Lonely Planet Turkey

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Reviewer: richard_t from South America

Just a very useful guide, with basically everything the visitor to Turkey will need, a useful historical overview, travel tips, tourist sites, and suggested itineraries. Turkey is a great travel destination, with so much to see and so many different regions that it is difficult for one travel guide to do it all justice. This guide does a pretty good job. Those wanting a bit more on Istanbul would do well to check out the Eyewitness Guide or John Freely's book, especially for more historical depth and more detailed coverage of restaurants and hotels. But this Lonely Planet guide crams in an impressive amount of useful information. The chapters on the Adriatic coast sites (Ephesus, Kusadasi, etc.) are brief but comprehensive. The only suggestions I would have for the next edition of this guide would be a better section on buying carpets - there are four pages here, but frankly they aren't that helpful, and most visitors to Turkey could use some do's and don'ts on the subject. Also, many of the country maps are too small-gauge to be useful, dark and difficult to read. The maps should be greatly expanded, both in size and number, and made brighter and easier to read. But overall, the Lonely Planet guide is thorough and will likely be more than enough for most travelers.