archaeological stories of this great country and describes the places so well, that you can open the book up while you are at a site, and get a tour nearly as inclusive as a live tour guide.

The hotel options and selections for inclusion are very accurate compared to both the web sites and site visits. In other words, the reviews of the hotels are very accurate. Occassionally the writers might put in a few negative comments that seem arbitrary, like "Sometimes, the front office staff was no where to be found...", so you have to just ignore those comments. Although the book was published a few years ago, prices mentioned in the book for rooms was pretty accurate, and in fact less than what is stated in the book. The book also mentions low and high season prices as well.

Descriptions of places to visit, cities and towns, even some of the more obscure places that few tourists visit are well covered in the guidebook. The recommendations to visit certain markets in tiny mountain towns were spot on, amazing experiences, exactly as described.

The maps, both national and local city maps were very accurate and proved invaluable, as well as the notations on altitude for each city. A few of the restaurants that we dropped in on, not having read about them before hand, actually matched the guidebook as well.

The only real criticism of the book was its constant reference to pick pockets and crime, which is simply untrue and not found anywhere. I believe that Peru is one of the safest places that I have ever been in the world, so please do not be alarmed by this. Also, the health warnings about food and water were probably given too much attention in the book, and is simply not the case.

Color picture sections of the book give readers a great image of what Peru is, and inspires the reader to visit the places just to see the natural beauty and the people. Comparing to other books on Peru travel, i would recommend this book.