Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Moon or LP

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

which is the best guide book to use on fiji? the Moon Handbook or the Lonely Planet, and what are the pros and cons of each?

guides
Rob Kay wrote the original LP guide to Fiji and he discusses this very subject on his website at
http://www.fijiguide.com/Facts/bibliography.html</A>


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guidebook opinion
For the best on many islands, get David Stanley's South Pacific Handbook, much better that the LP compilation.

For the Cooks, alas my "Cook Islands Companion" is a bit old, but still accurate as to culture, sights, etc. I decided not to do another edition after seeing D. Stanley's "Tahiti and the Cook Islands", as it gives a good feel for the country, includes our local customs, etc., and he writes in terms and content that both the backpacker and the middle-class traveler can appreciate.

The current LP guide to Rarotonga and the Cooks is well out of date, and was not that great to begin with. They may have a new one next yr.

Raro

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Fiji Guides
David Stanley's 'Moon Handbooks - Fiji' is by far the best guide to Fiji. He reviews budget hotels that aren't even listed in the Lonely Planet guide. The 'Moon' guide is also far more researched than it's counterpart, and is also a very enjoyable read. A lot of the treks discribed in the 'Moon' guide aren't even mentioned in the 'LP' guide. These are but just a few examples of the differences between the two guides.

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'tupapau' is David Stanley
I thought you all had that figured out by now.
To his credit DS continues to contribute excellent info here day after day month after month and never ever spams the place.
Would that there were more like him.

Shumba-Dog of the West

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cheers
cheers dudes!

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Hmmm....
I thought Tupapau ("Crabskin" in Samoan) knew just a little too much about just about everything in the Pacific, including the inside scoop on publishing rights of guidebook authors!

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