India

Firmly ensconced in the budget travel canon, Lonely Planet: Indiahas become as essential to sub-continental backpacker culture as the Himalayan hill stations, Arabian sea beaches and crafty rickshaw drivers it describes. Beyond the frank, thorough coverage of the country's highlights and pitfalls, indispensable maps and a snazzy full-colour guide to India's religions make this sturdy tome an endlessly useful one-stop reference. Though the emphasis is on "budget" travel, there are hotel and restaurant picks to accommodate you whether your budget is US$10 or US$500 a day. The book's only problem is that to some degree, it's a victim of its own success--it can be difficult to get off the beaten path when every English-speaking backpacker in South Asia is carrying the same guide. Fortunately, given India's (and the book's) seemingly endless charms, there's still enough to go around. --Andrew Nieland

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View books by Sarina Singh, Joe Bindloss, Paul Clammer, Janine Eberle, Paul Harding, Abigail Hole, Patrick Horton, Amy Karafin, Matt Phillips, Simon Richmond.

the best LP guide - Rated
and the best guide I've come across for India. Packed with detail and a reasonable cultural/ historical introduction. Maps are great, the timetables are pretty accurate, the opening times and prices are correct...

There are some very bad LP guides out there. Vietnam springs to mind. But LP India has been consistently good throughout the years. I think I've used 4 versions of the guidebook and have been pleased with the improvements everytime.

Obviously the negativities are that it is pretty big but how else are you supposed to cram in all that information.

A Must Have - Rated
An absolute must for India! Not exactly space saving, but dont go to India without it.

Lonley Planet India - Rated
This book is very thick and heavy. Not the most practical of travel books. But makes a good pillow!!
The information is not so bad if you want to stay within the LP community. But the maps are invaluable when you turn up in a new town at 6am in the morning without a clue.

Best guide for India - Rated
This book is not only by far the best guide to India that you will ever find. It is also the best Lonely Planet guide I have ever read (I have 6 other LP guides). Everything you will ever need in your traveling through India is written in this guide, and every aspect seem covered. There is a reason why every single traveler in India has this book, and this might be the only weakness: if you follow this guide, you will follow an already taken path in a country, that provides plenty of possibilities for the opposite. But that will be the case with any guide, so go ahead and get the best one available, this one!