It is always wise to have a travel guide when you go on vacation. They can provide an overview of the most important thing you need to know about your holiday destination.

One of the best investments you can do before a trip is a guidebook. Whether you want to lie at home in the hammock and dream away, are newly arrived in the bus station and wonder where you are or will be away on a weekend to a busy metropolis, this is usually observations in any guidebook.

Transportation

Everything from tips for traveling Rickshaw, Tuk-Tuk procedure camel riding and hiking to practical information about which bus goes where and how much the train costs are included in most guidebooks.

Accommodation

One of the most valuable with a guidebook is the security it gives you when you arrive late at night, it's dark (and probably rain) and all you want, a good soft, dry bed! Then it is always nice to be able to turn up your guide book and have a list of recommended accommodation where you can point to its first best taxi driver. Most guidebooks also offer accommodation in several price categories, from the cheapest to the most expensive, which makes it easy to choose a home that suits your wallet.

Maps and map books.

Another very useful thing to have in a guide book is maps that are over both land and cities. This is not an obstacle to be broken, but is an invaluable help to get back at least!

History and background facts

Many travel guide books have a good part of the country or the city's history and special chapters on such as food, crafts, social situation, etc in them. Often there's also chapters on how to travel in a respectful manner to both nature and people.

Lonely Planet guide books published since the mid-1970s, and now has one hundred guides in almost all countries in the world. They offer everything from budget traveler's best friend "the Shoestring Guide to the City Guides for New York and Tokyo. It's not for nothing that the Lonely Planet guide books are often called "the Bible" because of their faithful and many supporters!

Other guide books

Other popular guidebooks including Rough Guides, Footprint and Wilma's travel books are very good for the Swedes. As always, there are both advantages and disadvantages of each guide books. Footprints which specializes in Latin America and their popular guide to South America is a big competitor to Lonely Planet in this part of the world. Footprints guide book also has much better maps than as Lonely Planet and often large parts of the world. For those who want to follow the current, the recommended is one of many Lonely Planet guidebooks, while those who want to find "their" hotel do better to choose one of the competing guidebooks.