The Rough Guide to South America On a Budget Paperback – Unabridged, September 2, 2013

My wife and I like to plan our vacations by reviewing travel web sites and several guide books so we can select the places we want to see and not be constrained by a preset tour. Yes, this process is time consuming but we feel we can see twice as much for half the cost. This guide has lots of suggestions regarding transportation options, places to see, where to stay, where to eat. Well worth the price.

I have two big problems with this guide. First, it is far too summary in its coverage. Footprint used to do a guide like this for South America that sets the standard, and that standard is very high. This book just doesn't cover the countries and cities in enough detail to be particularly useful.Then there's the "on a budget" part. If you understand "on a budget" to mean 20-year-old college student looking to stay in hostels as budget, you may like this book, but I was looking for something else entirely. I'm looking for a guide that includes listings that have been chosen by the authors for their exceptional value, not simply a list of hostels and cheap cafes.

While the kindle version is easy to travel with (less to pack!), it has a few draw backs, too. The city sections are not very big so if you spend more than 5 days in a large city, you won't have enough information in this book to cover your adventures and will need to seek outside local sources. That said, it was convenient and updated (for Bolivia at least), which was a HUGE PLUS. Hopefully the next version will include more maps and some easier page skips in the digital version.

This is a great guide to help us prep for 6 months in SA. Prices, potential itineraries, cheap eats, and what upgrades are worth it.So far we have traveled through Chile & Peru. Ecuador is coming in a week or so. This is a great source of info. The Kindle version makes it easy to carry, but harder to bookmark and use... The choice is yours.

Helpful

Of similar guides currently sold, arguably this is the most readable. Its print style is easily navigated and not a strain on the reader. Likewise, its subject appears up to date and relevant for the user.

my travel buddy used lonely planet. i found this easier to read, more budget friendly and even funny in some parts. easy to shove in a bag. made traveling 100% easier.

This book has great content - I only wish it weighed less since it was a lot to lug around when I was backpacking for 5 weeks.

We are currently using this guide travelling around Suuth America, we have used it for Brazil,Bolivia and Peru so far and will need it for Chile and Argentina. Overall the guide has been disappointing, it is very rough - it seems to miss quite a few features of places,i.e. everyone else in our hostel knew about a free tour in La Paz, yet the rough gude didnt mention it or it will suggest random musuems, which sometimes are gems but miss the main attractions or fail to mention something to see nearby.It is also inaccurate for a variety of places, either saying buses run which dont, even though routes stopped by 2012 and prices are wrong, e.g. for hostels, museums, buses, some mistakes are inevitable but there are simply too many in this 2013! edition.NO guide is perfect, but this is a real let down, we find ourselves constantly checking others Lonely Planet and the internet because we are not confident this guide is doing a very good job. Just a little too rough to be honest.

We used this book whilst travelling around South America earlier this year. It was very useful and full of helpful tips and hints. The internet was very bad in many areas and having the hard copy of this was great although it did mean my bag weighed a lot more. It's heavy!It contained pictures and maps as well as hostel recommendations for most areas. The only bad thing was, as per most print books, the prices were very out of date. I think as soon as a hotel or hostel gets in the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet, its prices double! Also the maps are sometimes not accurate. We spent many a day wondering around with a backpack trying to find a Rough Guide recommended hostel only to find out it was in a completely different place. However, this has also happened using TripAdvisor so nothing's perfect. As long as you take the prices with a pinch of salt and check the locations of hostels most of the other info is okay.

People are nar and yey on these types of books. Some find incredibily useful and some think it spoils the fun!I traveled solo and thank god I had this! Good to have an idea of the areas, and then cities I wanted to explore. Mentioned some places I've ever heard off and so glad it did! It made my trip to salar de Uyuni magical as everyone else was waffling people#s advise to start to Uyuni rather than recommend in book to get a better experience starting in tupiza - i wrote about this on my website http://iamdanelson.com/visit-salar-de-uyuni/Food, nightlife and places to visit are all easy to follow and highlighted on readable maps.Sometimes it can be out of date so that adds the element of excitement anyways!Buy buy - i recommened in my "what is in my backpack" guide - http://iamdanelson.com/what-is-in-my-backpack/

This travel guide has been disappointing and I wouldn't recommend it.The info is out of date and restaurants and hostels recommended are no longer open. The prices are not current.Sometimes info I would have expected to be there was missing and I had to use internet or other guide books.I also thought the electronic layout or indexing made it difficult to find content easily. For example you can index on country, then city/region but no further. Would be useful if each major city was indexed by what to see, accommodation, transport so you could go straight to that section.I understand as covered multiple countries info has to be summarised, so the guide did provide basic helpful suggestions for places to stay, bus timetables, what to see but that was about it.

Another map to add to the gift to friends who fancy a tour of S.America