Lonely Planet Budapest & Hungary (Travel Guide) Paperback – July 18, 2023

Lonely Planet used to be insightful and offer great off-the-beaten-path sights. The back used to have great summaries of a country's history and culture.No more. These new editions just have Instagrammable sights that everyone goes to, and the back is unintelligent and superficial.

This book is probably the worst travel guide I have ever purchased. There is no apparent organization scheme. Lots of nice photos without apparent structure. Very difficult to find anything. The information that is there is very scant. No prices. No hours. No information for families. For example, no mention anywhere that all the thermal baths in Budapest do not allow children. Would have been nice to know.

Gutted to receive this and find out Lonely Planet has completely changed the structure and content of their guides. Not very helpful to travel plan and will be nearly useless at the destination. In my early backpacking days, before much info was online, I was able to zigzag across countries with not much else than a LP book. Even in the digital age, I always started with a LP--it had all the info I needed to give structure my days and budget carefully. I could look up pictures, find other opinions, and deep dive online but LP was the foundation. The new format doesn't have cost, open times, detailed maps or really any structure e.g. separation by neighborhood, attraction vs restaurant vs hotel, etc. It also contains SIGNIFICANTLY less information and diversity of attractions since there are large pictures on most pages. There is also more emphasis on ranked lists, very basic travel advice, and preset itineraries--none of which are appealing to a seasoned traveler. It really is much more like an inspiration Pinterest board rather than a practical travel guide. You get the feeling that you can't be trusted to have your own interests, pace, and travel style.

Lonely Planet seems to have revamped their format and it is atrocious. They seemed to have focused on style over substance. The new layout makes it far harder to find listings, and they’ve inexplicably removed essential information like hours, and cost. I hope this is just a fluke for this book and not they way the are moving because if this is the future, I’ll have to find a new preferred guide book series

I'm on board with most of these reviews. For years, Lonely Planet Guides have been my "go to" travel guides and it is with a heavy heart to say that going forward I will no long be purchasing ANY of the guides. The format is dreadful and a lot of the information is useless...practically no information as to where to stay or eat.