Cultured Travel Guide Books - Frommer's Brazil (Frommer's Complete) |
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List Price: $21.99
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 918.10465
EAN: 9780470209417
ISBN: 0470209410
Label: Frommers
Manufacturer: Frommers
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: 2008-04-14
Publisher: Frommers
Studio: Frommers |
| Spotlight Customer Reviews: |
Customer Rating:  
Summary: Frommer's is the best "upscale" guide available on Brazil
Comment: For my five-week journey through Brazil (Sept/Oct 2007) I took three guides (Lonely Planet, Footprint and Frommer's) and Frommer's has the most positive qualities. This review refers to the 2006 edition.
Frommer's Brazil 2006 opens with "What's New in Brazil." This is a store house of information, especially if you are a frequent traveler to Brazil. New hotels and resorts are popping up throughout Brazil and if you can go to these spots before they become well known then you are apt to get great prices and better service. Another section that is excellent is "The Best of Brazil" where the BEST of everything is selected: "Best Beaches," "Best Experiences," "Best Wildlife," "Best Views," "Best Nightlife," on and on.
The hotels selections are great choices. All of the hotels have website listings and going online to see the rooms is a major help. No other guide is as descriptive about the restaurants as is Frommer's. The authors write in such a way that you want to taste and see: "The menu includes pastas such as ravioli with dried shrimp and leek or the spaghetti with seafood. We tried the filet of mignon in cassis sauce and grilled figs and the lamb in tamarind sauce on a bed fo cassve puree." Hum, I am hungry now. Great descriptive writing. The hotel descriptions are equally as well written. This guide has the best write up on Carnival.
About money: Brazil is not `cheep'. This guide is no longer correct regarding cost. The dollar's fall makes Brazil about as expensive as travel in the USA. In Rio, a decent hotel (not great a hotel, just decent) is at least $100 and up. A good, not great, meal is at least $20 to $30. I traveled during the "Low Season" and I found that I needed $100-$150 a day to travel at a 3-4 star level and eat OK (not including my airfares). You should add at least 20-30% in high season and at least 60% at Carnival.
On the `need to improve' side: the section on health is pathetic. It gives you very little information in compared to the other guides. There is a paltry seven pages, which is paradoxically titled `Brazil in Depth' which is an afterthought that attempts to explain the history, culture, economy, politics, religion and life of Brazil. Absolutely insignificant. For those that want more, I highly recommend Culture Shock! Brazil 2007 -- an excellent primer on Brazil (see my review). Though hotel & restaurant recommendations are right on the money, this guide has significantly fewer recommendations than Lonely Planet or Footprint, i.e. the city of Manaus in the Amazon (2 million pop.) has only three restaurant recommendations!
In a nutshell, if you are not going `off the beaten path' then Frommer's is the guide for you. It will give you the best of Brazil (not the cheapest). Happy Trails. Strongly Recommended. 4.5
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superior to other Brazil Travel Guides
Comment: I purchased this book, as well as a Fodor's Guide to Sao Paulo and Discovery's Insight Guide to Brazil. I have found this book to be more descriptive and detailed in identifying areas/places of interest for the tourist. The Insight Guide has a lot more photos, and is nicer to look at, but this book is far more informative and functional.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellant source for information traveling in Brazil
Comment: I suggest this for anyone traveling in Brazil.
Customer Rating:
Summary: OK, but.....
Comment: Recently used this guide for a visit to Sao Paolo, Parati, Brasilia and Rio. I did appreciate the more functional approach (settling, exploring) compared to rough guide or lonely planet. Also, the intented audience appears to be a bit older / less backpack / more money, which worked out nice in this case (Brasil is cheap :-). The information appears to be fairly accurate, and did indeed help us book hotels and visit attractions.
However, not all was well. For Rio nightlife try to find other sources of info. One area where this frommers fails badly is maps. Not only do the maps contain errors - attractions drawn in at wrong locations - but the range / level of detail is way too limited. The lonely planet is much better in this regard (although that guide does have some major other problems, like shameless selfpromotion of other items in their stable)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Should be titled "A Portion of Brazil"
Comment: I've enjoyed the other Frommer's Guides I've used, particularly the one for Costa Rica, so I ordered Frommer's Brazil online. I was quite disappointed to discover the book covers only a small portion of Brazil's geography. Not only is the sparsely inhabited interior not covered, the southern states, home to more than a million people and a vacation destination for hundreds of thousands of Brazilians and Argentines are not so much as mentioned. It's improper to title the book "Brazil" when it's really about a dozen or so major destinations.
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| Editorial Reviews: |
| You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go-they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us! Frommer's Brazil is the premier guide to the country, with complete coverage of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Bahia, Natal, Brasilia, and more. You'll get details on Carnaval, Ponta Negra, the Amazon, the hang gliding in Rio, the prawns of Ilhabela, and the moquecas of Salvador. Whether you're an archaeology buff, an outdoor adventurer, or a partier in search of a good time, Brazil presents so many diverse travel options that it'll make your head spin. Frommer's B razil will help you plan a memorable trip, starting with our highly opinionated lists of the best experiences the country has to offer.
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