Lonely Planet Colombia Paperback – August 1, 2012

Good traveling size & weight. nicely written, facts & hints appropiatte to plan a trip in a tropical country, where the "local wisdom" definitely makes a difference on the way your journey develops.Lonely planet did more than well here, I am Colombian and got to now stuff I didnt know.DG

I am an expat living in Colombia and bought the previous version of this guide just after arriving here. I like to use it for inspiration and a different perspective to sum to suggestions I get from the locals when traveling to other parts ou of Bogotá. I see this title as a good upgrade to its previous release - better organization and more information.However, I believe it could give more recommendations on places to stay and eat. And, as for Bogotá, where I'm currently living, I think there are quite a few better restaurants than the ones recommended there.In short: it could be better, but it is still useful.

The guide is essential for those who want to Colombia. Gives practical and useful tips for both plenajar the trip, but also when there is something unforeseen. Excellent.

The August 2012 edition of Lonely Planet Colombia gives a good amount of accurate information, some inaccurate information, and omits other information. Ample hostels are listed. The history section is impressive. And it covers a wide range of activities suitable for the tastes of any traveler. However, some info is clearly wrong. For instance, it may claim there are ample buses from x city to x destination, when there are only buses on weekends. It tries to give highly specific prices (ex. 1920 COP, or $1 USD) when, in reality, Colombia is a developing country where prices fluctuate with high frequency. Also, recommending Cartagena as the #1 thing to see in Colombia is a huge mistake. The city smells, is pricey, has pretty lame beaches, and doesn't have that much to do - nearly every other backpacker I met in a month in Colombia agreed that Cartagena is overrated. The worst part, though, is what the guide omits, principally, maps. I don't know how many times I got lost in small or medium sized towns because there were no maps given in this book. Frustratingly, it will list the address of a business in, say, San Gil, but won't show a map! The map for Bogotá doesn't even show the airport or the main bus station!In summary, the guide could be worse, but it could be better. There may be more informative guides out there, so I'd say look for them instead.

I am an expat living in Medellín and have been traveling all over Colombia for about 7 years and I was very disappointed with this Colombia Lonely Planet Guide. I have also been to Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta and San Andres. This book is like every other Colombia guidebook I have seen and it is full of inaccuracies and is missing many of the best places. I had the older version of the book and bought the new one for a friend visiting hoping to see something better but I was again completely disappointed.Every city listed is missing so many of the best sights, nightlife, hotels, restaurants and shopping. For example, in Medellín how can you miss some of the best discos like Dulce Jesús Mio and Prizma; best hotels like Medellín Royal and Park 10; best hostels like The Pit Stop and Buddha Hostels; best restaurants like Mu and In Situ, best shopping malls like El Tesoro, Santa Fé and Los Molinos. Come on, they could have at least looked at TripAdvisor and found some of the better places in each city.Don't waste your money on this guide - very limited information on such a beautiful country with many incredible restaurants, great hotels and so many things to do.

I Love Lonely Planet. Have used them for most of the 54 Countries I have visited so far. More on the list.

I spent two weeks travelling in Colombian and found that some of the information was vague and some was just plain wrong. Much of what is missing could easily be gleaned from TripAdvisor or some other forum. I'll give a few specific examples.In Bogota, the book does mention that you should not pick up a taxi on the street due to the risk of getting robbed. They should also mention that you should use a SmartPhone app called Tappsi to get a taxi. SmartPhones are becoming ubiquitous in Colombia just as they are in more developed countries.I went to Chicamocha National Park based on what I read in this book. The time for taking the teleferico was wrong and the information about getting there by bus was not as detailed as it needed to be. This place has a storage room for your luggage but the book never mentions this.I found a number of other situations where the book wasn't adequate. The authors need to put more effort into researching the book to make sure it is accurate and complete.

Their section on Bogota was pretty small considering how large the city is, but their coverage was still pretty good. A lot of the recommendations were spot on and a few were a little off. The Casona del Patio was an exceptional hotel value and experience but the Pasteleria Florida's chocolate completo was a little underwhelming.Also, I would prefer to bring cash to exchange rather than using the ATM's there. I paid about 5% to exchange USD at the airport, but the ATM charged me about 2.5% to exchange PLUS my Capital One credit card charged me a $10 cash advance fee. Check your credit card/debit card policies closely before choosing to use them to access cash.