Is it really owrth investing in the latest editions of The Lonely Planet range for South America?

I'd say no. I spent four months traveling through South America four years ago with Lonely Planet's On a Shoestring guide and it was awesome. But I've been here the last two months for a second journey and it seems worthless. I've thought about leaving it. While it has a new copyright date, I think most of the info is old. Price guides for Argentina are especially poor. If you plan to spend more time in one country or another, invest in a more specific country guide (maybe from LP). If you're staying in hostels, I've seen copies of the book at almost every stop that you can look through.

I used the book to find my first hostel and have since had much better luck online with hostelworld and hostelbookers (which does not charge a fee).

If you want to have some of the background info and cultural knowledge the book provides, one from 2004 would be just as good as a current one (especially since a lot of the info seems that old).

Happy travels

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