By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: What places in China hasn't Lonely Planet ruined yet?
The last couple of places I've visited, most notably Lijiang in Yunnan last summer, were really, really touristy. Everywhere I went and ate and slept, we followed one of my friend's Lonely Planet book. A couple of the places were not bad, but everything was insanely overpriced. I've since had conversations with people about this being the sort of "Lonely Planet" effect, i.e. when a place gets mentioned by them in their book, it instantly starts to suck.
So my question is, are there any notable places out there worth seeing that haven't suffered LP's wrath yet?
11 years 17 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
I've heard that both Datong and Pingyao in Shanxi province are still kinda not so touristy and worth a visit. Also, I've climbed a few mountains here and there that have proved to be not too bad and relatively natural-looking. Taishan among one of them.
It is the Chinese who set the prices, not Lonely Planet. In the rest of the world, as numbers increase, prices normally go down. In China, it is greed that makes the Chinese operators raise the prices.
Almost every tourist attraction I have been to, at least 90% or more of the tourists have been Chinese, so therefore probably not referred by Lonely Planet. Not sure if Lonely Planet is popular with Chinese tourists.
The real downside of the attractions is that they are like a giant rubbish tip. Again, the Chinese tourists are responsible for this, not Lonely Planet.
sam239:
Actually everywhere I've been travelling in Asia and S America it's like this. If the Lonely Planet recommends a place, the tourists flock there, and it gets ruined. I once heard some travel advice: buy a Lonely Planet, buy a map, cross out everywhere the LP recommends, go everywhere else, and you'll have a great time, locals will throw a party for you, etc.
lonely planet is actually forbidden in china as a tourist guide publication because they dont show taiwan on the china map in their guide , imagine that
cooter:
It's still readily available online, even without a VPN. My Chinese gf even knew about it before I told her I found some things on there in prepping for our trip to the Phils. I've got a hunch lots of Chinese people know about it, as there were more Chinese in the Phils than any other nationality wherever we went, and we went to some pretty remote places that just happened to be mentioned on LP.
if people use the Lonley Planet as a tourist guide is a shame for the long term travellers (short term is ok). The best way to see a country is to get lost without any idea where you are this gives you a chance to see places that you will never get to see. Another thing i recomend is hopping on the long distance metro buses (900s busses in Beijing) and get off at the last place and walk around and you will be surprised in what you find or see.
The other thing that gets on my nerves is going to a place/attraction and it is overcrowded with tourists and you just dont absorb the experince.
The best way to travel anywhere is Couchsurfing, hands down.You don't need a friggin guidebook either.
