Best of the BunchJune 28, 2007 In preparing for a 2 month trip to New Zealand, we looked at all the main contenders. Aside from being interesting, accurate and reliable, Footprint was also the only one that was consistently readable and amusing, quite a feat for a guidebook. Very strong too on the wildlife side of NZ, which was important to us. Definitely the best of the bunch for NZ.
Lonely Planet in DisguiseFebruary 9, 2006 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Is this a good guide to New Zelanad. Well, that all depends. If you want a terribly earnest guide to cheap hotels with uncomfortable beds in bizarre locations which you probably won't go to, then (a) this will be right up your street but (b) you will have bought a Lonely Planet. If, on the other hand, you are the sort of discerning individual whose general tendency is towards the sorts of establishment Footprint guides generally recommend (and don't get me wrong, in the generality I am a great fan of Footprint guides) then you will be sorely disappointed - actually why don't I come out and say it - rather irritated by the spoddiness and lack of discrimination displayed by this guidebook. I toured New Zealand with my lovely girlfriend - great country by the way - and by the end of our stay we were deliberately choosing restaurants the reviewer had given mediocre write ups to. Experience told us that these would be better than those he enthused about. And the same was true of accommodation recommendations.
Should really be subtitled: "New Zealand: restaurants to avoid and hotels to drive by."
