Lonely Planet New Zealand 19 (Country Guide)

I've skimmed Lonely Planet New Zealand, and I like its format, especially the numerous itineraries at the beginning that give suggestions for how a traveler might want to divide up their time there, depending on the time available, one's interests, etc. The chapters look well organized as well. However, until I actually travel there, I wouldn't be able to rate this guidebook on its accuracy

This book is well worth the cost--we went without many specific plans and followed Lonely Planet's recommendations for a month. With one or two exceptions (out of dozens), the book didn't let us down!

some of the prices have increased from last printing and one or two new things like restaurants not in the book, but otherwise pretty accurate and super helpful for planning a trip to New Zealand. By the way if you have never been, definitely go, such a cool place. We enjoy holiday park tent camping, you don't need much in the way of kitchen gear or a full ice chest as they have refers and full kitchens with usually some pots and pans available or rentable. Do bring a warm sleeping bag, especially South Island, as even in Summer the nights can get a bit chilly.

Very helpful. We had done research before our trip, but the guide gave us lots of goodies of places to visit and things to look for. Very glad we bought this book. Will look for other lonely planet guides for future trips!

Wow - this is an amazing resource. They really break it all down in great detail and even provide tips for books and movies to see/read before your trip to give you a sense of place. Just can't recommend this highly enough.

Very thorough guide to anywhere you want to go in New Zealand. Nice maps and illustrations and quite current.

We ordered two copies. One for us and one for our son and his girlfriend, who were traveling in the country for two weeks before we arrived. We referred to it constantly and found it supremely helpful.

I purchased this guide because of all of the reviews, I found this guide to be pretty dry reading. It has over 700 pages, but the layout is not super helpful when trying to find good tidbits of information on each place to see. They list a lot of vendors to call for guided trips but no individual walks, hikes, or things to do in each area that are not commercially motivated. There are very few photos, and the chapters are not well broken up. I need a travel guide to get me excited about the trip, not a text book to put me to sleep.