Yucatan & Mayan Mexico, 2nd (ISBN 1860118216)

Book Description:
Mexico's Yucatan peninsula offers a spectrum of attractions: dazzling tropical beaches in Cancun and along the Caribbean coast; luxuriant coral reefs; charming colonial cities like Merida and Campeche; the world-famous ancient Mayan cities of Uxmal, Palenque and Chicen Itza. Cadogan's guide covers these celebrated sights in full, but also goes deeper to out-of-the-way hotels with miles of empty beach, to ruins still half-buried in the forest, into the quirky way of life of sleepy country towns and Mayan villages, and on adventure trips into jungle reserves. It gives you all you need to know - whether you want to enjoy the local culture or just mellow out in a hammock by a palm-shaded beach. This guide includes practical travel advice; 400 carefully selected places to stay; over 600 restaurants, bars & cafes; details of newly excavated Mayan sites; 44 maps & site plans; stunning color photography; essential information on diving, snorkeling and watersports. (5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 540 pages, color photos, maps, illustrations)

What a guidebook should be:
I'll add my voice to the chorus of praise, with one very small caveat. Comprehensive, in-depth, great historical background to put everything in perspective. We traveled with this and the Lonely Planet, but eventually just left the Lonely Planet in the car at all the sites, as Nick covered things so much better. But this is starting to get a bit out of date - published in 2002, so much of the info is now 4 years old. While there was more practical information (restuarants, hotels, etc.) here than I expected, it's worth the few extra bucks to get another, more updated guidebook as well.

Very good book for the independent minded travler!:
I spent 3 weeks in the Yucatan this fall and this book helped make my trip very enjoyable. I traveled to Merida, campeche, cozmel, cancun, plus many of the ruin sites and this book proved to be an acurate and reliable friend! If you like to travel on your own and seek out those outta the way places this is the book for you. I also enjoyed "Tourist in the Yucatan" fun thriller adventure novel set in the yucatan.

Excellent for visiting Mayan sites:
I have just returned from a two week driving vacation that visited 23 Mayan ruins and several museums and cities between Cancun and San Cristobal de Las Casas. I used it for hotel reservations as well as Mayan site and city visits and found it to be excellent, much better than the Moon guide or the Kelly guides to ruins. It let me down only once, in Cuidad de Carmen, where it had no map of the city, and its hotel recommendations were incomplete and misleading. Otherwise it was accurate and up to date. I recommend it highly to travelers who want comfort but not luxury, and who like to travel fast and intensively.

Jam Packed with Great Information:
This book is jam packed with in-depth information about the Yucatan including a full chapter on the Maya, another chapter on the history of the region, on top of all the important travel-related information that you usually see in travel books. I have a few books on the region and I think this is one of the best!

Absolutely Excellent Book:
I took this book on my trip to the Yucatan, and it proved to be an absolute gem. The itemized, unreadable lists of hotels, restaurants, and sights that comprise most of the other guide books here are kept to a reasonable length. Instead, there is vivid -- and very readable -- prose, organized logically. What you can see by driving down southward along the Mayan Riviera, with histories of the region, histories of every little town. It's all put in context, like a novel. The detailed walkthrough of Chichen Itza made me a bigger expert on Mayan history, architecture etc. than the guide we hired. Overall, I highly recommend it!