Mexico (Country Guide)

this is an excellent over view of mostly mainstream Mexico,with a few off-the-wall eclectic destinations and side trips..all and all an excellent introduction to Mexico travel,but for detail you need some back-up..i.e.,Footprint's Mexico/Central America Handbook and esp. Moon regional guides ,i.e. Northern Mexico and also ,Oaxaca handbooks..much needed are guide books and references for the less developed and wilder south-west Sierra;particularly the Cordillera in Michoacan,Guerrero ,and Chiapas... those interested in this project and or travel to this(or other magic) region[...]

I have about five editions of Lonely Planet Mexico. All previous editions (this is the 11th) were better, if not a lot better. They have quit pricing in dollars, so you have to convert to pesos (admittedly not too hard when the exchange rate hovers at $10M to $1US) for hotels and restaurants. (Forget that travel guides for high inflationary countries are obsolete the day they are distributed.) Worse, they have ceased categorizing hotels as "Budget," "Mid-range" and "Top End," instead using a listing in ascending order of price (no help if the lodgings remodel and go up in price). Worse still, they continue to avoid money saving tips, like staying in San Juan del Rio (which they oimit entirely) when hotels and restaurants in nearby Tequisquiapan are out of sight: the latter caters mostly to rich "Chilangos" (Mexico City people), who go over for a weekend getaway. Some of the comments are downright absurd, e.g. calling Orizaba an industrialized dump, while praising the pricier, relatively boring Cordoba. All in all, this is a B- effort. I am considering taking some other travel guide next trip. In L.P.'s favor, I must admit it still covers small, out of the way spots that are in reality must see's: Rio Atoyac for its tasty, garlicky langostinos and Cuetzalan, Puebla, for its charm.

Just got back form Mexico, great guide. Every question I had I found answers for.

I've used these guide books for years. Chalcatzingo, Morales isn't even in the book. It's an important Olmec site. The major museum in Mexico City (National Anthropology) wasn't high lighted in the index. You have to hunt through every museo entry and there are many. This stuff is annoying.

Honestly, you don't even need to buy this, because everyone else will have one if you're staying at hostels. But I took it on a 2-week trip in May 2008, and it does the job. I wasn't disappointed with any of the hostels or restaurants that were recommended, and they all existed, which is nice.

A few minor criticisms:

The Mexico City Metro map is awful. Too gray and too hard to read. The maps in the station are easier to use to navigate, which is sad.
All the prices are in dollars. That's just silly, and sometimes confusing since they use $ for pesos in Mexico. Further, all the prices are wrong. I assume this is because it's a couple of years old, but maybe it's because the exchange rate changed. In particular, every single archaeological attraction was a different price (48 pesos, not $3.50).
The abbreviations for the bus services are annoying since they don't use them locally.
Should the Author's Choice hostel in a Lonely Planet really be a $325 / night room?