Moon Costa Rica (Moon Handbooks)

I usually purchase Lonely Planet guides, but the LP Costa Rica was too old. Moon was more recently published and I'm very glad that I was able to try out a different series. I was very impressed with Moon Costa Rica and the Moon series will definitely be one that I check first when looking for a guidebook in the future.

The similarities with LP mainly come from the tone in which it was written since it was authored by a Brit (much like most of the LP books I've used in the past). And this author has a tremendous amount of knowledge of Costa Rica as well as Latin America. The layout was logical and easy to navigate.

Of all the Costa Rica guidebooks on the shelf this one had the most, and most detailed, maps. In small towns where there are no road signs and "intestinal" roads that make getting turned around and confused very easy these detailed and zoomed-in maps came in very, very handy.

Of all the guidebooks it also devoted the most...Read more

As a loyal Lonely Planet reader, I thought Moon would be as good or better, considering the reviews for the two. This book is written for the author's ideals only - anyone who is really into sportfishing and seeing expats exclusively while traveling. It does a poor job of listing the more budget-minded lodging and restaurants, and has little to no mention of info that would suit someone with cultural interest. All restaurants and lodging are "to avoid the Ticos, book here" or "try expat Chuck and Susan's place, here". It would help someone book an entire trip to see other travelers traveling, and to go fishing. Disappointed, I went to the bookstore and paged through LP's older, more concise guide book, and was thrilled to see better descriptions, more color pictures, and more cultural insight. Moon's book also packs an extra 100 pages of Costa Rican history - something that is nice, but not necessary to take with me in a backpack trekking around the country.
Lastly, the author...Read more

This book attempts to serve as a tavel guide for both the budget and the upscale price segments for trips to Costa Rica. It was first published (over) 15 years ago in 1994. This review considers the 6th edition of the book, which was the most current version when we made our trip in 2009.

While we cannot speak for the upscale price segment, this travel book utterly failed on us as a guide for our backpack tour through Costa Rica. It appears to us as if much of the information provided in the book is outdated and has not been properly updated.

The reasons for why we are so disappointed with the book include the following experiences:

1) In 2009 a change in the telephone system of Costa Rica took place. While the book briefly mentions this in the last chapter, it does not explain how this change affects the old seven digit numbers. Without this rather simple information (a number 2 must precede the seven digit numbers) all telephone numbers in the...Read more