We used the Lonely Planet for Eastern Europe. It's a weighty tome, as you'd expect from something covering 20 countries. And here lies the problem – it lacks detail. For Vilnius it lists only four bars, even though there are more than ten times that amount.
LP also seems badly out of date, and you get the feeling that they just slap a new cover on every two years, without bothering to do more than a superficial update of the contents; many bars and restaurants either don't exist (closed down?) or are in the wrong place on the map.
In Warsaw we picked a copy of InYourPocket (www.inyourpocket.com) – handy city guides in A5 magazine format, that quite literally fit in your pocket. Apparently these guides now cover all the major eastern European cities, and the Warsaw and Vilnius ones at least were very good, giving dozens of witty, accurate and up-to-date bar and restaurant reviews. They are also far less up-their-own-arse than LP, giving full reviews of all Vilnius' strip clubs, rather than make the snooty assumption that these places are just for saddos. Finally (and most importantly) they are cheap (they were given out free at Castle Inn, and cost €1.5 at Vilnius Tourist Information).
And if travellers don't all use the same guide book, we won't all end up in the same 'hidden' and 'secluded' places listed in the giant monopoly that is LP, dutifully clutching our books in the hope of a unique and life-changing moment.
ReplyDeleteSupport the little guys - but they'll never look as nice all lined up on the bookshelf when you get home again ;-)
Kat (owner of LP guides to all over the world, and a few from rival factions)