Hankering for down-home barbeque or authentic Tex-Mex cuisine? Looking for some real live cowboys? Vast and varied, Texas offers up a dazzling array of tastes and traditions. From Austin's club scene to the beauty of Big Bend, from urban sprawls to wide-open spaces, this comprehensive guide steers you through the best of the Lone Star state.

• accommodations options for all budgets, from campgrounds to luxury hotels
• restaurant recommendations for Texas barbeque, Gulf Coast seafood, enormous steaks and much more
• background on historic sites from the Alamo to NASA's Johnson Space Center
• more than 70 detailed maps

As far as restaurants go, it appears to me that the listings in Lonely Planet concentrate on rather hip places with cheap prices, regardless of the quality of the food, while Moon tends to imitate the listings in the Houston Chronicle and Houston Press. I guess which you would prefer depends on whether you're a 'foodie' or if you just want a cheap place to nosh.

One deficiency of this book is the lack of coverage of outdoor activities. Moon definately surpasses Lonely Planet in this regard. If you enjoy both outdoor and urban activities, you might need both guides.

The only thing that irritated me about this guide (I almost couldn't get past it)was its constant bashing of Houston and the climate. Several 'insights' the writers had to the area were based on faulty assumptions, but, I guess, at least they had an opinion. Furthermore, Houston's climate is a tad bit milder than nearby New Orleans, and they didn't bash that city for its climate. But that's a minor complaint compared to how useful I found the guide. (And the maps are also excellent --- showing the location of most of the text.)


below average guide to a great state   February 12, 2001
 24 out of 25 found this review helpful

I sat down at Book People this morning and read the section on Austin and the Hill Country, and I have to wonder how much time the author has really spent in my part of the state. The restaurant recommendations were just terrible - it's almost as though he just looked some places up in the yellow pages and stuck them in the guide. A relative Austin neophyte could've provided better recommendations. I felt such pity for potential visitors that I felt like giving out my home phone number to steer them away from LP's recommendations and toward the truly great restaurants in my part of the state. I also didn't care for restaurant recommendations in Houston and San Antonio.

Aside from restaurants, the Austin section was decent but still nothing special. I guess my primary recommendation to visitors is not to trust this Lonely Planet guide just they've enjoyed Lonely Planet guides for other locations. I've absolutely loved LP guides to San Francisco and New Orleans(both written by the same author, btw), but this one isn't up to snuff.

The picture of the Longhorns on the cover and the beautiful burnt orange trim (Hook'em Horns!) almost moved me to give the guide an extra star, but that wouldn't be fair to potential travelers. My advice to travelers is just to research Austin and the other major Texas cities on Citysearch and to pick up a decent regional guide in a bookstore after arriving for information on rural locales. Austin visitors should also pick up a copy of the Austin Chronicle upon arriving in town. Austin and San Antonio (and the rest of the Hill Country) are definitely the best places to visit in the state, but the two national parks and some of the coast and border towns are definitely worth seeing.