Lonely Planet Pocket Kyoto & Osaka (Lonely Planet Pocket Guides)

As described

I bought this for a friend who traveled to the Kyoto area, and he said it was functional yet compact. Had just the right amount of information without being overwhelming.

A bit disappointing, because I expected the book to be about both cities but it is more focused on Kyoto.

Tucked it in my backpack and took it everywhere! Handy to look up restaurant recommendations and tips and tricks wherever you end up. Yes, you can get all the information online now, but it's good to have the additional reference and expert curation.

Growing up, Lonely Planet guidebooks offered a tantalizing glimpse into far off destinations. I’d walk over to a local library, where shelves filled with the familiar blue tomes promised a peek into lands I could only dream of visiting, pick one, and be transported. All that has changed. Within seconds the videographic escapades of hundreds of travel vloggers can be enjoyed from a phone along with the addictive but sometimes empty doomscrolling of bite sized shorts. If you’re asking yourself if there is still a place for guidebooks, then this pocket sized, colorful, entertaining, and informative pocket-sized book is the answer, with a resounding yes. Leaf through the opening pages and one is introduced to individual pages dedicated to the best Temple, Garden, Culture, Foodie, Outdoors, After-Dark, History and Art Experiences, followed by suggested itineraries, before each region of Kyoto and Osaka is summarized in succinct detail, with the various experiences, how to get there, and their cost clearly and eloquently described in small, easily digestible paragraphs. The information is so clearly displayed, the vivid photographs so vibrant and interesting that it really does feel like it allows you to “Discover twice the place in half the time.” Nostalgia aside, I enjoyed having the book as part of preparation for a month-long trip in Kyoto and Osaka recently, and it is easier to flip through and navigate than scrolling through sometimes bewildering pages on a screen. Highly recommended.