For over twenty years, Lonely Planet Mexico has been guiding travelers around Mexico. At over a thousand pages, this guidebook has extensive information about history, archaeology, hotels, restaurants, intercity buses and their frequencies, cities… you name it.  Speaking of names, I see that the publisher is now calling it Mexico (Country Guide).

The Lonely Planet series has the reputation of being more for the backpacker crowd, perhaps because that’s how they got started, but this book is suitable for travelers of all budgets and points of view. I appreciate that Lonely Planet Mexico gives actual price ranges for hotels and restaurants rather than using codes for different price levels, like many other guidebooks do. However, do keep in mind that the peso-dollar exchange rate may be different than when this guidebook was researched.

The book begins with several general chapters, with suggested itineraries, an overview of Mexican history, a description of Mexican culture, environment, and food and drink. The bulk of the book is the place-by-place section, beginning with Mexico City and working its way around the whole country. A back section includes a directory of practical advice, information on travel to and within Mexico, health tips, a section on essential Spanish, a short glossary of Spanish words and phrases, and a very good index. (I love a good index! I’m always looking up something I remember reading before.) John Noble is the coordinating author, with a group of  other writers credited as well.

This is by far the most comprehensive guidebook I’ve seen on Mexico. Its very comprehensiveness means that it is the one guidebook most travelers to Mexico seem to have. No problem, so long as you don’t limit your choice of hotels, restaurants, or tourist attractions to only the ones covered here.

Also, there can be a tendency to think that a guidebook represents The Truth. As a longtime librarian, I can tell you that no one book has it all. For that reason, I like to travel with more than one. For roaming around Mexico, start with Lonely Planet Mexico and consider adding the Rough Guide to Mexico or Frommer’s Mexico. (If you are only going to the cities that Frommer’s covers, it could serve as your first pick.)

We tear the map pages out of our Lonely Planet Mexico and carry them with us in the cities and archaeological sites we go to. We prefer to wander around with as little stuff with us as possible, the better to put our attention on what’s around us. I do shock some of my friends by destroying books!

Here is the 2009 edition at Amazon… click on it to go find out more there.

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