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Product Description
Product Description
Experience the best of this diverse region with our 2nd edition: you'll shiver with Mostar's bridge divers as they plunge into the icy waters below; listen for the saint's heartbeat at the tomb of Sveti Naum; and cast off your clothes - and your cares - w
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Lonely Planet on the Western Balkans features Albania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia with the exception of Slovenia. It is well written and provides all the information on itineraries, sights, accommodation, eateries, transport etc that all Lonely Planet Guides cover so well. Since it is a regional guide as ooposed to a country guide, it is not as comprehensive as single-country guides and does not provide maps on as many places. However, individual country guides do also exist in the Lonely Planet series for Croatia and Montenegro which cover those countries in more detail and I believe one on Serbia may also exist by now. However, Kosovo is pretty poorly and superfically covered in just 12 pages with only one not comprehensive enough map. If you are going to Kosovo, you will need to get yourself the Bradt Kosovo Guide to supplement this book. The Bradt guide is excellent with fabulous maps and very good listings of hotels etc. It is one of Bradt's best. You might also like to consider the Bradt guide on Macedonia, but that is not imperative unlike Kosovo. I suspect that they do this because few tourists go to Kosovo. For that reason, I can only award 4 stars.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Covers a lot in reasonable detail and was sufficiently up to date in April 10, but lacks detail in places as you would expect, but overall a good guide if you are travelling to multiple countries in the region
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had always been a fan of the LP guides and when I decided to take a month and go around all of the ex-Yugoslavia, this book was the obvious choice. It was an amazing trip, now one of my favorite regions in Europe, despite the book, I hasten to add. There isn't too much insight here and a lot of misinformation. If you look over at the reviews of the older 2006 edition, it would appear that this newer 2009 edition hasn't been revised much at all since the gripes are all almost exactly the same. I decided about a week into my trip to rely on hostelbookers for hostels and word of mouth for places to eat and have fun, which really is the way to do it, but then why would I need this book?? The guide lets you down on a number of points. As other reviewers have already said here, Serbia and Kosovo were very poorly covered, especially as far as maps, any kind of insight/background, and places to stay are concerned (there are at least 70 hostels in Belgrade, all of quite good standard, and most costing around 10 euros or less. Only a couple got a mention, nothing for Novi Sad, which got very scant coverage, not just in accomodation). The bus/transport schedules for the entire region are riddled with errors and I ended up stranded an extra night in both Serbia and Montenegro before I decided not to rely on them anymore. There is a lot to see and do in Serbia, BiH, and Montenegro but you wouldn't know it from the guide. And I don't see why they didn't just leave Kosovo out, as it looks like they couldn't be bothered to do a decent job on it. Most of the center of Prishtina wasn't even on the one map provided! Hardly any budget accomodation recs (1), very little on where to eat, and the one bar they really recommend that you visit didn't seem to exist (and I was there only about 6 months after the book was published). That said, the Macedonia and Croatia sections are very good (the Croatia section is a condensed version of the LP Croatia Guide, which indeed is very good), and the one on Bosnia wasn't so bad but on having visited, I think it lacked depth and could/should have been much better. BiH has a tremendous amount to offer travellers. There aren't so many guides available on ex-Yugo and none that cover they entire area, but I can't see how this thin book is going to be of much benefit to anyone. People have told me the Bradt guides on Serbia and Kosovo are very good but the one on BiH is OK. I feel like LP has been dropping the ball a lot recently (the Morocco guide I bought was substandard as well), which is a shame since I usually like they style they use and really used to enjoy them very much. With a couple exceptions, it isn't so hard to find your way around the Balkans, things work well and people there are very helpful. My advice: do it the old-fashioned way by asking local folks for recommendations, get your transport info at the station a day or two beforehand so you don't get stranded (for ex: there is only one bus per week to Sarajevo from Kotor,MNE - they go every day according to LP) and use hostelbookers or something similar for accomodation and you'll be just fine.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What's in Albania?
Being a 'Lonely Planet' addict I always get an LP guide. However this is still the only type of LP that Albania features (also to be found in Central Europe). Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Bell
One of the weakest Lonely Planet guide
The "Western Balkans" is the most unprofessionally and poorly written Lonely Planet guide book I've ever come across. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Umur
Very good... but why Slovenia is not included
the guide is helpful, gives a good background about each place and as all lonely planet it is the best option on travel guides. Read more
Published 9 months ago by DeboraDG
Bible of the region - but where is Slovenia!
Used this book for a trip in August/September.
We went to every country in the book except Kosovo, but we also went to Slovenia which is stupidly missing from this book. Read more
We went to every country in the book except Kosovo, but we also went to Slovenia which is stupidly missing from this book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Timmy
Perfect for my needs!
the book was pertfect for a road trip i have just completed...it has enough detail to allow general planning, but then, when we go off the beaten track, it has sufficient detail to... Read more
Published 21 months ago by G. A. Coupland
Great regional guide
A great companion to anyone travelling to Western Balkans, even alone, with complete information about each country and splendid picks of restaurants, bars and other services. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2009 by Ferran
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