Seoul 7 (inglés) (Lonely Planet Guides) Paperback – January 1, 2013

I bought this book for a weekend in Seoul, and I really wanted to like it.But, there are so many problems.Language:Place names are provided in English only, and the equivalent in the Korean hangul alphabet is never provided. That's a shame, because it would have been very useful to have things written in hangul. What if someone got into a taxi wanting to go to a particular place, but couldn't point to the place name/address written in a way the taxi driver could understand? And the language section of the guidebook, which is one of the most important parts of any guidebook, wasn't converted properly into Kindle format. It's presented as an almost illegible series of low-resolution pictures of each page, which are very hard to read even when zoomed in. This is very disappointing.Missing helpful details:At every turn, it seems like details are missing completely. For example, the subway section mentions the convenience of a T-Money card, but it doesn't explain that you need to buy one at the main airport terminal information booth (or at an airport 7-Eleven) before you start following the signs for the 10-minute walk to the A-Rex station, because they don't sell T-Money cards at the A-Rex station. Usually, Lonely Planet books are really good at helping you to avoid these sorts of inconveniences.I really like Lonely Planet books, but I found this one disappointing.

I'm afraid I have to agree with the other bad reviews on here. I was optimistic when purchasing this edition. I thought that not all reviews are necessarily my views. One mans importance may not be mine. After all, I just wanted it for lodging information as with all the other previous travel books that have served me well in the past. I started using Lonely Planet in the late 70's and 80's for their Asia coverage, and it always served me well. From Tibet to Bangladesh. Including all of the South East Asia issues. So I figured the Kindle edition was cheap enough to take a chance.Unfortunately, this was a complete waste. I will most likely return the Kindle edition. I hope Lonely Planet doesn't continue to go south like many have in the past. I will always give them the first look, but I will look closely at the contents prior to purchasing next time around.

The Lonely Planet guide books just keep getting worse, but this is the bottom of the barrel. It is almost impossible to use. The maps are listed by number, but there are no numbers on the individual maps. The index is useless, and the last straw was when I tried to use the metro map and found that entire lines were missing.

Don't recommend the Kindle version. It was really hard to use. I realize now that it's really important to be able to flip through a travel guide and flip back-and-forth between pages, etc. I always like lonely planet, but honestly this was so hard to use, I'm hard-pressed to say if it was any good. I did notice that there were one or two bum recommendations, like for nightlife areas that were completely dead when we got there.

The Lonely Planet's guide to Seoul isn't horrible, it's just fairly superficial. Simon Richmond only lived there for two months, and for the enormous and complex city Seoul is, that's just not nearly enough. I did get some helpful information--most importantly that mobile phones are available for rent at the airport. But so much seems missing. A few simple examples: Mr. Richmond makes no mention of the casinos in Seoul, although there are at least two, and you have to have your passport with you to get in. I have no idea what they look like inside, although I am told they are for tourists only...because I stumbled upon one when I didn't have my passport. I went to Itaewan on a cold Monday night in December, hoping for a drink. Of course Monday is a slow night in the F&B world almost everywhere, but given the description of the vibrancy of Itaewan's clubs, we were shocked to find that almost everything was completely shut--not slow, CLOSED. I wish I'd known that before I spent an hour getting there. Golf is a popular sport, isn't it? Don't people love to golf when they go new places? Richmond mentions that most private golf courses are members only, but there are some driving ranges around. Where? I have no idea other than "in top-end hotels and elsewhere including Gangnam." I can see myself giving those directions to a cab driver! If I'm not staying in one of those unnamed hotels, can I pay to use the range? If most private golf courses are members only, doesn't that imply that there are at least one or two that aren't? Where are they? Who knows? Personally I'm not a golfer, I'm a classical musician interested in world music. For me, the Lonely Planet provides a couple of paragraphs, one about traditional music, the other about K-Pop, thank you very much. (And yes, I did hear "Gangnam Style" when I was in Gangnam, while I was in a KFC...I asked a local young man if he liked the song and he said he did, so they're not jaded yet.) But where can I hear some traditional music? Are there groups that perform? Venues that feature traditional music? I've no idea. You may say, "But you can look that up on the internet." And you'd be right...but then, you can look up EVERYTHING in this book on the internet. I booked my hotel, a terrifically fun little place called the Chezlee--not even mentioned in the book--at Agoda.com. Lonely Planet, you have to up your game, or you will become completely obsolete.

Misleading information, not clear indications (even for Seoul) .... everything I try to avoid when buying a Lonely Planet guide.

Any book that has a publication date more than two years old is useless since Seoul, where I live, is in a constant state of change. I own a copy with a different cover that appears to be the same book. It was out of date when I bought it five years ago. I noticed that this book doesn't show a publication date.