Middle East

by Anthony Ham, Lonely Planet, Michael Kohn

Looking for the real story behind the headlines? Look here. Look to the region where ancient civilisations rose and fell, where deserts, seas and ancient ruins compete for spectacle, and from where all travellers return raving about the extraordinary kindness of strangers. Lonely Planet tells it like it is in this most rewarding of travel destinations.

Old Favorites Rediscovered – extensive back-ground information on Petra, the Pyramids and Palmyra

New Favorites Uncovered – from Tel Aviv’s clubs and wi-fi centres to Beirut’s nightlife and Istanbul’s hippest restaurants: opinionated reviews of all listings

Off The Beaten Track – travel safely where other guidebooks fear to tread, through eastern Turkey, Iran, the Palestinian Territories and Libya

The Best Maps of any guide to the Middle East, all 114 of them

Exhaustive Practical Information – tips on border crossings, Internet access, digital photography, avoiding an Israeli passport stamp, and much more

Genres: Travel, Reference, Nonfiction, Middle East

716 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Anthony Ham is an Australian nature and travel writer with nearly three decades of experience reporting from remote regions, including Africa, the Amazon, the Arctic, and Outback Australia. He is the author of The Last Lions of Africa (2021) and The Man Who Loved Pink Dolphins (2023). His work has appeared in major international publications, including The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler. He has also written or co-written over 200 Lonely Planet travel guides and divides his time between Madrid and Melbourne.

Reviews

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

My local public library just brought in a ****ton of Lonely Planet travel books. Given the only other books they've bought lately are anime, cozy mysteries (how many murders can one have in bakeries and yarn shops anyway?), and other things unlikely to annoy the delicate sensitivities of the flag-draped Mommies Against Thinking and Knowledge types, I was happy to see them. My new favorite thing is to pair a LP book about somewhere exotic with a cookbook from the same region.
This one made me wish I had the nerve (and heat tolerance and strong knees for non-western toilets) to actually go to some of these places.

[Brian Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guide has a broad scope, covering the "Middle East", as of 2019. It is good for an overview for those thinking about visiting the area, perhaps to decide what particular places to visit. It tends to focus on the entry level/basic needs traveller, as opposed to the middle to high end one, and the selection of hotels, restaurants and modes of travel reflects that orientation. It's worth a read either in trip planning or for a quick study of the area.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes!! Lonely Planet Does it Again!!

This book proved to be absolutely invaluable for our travels through Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and even Cyprus!

While we carried with us a number of other supplementary guides, nothing could stand up to LP in terms of its overall usefulness. As usual the maps are extremely accurate which, being a half-pigeon self-navigator, is a very important factor for me!

With regards to lodging, no other book is tailored towards the budget traveler as much as LP is, and this isn't even one of their 'shoestring' versions! Without the blue book we would have spent substantially more then we did on accommodations!

Food of course is almost impossible not to find though, for those few times when you're looking for something specific, LP usually could nail it down!

As far as sites go, there is plenty of room for additional info but that's why we carried other color books. LP can guarantee to get you there an usually has better information than any other source regarding logistics.

Finally, I have never enjoyed a history section as much as the one in this book. For years the Middle East, its history, conflicts and current events have baffled me. The few dozen pages in which this is all explained shed a remarkable light on the whole situation for me. Sure, it's definitely a condensed version, but one that you won't find in any history book or news article!

This is definitely a worthy investment if you plan on visiting any of the included countries, or, are just looking for a sneak peak into the Middle East!

[Finrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual LP style guide, packed with high quality, concise information from the local history to the “best” hotels and restaurants. I actually found one error in a map (a museum was the other side of Beirut from what the map showed…) but all other infos I checked were perfect.
Please note I only bought and read the Lebanon chapter and nothing else in this guidebook!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writers do a wonderful job of bringing the area to life, both with overviews of the history, geography, etc., and with details about specific towns and points of interest. I'm going to miss this book...

[Cherie]

Good for ideas about going to the Middle East--think I'm going to stick with my original plan of Turkey, Egypt and Morocco. It did not have UAE, so I have to look into that too!

[Huntleynh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always plotting my next trip. Need to get to Lebanon before it goes into chaos too.

[Milan · Rating 5 out of 5]

On of the best guides you can find :)

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usual Lonely Planet awesome-ness! My one criticism is that a better map of Beirut would have been very helpful.

[chasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the overviews of the history, geography, and points of interest.

[Strawberryberry]

This book was pretty interesting and informative.