Central Asia

by Paul Clammer, Bradley Mayhew

Wander through history in Uzbekistan's Silk Road towns, taste the nomad's life in a Kyrgyz yurtstay, be astonished by the bizarre personality cult of Turkmenistan's president, experience cutting-edge adventure on Tajikistan's soaring peaks and lose yourself in the desertscapes of Kazakhstan. Surreal, fascinating and addictive - discover the 'stans with this insightful and comprehensive guide. • GET THERE FIRST - brand-new coverage of Afghanistan, open to travellers for the first time in 25 years
• GET AROUND with the help of 80 detailed maps and thorough transport information
• WORK THE BUREAUCRACY like an old hand with our tips on getting visas, crossing borders and handling officials
• HANG WITH THE LOCALS - details on how to access the unique community based tourism network
• GET THE BACKGROUND on the region's intriguing history, politics and culture

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Paul Clammer is the author of 'Black Crown: Henry Christophe, the Haitian Revolution and the Caribbean's Forgotten Kingdom.' He wrote Bradt Travel Guides’ Haiti, the only English-language guidebook to the country, while his work for Lonely Planet includes writing more than forty guidebooks, including 2007's pioneering stand-alone guide to Afghanistan.

Reviews

[Theut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buona guida per pianificare la scoperta di uno dei posti più belli del mondo.
Bello da leggere anche senza un viaggio come "meta finale" (purtroppo, ma si tratta solo di un "a presto!").

UPDATE: 3* perché al contrario di altre guide incentrate sull'Uzbekistan, la Lonely Planet copre l'intera Asia Centrale e naturalmente le informazioni sono più "superficiali".

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

By the time I was reading this travel guide some parts of it had been outdated to a large extent. There's a newer edition of 2018 and may be another one will appear soon. So may be it's worth waiting for the latest one if you really want to use it as a source for planning your trip. In my case, I enjoyed the brief historical and cultural review, which is written in an inspiring language. I visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with reference to this guide and I wasn't disappointed. I found that travelling there is much easier and more predictable now, than it was by 2014 (the year of publication), but predictably more expensive.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

JB is currently tripping on some Taklamakan Desert/Silk Road action, so I read this. That part of the world sounds extremely cool and forbidding--not sure how much I want to hang there, though.

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très complet. Il manque à mon sens quelques photographies pour illustrer les descriptions.