Thailand's Islands & Beaches

by Lonely Planet, Joe Cummings

Information on places to stay for any budget, from hideaway beach campgrounds to flashy five-star resorts; invaluable information on water sports; a special colour section on Thailand's underwater world; extensive information on the kingdom's history, religion and culture; and a practical Thai language section.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Asia

560 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2000

About the author

OUR 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.

Reviews

[Matt Burgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all this Lonely Planet book is a wonderful resource. While I don't recommend it for leisure reading it covers a variety of topics a potential traveller would want. From hotel/restaurant listings to customs the Lonely Planet team in Thailand makes great recommendations with right amount of detail. I particularly enjoyed the side notes explaining history and tips about very specific places and people that may be encountered on a trip.

Lonely Planet: Thailand is worth the admission price for all would be travellers to this Far East land.

[Faith B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful stuff! I used this to get an idea of where to stay for a week-long trip in Phuket. While I didn't use any of the lodging ideas listed, I did use the descriptions of each town/beach to determine where I wanted to stay. Once I got to Thailand, I found that the descriptions matched up very well with reality!

The advice on taxis, costs, and ideas for things to do in the area were also extremely helpful. I ended up using a scuba/snorkeling company that the book recommended and had a great time. The food recommendations were also spot on. As a whole, an extremely helpful book!

My only critique is that the pull-out map in the back is for Bangkok, which is not really helpful when you're buying a book on Thailand's islands and beaches... wish it had been a map of Phuket or something more applicable.

[Chelsea · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to travel Thailand with your children, look elsewhere. This book had way more information on how to hook up with prostitutes suggestions for families. There’s literally just a few sentences in the back of the book giving you a website to go to if you are traveling with children. Complete waste of time and money.

[Julie Garner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great guide for the area however it covers more than I needed with just a small portion on where I want to go. Pocket Phuket has been much more helpful with information not found in this larger volume.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lonely Planet never disappoints; thanks for the great phuket town rec!

[Brilliant · Rating 5 out of 5]

前世一条鱼，今生爱大海
每年都一定要去海边待几天，就这么说定了

[Pernille · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite nice «guide» about the islands and the close by places

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heaps of information.

[Ingibjorg Bjorgvinsdottir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grate help, stayed at the place recommended in phi phi. Well updated.

[Alexandria Rauf · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have read the Lonely Planet Thailand book, skip this one. Info is good, sure, but it is literally a copy of the Thailand book, just minus Northern Thailand and a few other areas. I was able to match up pages at random, and was bummed that there wasn't different, more detailed information.