Cape Town Travel Forum

Actually I start planning my trip to South Africa in 2010. My main destinations will be Cape town and Kruger, so I need information about the Cape as well as about safaris... So I wonder which travel guide is the best.

Usually I made good experiences with Lonely Planet, but at www.amazon.de the South Africa guide of LP is rated very bad. Especially it is rated worse than the Rough Guide... So I wonder, wether I should give the Rough guide a chance...

Alternatively there is mentioned, that there is a German translation of the Rough guide (Stefan Loose Travel Handbücher), but this is based on a prior edition of the Rogh guide. So does anybody of the German speaking community knows, wether Stefan Loose's book is outdated?

Thanx in advance...

I cannot compare the South Africa travel guides - but have some Stefan Loose Travel Handbücher. They are all based on the Rough Guides, with additions from feedback of German travellers. What I like about those guides is that they have a lot of maps, so are very good for orientation.

Can't you just go to a bookshop and compare, and especially: check in which year the Stefan Loose book was published?

Surely, a bandnew Rough Guide is more recent than the previous Stefan Loose book. Of course, new tips are added permanently, and the books get more complex.

On the other hand, most things that are outdated are restaurant tips, and who really needs them? And in general, every travel guide is already outdated again when it is published. But the main attractions remain.

I always travel with some guide books, but in the end I always collect one million brochures as soon as I arrive somewhere, and talk to the people at visitor centres and the locals. This gives the final updates. We should not regard travel guides as travel bibles. Sometimes I wonder which rubbish is published, and which gems are ignored. Always remember: Humans are behind every book... ;-)

I think similar to Kakapo2 . With Loneley Planet you can download now the parts you want (€ 1.50 - 2.- for each chapter), the dis atvantage of L.P.: it´s used by to many, so Hotels get more expensive as soon as mentioned there. Stephan Loose is in general more detailed (partikular for Thailand, but for instance quite useless for the smaler Indonsian islands)

Unfortunately neither Stefan Loose nor lonely Planet is sold in the local book stores, so I can't compare the books. But even if I'd able to do so, I would noz be able to decide, wether the hints are good and the information is true, before visiting South Africa by myself...

If I interpret your postings right, you slightly prefer Stefan looses travelbook (compared with LP)?

I can say for the New Zealand guides that I prefer Stefan Loose/Rough Guide although I do not share all opinions - but this is not possible with anything.

In another case I can say for another rather good brand of travel guides that the NZ guide contained ridiculous mistakes and even falsified history. I do not want to tell the name, as after several interventions the editor was fired and replaced, and the problems have been addressed. (It was NOT Lonely Planet!)

I have the English Lonely Planet guide for Germany and have found many inaccuracies. In the guide about NZ, they have not mentioned two of Christchurch's most fabulous attractions, a cathedral and a wildlife park. This is just a little example - but you can be sure it happens in other places, too. I think they are a bit complacent because they are sooooo famous.

Great German guide books I always liked a lot were the ones from the Reise Know-How series. But I do not have South Africa, only several South American countries, and they are fabulous.

If you are in Vienna, both are sold at Freytag & Berndt, Kohlmarkt oposite Demel, and maybe at Thalia bookstores. I haven´t been to Southafrika since a long time, but LP might be better there.

Since one year I do not live in Vienna any more. I live in Rotenturm, a small village in Southern Burgenland near the Hungarian border... Next town is Oberwart, which actually has book stores, but they do not have the mentioned books...

Just to give you a warning, we are travelling to South Africa in June/July this year and when booking accommodation we were able to view prices for next year as well, especially around World Cup time.

One apartment in Cape Town which we looked at booking (in Camps Bay) was 5000ZAR a night, and will jump to 25,000 a night come the World Cup.

I imagine that this will be common place around South Africa, and I guess anywhere where a national event will be held.

Sorry, I meant international.

Hi
You could try looking up
www.cape-town.net
www.safarinow.com
www.aboutcapetown.com
www.sanparks.org
www.suedafrika.net
It is true prices next year , will skyrocket, obviously as South African establishments will try and coin in with the event. so try and book early,there will still be affordable places. You will need a vehicle to drive around too though as our transport is not like in Europe, and availability on rental cars might also be a problem, this will obviously be June, July of course.
Enjoy your trip to South Africa.

Here is another idea- there are some very informative pages right here on VT re Cape Town & Kruger NationalPark- with HONEST tips & opinions. Have you looked at any???