Recently I received Lonely Planet’s “Short Escapes from Delhi” travel guidebook for review purpose. Short Escapes from Delhi is a handy guide for those looking for weekend and extended weekend getaways from Delhi and is in the same form factor as Outlook Traveler’s Destination guidebooks, which I have owned earlier.
Short Escapes from Delhi features 50 escapes, which are divided under hill, wildlife, outdoor, heritage and resort categories, making it easy for you to choose an escape, based on your preference.
First and second page of each escape features the reason to visit it, highlights, getting there info, best season to visit and quick facts in a brief yet easy to understand manner, which helps you quickly browse through destinations and narrow down to a handful of options, which can then be read in detail. Furthermore, there are small icons on the second page to denote the activity destination is best suited for.
Additionally, when you read route tips like, “after the Moradabad Bypass go to Tanda Mor, and take the prettier road via Bazpur and Kaladhungi”, you know the guidebook has been written by passionate travelers, who are not only presenting you with facts, but are also sharing their experience and wisdom.
Beyond the first couple of pages which feature the above information, there are 3-4 more subsequent pages devoted to each escape, which provide you with more in depth travel information, hotel and restaurant recommendation, sightseeing opportunities and travel tips.
Another fact I really liked about Short Escapes from Delhi were the photographs. There are multiple photographs for each escape, which not only help you narrow down your choices, but also give that last nudge to pack your bags and head out!
There is also a map at the end of the book, which has all the escapes featured in this guidebook and while in the age of GPS, it might not be as useful as it used to be earlier, it is a great asset for quick reference.
If you are a backpacker or a traveler who loves to stay at budget places, then the hotel recommendations given in this guidebook won’t help you much, unless you are ready to spend upward of Rs. 1500 a night on accommodation, since majority of the hotels featured in this guidebook are mid-range hotels.
Apart from this, I really missed the ribbon bookmark, which ought to be there in every travel guidebook, since it makes it really easy to quickly reference the guide, while on the road and is something Outlook Traveler Destination Guides and Eicher Road Atlas feature and these have come in handy, on more than one occasion. Having said that, if you buy it from Flipkart, then you will likely get a paper bookmark, which should do the job as well.
Overall, Short Escapes from Delhi is lovely guidebook for those looking for short escape from the maddening crowd and traffic of Delhi and NCR and there are destinations featured in it to cater to almost every taste. All this comes in a form factor which isn’t too difficult to carry on travels nor too expensive and can be bought directly from Lonely Planet India’s online store.
2 Comments
I bought this from Infibeam, because it was available at a discount of 100 rs, found it really useful and worthy. Only grudge i had was the same, they did not cover the budget range properly. All of their recommendations are for mod-range and above. However still a good reference point for exploring north India.
Quite true Ashish.