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Lonely Planet: On a Shoestring
Eastern Europe
This comprehensive guide to Eastern Europe covers Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yugoslavia.
142 detailed maps of countries, regions and cities a range of places to stay and eat for every budget full information on visas, border crossings and currency conversion comprehensive language guide with useful phrases in 10 different languages transport options from trolley buses to taxis includes chapter on Russia
816 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
292 people are currently reading
200 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,678 books886 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 13, 2019
Trips I have taken this book on:
June 2018: Estonia; Lithuania
October 2018: Slovenia; Croatia; Hungary
May 2019: Croatia; Montenegro; Bosnia and Herzegovina
I love Lonely Planet guides, and ordinarily find them packed to the brim with information to make holidays even better. Given the nature of their Eastern Europe guide, with many different countries included, the entries are quite often brief. I used this for Tallinn in Estonia and Kaunas in Lithuania, which I visited in June 2018, and found both sections quite lacking. Regardless, it does have some great tips for making your trip excellent, as well as a few useful restaurant recommendations, and useful historical details about each country and city.
There was barely any information here on Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was a real shame. The selection does seem a little unfair; far more room is given to some countries than others.
June 2018: Estonia; Lithuania
October 2018: Slovenia; Croatia; Hungary
May 2019: Croatia; Montenegro; Bosnia and Herzegovina
I love Lonely Planet guides, and ordinarily find them packed to the brim with information to make holidays even better. Given the nature of their Eastern Europe guide, with many different countries included, the entries are quite often brief. I used this for Tallinn in Estonia and Kaunas in Lithuania, which I visited in June 2018, and found both sections quite lacking. Regardless, it does have some great tips for making your trip excellent, as well as a few useful restaurant recommendations, and useful historical details about each country and city.
There was barely any information here on Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was a real shame. The selection does seem a little unfair; far more room is given to some countries than others.
August 15, 2022
I have the 1989 edition.
The contents is crap. The historic data is gossip level: a strong reminder how Wikipedia makes everyone smarter, even if any moron can find shortcomings. I mean, with Wikipedia the quality of the text would have been a lot higher.
The actual locations are dated, and some are irrelevant now.
Yet the historic value is up high. After all this is 1989. The year when the dim witted person writing the text was certain the system will go on for ever. With the power of hindsight the signs the game was over are shouting at us. Not so in 1989. And this just shows what the average ignoramus has seen and thought about that part of the world. Sure, there is some propaganda, or else the self-absorbed regimes of the Eastern Europe would have cut the access. Yet that propaganda is so tame compared with the evil men in Academia, the ideologues in Harvard, and Princeton, and all the other indoctrination machines.
The contents is crap. The historic data is gossip level: a strong reminder how Wikipedia makes everyone smarter, even if any moron can find shortcomings. I mean, with Wikipedia the quality of the text would have been a lot higher.
The actual locations are dated, and some are irrelevant now.
Yet the historic value is up high. After all this is 1989. The year when the dim witted person writing the text was certain the system will go on for ever. With the power of hindsight the signs the game was over are shouting at us. Not so in 1989. And this just shows what the average ignoramus has seen and thought about that part of the world. Sure, there is some propaganda, or else the self-absorbed regimes of the Eastern Europe would have cut the access. Yet that propaganda is so tame compared with the evil men in Academia, the ideologues in Harvard, and Princeton, and all the other indoctrination machines.
November 14, 2020
As a general overview of the various countries and places of interest, I think it did a solid job. The recommendations on places I had been were pretty much spot on. I was glad to see a shoutout for Rasnov Citadel in Romania.
TBH, my biggest takeaway is that I need to move Moldova up on my travel list - wineries, monasteries on cliffs, and an autonomous zone that feels like a frozen in time USSR. Way up my alley. I also very much need to take a trip to the Balkans. Fingers crossed we can get COVID under control soon so I can go back to jetsetting.
TBH, my biggest takeaway is that I need to move Moldova up on my travel list - wineries, monasteries on cliffs, and an autonomous zone that feels like a frozen in time USSR. Way up my alley. I also very much need to take a trip to the Balkans. Fingers crossed we can get COVID under control soon so I can go back to jetsetting.
March 29, 2024
Another wonderful Lonely Planet travel guide. This one is a great size to take along on your travels and it hones in on key places to visit in Eastern Europe. I love the recommendations shared by Lonely Planet and the ease of using this book.
April 18, 2020
a good, comprehensive guide to Eastern Europe. Got to admit I just browsed it trying to get ideas for a vacation that got canked b/c of Coronavirus.
April 18, 2023
excellent recommendations and so detailed
August 7, 2024
We know I love a Lonely Planet guide book.
January 16, 2009
My husband and I took a motorcycle trip through Eastern Europe in September 2008, for four weeks, and this book was absolutely essential. It was fantastic for recommending things to see, giving us a background about a country to make our experience meaningful, and giving us a heads up about important specifics (like that your hotel takes your passport and notifies the police that you are staying with them). I absolutely recommend it if you are looking to a guide to the area, no matter how you are touring (by train, by motorized vehicle, by bicycle, whatever). I can't recommend it for providing good information on places to stay, however, whether you are looking for hotels or camp sites. Few options are provided, and if you can find the places they recommend (there are no directions offered in the book), they will already be fully booked.
October 8, 2011
We had a 3 week trip in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The book is quite helpful; yet not complete. We had some terrible experiences in some hotels and places they recommended. It was as if some authors had good deals with the owners and exaggerated his opinions in the book. I felt as if they had to give more details about the transport such as "warning" or "watch out", which was extremely poor in Romania. I also found lots of personal opinions which is OK because this is what LP is! However, judgements and some negative-like criticism about my country made me feel offended.
The book as it covers lots of countries is very limited. That's why,I can say that it was OK as we stayed only one week in each country. However, if you want to see the details, I strongly suggest you to buy the books separately.
The book as it covers lots of countries is very limited. That's why,I can say that it was OK as we stayed only one week in each country. However, if you want to see the details, I strongly suggest you to buy the books separately.
July 21, 2008
Lonely Planet guidebooks make very useful travelling companions - they don't have many colour photos or as much information about the sights, but they work really well as a sort of Yellow Pages of each place. This one came in real handy as we travelled through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, alternately looking for bars, restaurants, post offices, Internet cafes, public facilities, you name it. Recommended!
October 4, 2013
This book has brief overviews of 21 countries in Eastern Europe especially for smaller cities it is a little short on specifics and doesn’t have a huge overview on the bigger cities. I bought it because I was going to 4 countries in Eastern Europe and didn’t want to buy 4 guidebooks. It served it’s purposes.
July 14, 2007
Lonely Planets are the best guidebooks!
August 14, 2008
Lonely Planet Books are indispensable, I just wish they were better at referencing the map in the text, and the page ref from the map key.
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February 27, 2016A great little guide to this part of Europe and an excellent foretaste of what I might see IF I get there in late 2010!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews