Colombia Handbook, 3rd: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides)

I was in Colombia for three months and used this guide continually.

Peter Pollock writes for a broad audience, but he excels in providing insightful caveats for the adventuresome and ecologically focused traveler. He has information on shipping motorcycles and automobiles to Columbia. He has an excellent section on health, and his 'Background' section is succinct and informative (History, Culture Etc.). He covers the normal tourist destinations and encourages exploration of places that 99% of visitors to Colombia would miss (Tayrona National Park, Ciudad Perdia, etc.).

His accommodations and dining recommendations are adequate, generally accurate, reliable but are becoming outdated. Luckily, although this guide has been out for three years, the prices for lodging in Colombia have stayed relatively stable and accurate and eight out of the ten hotels I selected to visit in Bogota were still open.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: A serious omission for this 2000 guide is the...Read more

The few good aspects of this book are completely overshadowed by the false and frustrating information that fills the gaps. Just a few of the many inaccuracies we found:
-The book says money can be exchanged easily in banks. Of the many banks we went to and asked they all said that it is "very difficult" to exchange money in banks. (some do however).
-Prices for sleeping and eating were way off!! Restaurants that were one fork ended up being the most expensive (and in most cases had the worst food for the price). Some restaurants listed were not even there.
-At least one "typical dish" called Rondon that was listed in the book was not known by any locals.
-Maps were inaccurate. Addresses were wrong and locations on the maps were usually on the wrong streets.
-Bus information-There are no direct buses from Salento to Medellin.
We used the book for three weeks around Colombia. It was helpful, but I expected much more from a book published in...Read more

I have used this guide in Colombia for more than a week and found it to be an absolute disaster. And I very much doubt the writer(s) actually visited many of the places they reviewed.

Problems so far:
-The majority of the web addresses listed for hotels are seriously outdated and non-functioning, this from a book which was published only a few months ago. Suspicious?
-No TransMilenio (Bogota Metro) map? What???
-Restaurants in the cheapest category turned out to be more than twice the price that was listed in the book, once again from a very recently-published book. Come on guys, you actually ate at these places?
-One of the restaurants listed in the Bogota section, in this brand new of brand new editions, has been closed for a long time.
-No section on culture and etiquatte
-There are dozens upon dozens of restaurants in Bogota's Zona T. You reviewed TWO??? From where, their websites?
-The Bogota maps are a disaster. Why...Read more