Lonely Planet New Zealand Travel Guide 2024 - Best Sights, Maps & Itineraries for Your NZ Adventure | Perfect for Road Trips, Hiking & Cultural Exploration

Lonely Planet guidebooks always have a ton of information, which is good, but means you also have to comb through a lot to plan your trip.The New Zealand book is organized the same as all the others - with 4 sections: Plan your trip, On the road, Understand, and Survival Guide.Plan your trip: Probably the most concise but important section of the book. Gives you an idea of what to expect from the North and South Island and how to budget your time and money. The sections include need to know info, a top 20 destinations list, "If you like..." section, traveling with children, regions at a glance, food and drink, cultural events by month, 6 sample itineraries based on length of your trip, and a few others.On the Road: Probably 75% of the contents of the book. Includes sights, activities, tours, getting there, getting around, eating, sleeping, nightlife, entertainment, and shopping information for every location in New Zealand.Understand: Sections include New Zealand today, History, Environment, Maori Culture, and Arts and Music. Since the book is organized in this order, I didn't read this section until had planned my trip and was on the plane to NZ. If you have time I would recommend reading this section before planning your trip since getting a background on the culture and history may give you a better idea of what you want to see in NZ.Survival Guide: Includes info on Customs, Embassies, Health, Internet Access, Holidays, Opening hours, etc.As with most Lonely Planet books, this one was up to date and packed with all the information I needed to plan and enjoy my trip. According to Lonely Planet, between writing every edition they hire a mix of local and travel writers to visit every single location and update the book as necessary. I definitely found this to be the case, and would highly recommend the guidebook.