The Rough Guide to Mexico (Rough Guide Travel Guides) | 
 enlarge | Authors: John Fisher, Zora O'neill, Paul Whitfield, Daniel Jacobs
Publisher: Rough Guides Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £8.77
You Save: £7.22 (45%)
New (40) Used (8) from £7.84
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 45277
Media: Paperback
Edition: 7Rev Ed
Pages: 983
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1.3
ISBN: 1843538431
Dewey Decimal Number: 917
EAN: 9781843538431
ASIN: 1843538431
Publication Date: July 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A little rough around the edges... August 22, 2008
P. Reynolds (Cambs, UK)
I believe the title is far more revealing than one might imagine. On the whole, I would highly recommend this book as a foundation or starting place for a trip to Mexico; though inevitably for a general guide, bredth of information surpasses depth.
The book is broken down into rather helpful zones or regions of the country, making the act of planning far more convenient. Each zone is subcategorised into cities and towns (most with a street map of the town centre). This precedes a broad description of the history and points of interest in the town, then a list of some of the better eateries, hotels, transport links, and nightlife. Beware, however - details about bus times and such like can change often - note the year of publication of your edition, and do not assume that all the details will still ring true!
The descriptions of tourist hot-spots are fine, if a little short, with only the major attractions given more than a paragraph or two. The likes of Chapultepec, Chitchen Itza, and the Frida Kahlo museum are all given special highlighted sections, catering very much for the standard tourist trail. For the more adventurous and foot-loose, this guide is excellent at providing the bare bones of how to get around Mexico: it contains enough to be a worthwhile companion, but I strongly suggest more specialised, detailed additional literature for whatever region you find yourself in. The Rough Guide to Mexico can occasionally throw curve-balls, such as 'there are several contempary Maya villages in the vicinity' with no explanation as to where, which offer a better visit, and which can not in fact abide visitors at all! Actually, such places get token mentions only. The areas of Bajio surrounding Copper Canyon are minimally described - only the train route gets much of nod.
Overall it makes for a pleasant read, and is perfect for the casual tourist - particularly of the major cities. For backpackers and afficionados of places where people are not, the book is still of aid, but you will not be able to leave the tourist trail by it's pages alone.
The Rough Guide to Mexico (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
 Very interesting, but written for a certain type of holiday January 1, 2008
C. Frost (Sheffield, UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book has loads of info about culture, religion, history and the like, all the kinds of things I thought I would find out about on the trips we took around the Yucatan(but didn't because the Thomson tour guide didn't speak very good English). If you wish to travel to landmarks or historical sites, you will find a wealth of rich and interesting information which will give you real insight into your visit.
However, on the downside, if you are one of the thousands of people who wish to travel to a popular resort, such as Cancun, you will find very basic details, tainted with a kind of horrified wonder of why anyone would want to travel to such places. There is a seeming expectation that everyone reading the book would prefer to stay in a grotty hostel and eat from dodgy street stalls, and no thought that this might be someone's chance to have a rest from work once a year, and that they might want to do this in comfort!
Now, I realise there are many people who buy Rough Guides wanting an 'authentic experience' whilst on a round-the-world jaunt, however there are also many people who want to get the best out of their annual two week holiday and would like to be catered for as well. I would like to see a bit less of this 'reverse snobbery', and instead see more unbiased tips on all areas of interest.
Even with this in mind though, I still enjoyed the book and think it is well worth a read to get the most out of your trip.
Met my needs perfectly December 31, 2007
yellowdog (Texas, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A day after buying this book, seeing the page 14 picture of Copper Canyon and deciding we had to go there, my friend and I were sitting on the bus to Chihuahua. The Rough Guide suited us perfectly in the way that we traveled through Mexico. It fulfilled two roles: inspiration and transportation logistics. After a couple days in a town, we'd look through the book for other interesting destinations nearby. When we found one, we'd use the book to find out bus times/locations and the approximate cost. When we arrived at a new place, the book went into the backpack until it was time to move on.
It would take an encyclopedia to explain all of the attractions in every city in Mexico, and I don't think this book tries to. What it does try to do (and succeeds) is to give you the feel of each region and town(ie. food, weather, general activities, friendliness of the people), some examples of representative hotels/restaurants/attractions(number proportional to size of town), and great info on transportation(bus station location, length of travel, price, buy in advance?, frequency of buses).
It lacks in historical background and I don't blame it. If I want to learn about Mexican culture from a book, I'll sit on the couch at home. This book gave me much needed direction (in 2 respects of the word) but it let me discover the country for myself.
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