No comments about Pilgrims to the Caribbean.(DESTINATIONS Catholic shrines): An article from: National Catholic Reporter.

No comments about Reed's Nautical Almanac: Caribbean 2000.

No comments about Passport's Illustrated Travel Guide to Eastern Caribbean (Passport's Illustrated Travel Guides from Thomas Cook).

No comments about Fodor's Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda 1979.

No comments about A Trevel Writer's Caribbean Journal, an Article in GRAND TOUR the Journal of Travel Literature, Spring 1977.

1 comments about The Rough Guide to Bahamas 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. This is the absolute worst guide book I have ever used! I purchased this one because it was revised in 2003 and assumed that the information would be current and up-to-date. Quickly, I found out how mistaken I was. As far as the information on New Providence/Paradise Island goes, 75% of the restaurants listed we tried to go to were closed, and had been for some time. The names of hotels were wrong, the prices of buses and taxis were dated, it failed to give any kind of review on smaller hotels and we ended up staying a few scary nights in a dump... It lacked on reviews of any kind for that matter, hotels, food, beaches, transportation; the information was either not there or seemed to always be incorrect. This book would be more helpful duct taped shut and used to prop up a leaning bookshelf.

1 comments about Exploring Costa Rica 2003 (Exploring Costa Rica (Tico Times)).

1. This book is very similiar to the AAA guidebooks available in the US for US states.

   It has an alright section describing the Tico culture and food and such, but nothing that couldn't be gleaned from another guidebook. It has a lot of listings of hotels and restaurants for the entire country, but like the AAA book has no objective comments (everything is good). The descriptions of the hotels are about one or two sentences long and are not useful in making a decision on where to stay.

   This book does have good color photos and pretty good regional maps (for trip planning, not detailed enough for driving).

   I could see this book being useful for someone on the run and just looking for ANY hotel in a town at 6:00 p.m., but it isn't very useful for trip planning.

   The Frommer's guidebook is much, much more useful.

2 comments about The Rough Guides' Cancun & Cozumel Directions 1 (Rough Guide Directions).

1. I just returned from a 2 week trip to the Yucatan peninsula. Starting off in Cancun and driving the cultural triangle route to the west to visit the Mayan ruins (Chichen Itza, Coba, Uxmal etc... and Spanish colonial cities (Merida, Valladolid etc...). For professional reasons I took along 4 travel guides (The Rough Guide to Cancun & Cozumel, DK's Eyewitness Top 10 Cancun & The Yucatan, Hidden Cancun & the Yucatan, and the Cadogan Yucatan & Mayan Mexico. In the past I've also used the frustrating Moon guide and weak Lonely Planet).
   
   Each of these travel guides has a different style and focus - some are pocket-sized reference guides to help the traveler find concise lists of sights to visit, places to eat, stay and shop without much in the way of history or background. Others are much more hefty (literally and literary) serious travel guides with extensive listings and a great deal of background information. Comparing the two types of guides is like comparing apples and oranges. Instead I believe each needs to be judged on it's own merits for the purpose each was obviously designed and the degree to which it suceeds in accomplishing that job.
   
   Personally I'm a fan of the consistent quality of Rough Guides. An intelligent, well researched and regularly updated series of generally hip orientated guides, the Rough Guide to Cancun & Cozumel is a good addition. Lots of photographs, a few very useable maps, a good simple layout of easy to access information regarding restaurants, bars, accommodations, shopping, sights along the Mayan Riviera but also covering the most famous Mayan ruins inland.
   
   This pocket sized book is a very convenient small size and the information inside is of course, a decent selection of recommendations with accompanying maps to find them. A small disc of directions and an ebook copy of the book is included but I didn't use it. For the general visitor relaxing in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel or Tulum who also wants a bit of extra information on interesting places to visit, it's ideal and very handy.
   
   Of course this guide is short on lengthy histories, more extensive recommendations and coverage of a wider area of the Yucatan peninsula. But the vast majority of North American or European visitors to this part of Mexico limit themselves to the area covered in this guide. A great many never actually buy a travel guide or think to explore much beyond the boundaries of the hotel zone or their all-inclusive unless they take an organised trip to Chichen Itza. However both the casual tourist and more intrepid traveler will find this pocket sized guide a useful reference companion. To some this book is ideal just to open eyes to the wonders of a bit of exploring further afield but not so much so that one wants to buy and carry a large serious and more expensive travel guide. To others, it works well as a small accompanying guide to use in combination with one of those thick guide books (I recommend the Cadogan Yucatan & Mayan Mexico as perhaps the best book on the region). But to both parties I also recommend the DK Eyewitness Top 10 Cancun & the Yucatan that contains more photographs than all other travel guides covering the area combined in a fun pocket-sized format.



2. small book with lots of information about cancun and cozumel. It also comes with a CD that you can put on your laptop and read the book digitaly

3 comments about Guide to Belize (Bradt Guides).

1. You can tell that Alex Bradbury loves Belize. Most tour books give you the facts about places to go and places to stay. Bradbury covers all that too, but he also tells you of the history and the culture of the country. Don't miss the story of the founding of the Belize Zoo and the way the people of Belize honor it. (Belize has the world's only jaguar preserve.



2. I used this book throughout my travels in Belize and found it indispensable. It is aimed for the traveler who doesn't plan to spend a fortune on the trip, but wants to enjoy every aspect of the country. Alex Bradbury offers great insights on the people and the sights of Belize, and makes some great recommendations.



3. I found the book very handy during my visit to Belize. Even when it was not 100% accurate it was not wrong.Furthermore it conveyed more of the spirit of the place than any other guide I red. In fact it makes a pleasant reading, even if you are visiting another country! Useful index at the back.

3 comments about Es la Habana.

1. Although I've been collecting photography books for a number of years, I must confess to knowing nothing about Pepe Navarro. This leads me to believe that he is relatively young, and remains unknown in serious photographic and curatorial circles. However, based on this massive and largely impressive collection of photographs taken in Havana, Cuba, I am sure his obscurity is destined to end. I highly recommend this photo-study of a once glorious city and its people to anyone interested in fine art photography.



2. Big format book but it hasn't espectacular pictures, most of the photos are shown in small format, considering the size of the book it should have photos in bigger size too, most of the pictures show Art deco style buildings in la Havana.



3. Unfortunaltely this book is only available in spanish. But according to the beautiful pictures in it I have the idea that it must be a very interesting and rather complete book about the recent architecture in Cuba. There are not many books which i can give such a qualification,...