Lonely Planet Vietnam: Detailed Itineraries | Travel Like a Local | Insider Tips | Covers Hanoi & Halong Bay, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Hoi An PLUS Angkor Wat (Travel Guide) Paperback – Folded Map, 11 Aug. 2023

Great Guide!

We bought this for a holiday to Vietnam and found it impossible to work with and the information it gave was, to say the least, sketchy.Here is the positive point - it was up to date.Now the negatives. Those of you who have used Lonely Planet for years will know by now that they are changing the design and this was certainly the new design, which to my mind does not work. I think it was built for people to read either before they went or in the hotel and then after tagging what they want to do they head off with their mobile phone and google maps to find what they wanted to see. That isn't a guide book in the strictest sense of the word i.e. a book to guide you which in the past LP produced. This points you at options and then assumes you will use other means to guide you there.This is fine, but change the title as it isn't a guide book!Which means the suggestions for things that you get do not come with addresses. It is assumed you will have an alternative way of finding where these things are. Even in the enclosed maps of Hanoi and HCMC there is no symbols showing these were the places recommended in the book. When we travel we are digital nomads with only the most basic of phones for emergencies. If like us you want to digitally detox then this guide is not for you. The Marco Polo guide which is now out of date is actually more useful.The other point that concerned me was the reviews of things, which was to be polite, a little over egged. Lonely Planet has always made a big deal of the fact that it uses people based in the country to write about it. In free liberal democracies that's fine but I wonder about the value in one party states like Vietnam. I mean if there was an LP on North Vietnam written by people in North Vietnam (or China, Russia, Burma, Iran etc) wouldn't you be slightly suspicious of reviews? Certainly some of the glowing reviews here did not match what we found on the ground. It must be difficult living in a one party state and writing about the country - do the journalists place a positive spin on things or even self-censor to make sure they have a trouble free time? I don't know and that is a problem. As is the extent the writers follow the government orthodoxy when talking about the past. I accept this is not a history book but some of the information supplied on the wars and takeovers was at the least one sided.All in all a very disappointing book and one I could not recommend.

The book is laid out well with places to visit. Written in a readable way. Downside is there is ver little transport information, especially from city to city.

Have a trip booked to Vietnam in March 2025: We were recommended to read before going for ideas

Read this before going to Vietnam & it have me some good starting points + watching social media videos to plan a route, on pricing etc.

The editor of Lonely Planet should be fired. The new format is terrible, just enter “what to do in Vietnam” in Google and save yourself £15.

Been using RG and LP for decades but with a break over the last five years. I have to say I'm not entirely keen on the latest incarnation: less detail than before, too many images too many text boxes with minimal details (or duplicating what is written elsewhere) - more like a comic that my trusted 'go to' travel guide. Disappointing.

Great for a country trip