I am looking to buy a guidebook for Tobago, usually I go with lonely planet and I do own their "Caribbean Islands" guide but they appear not to have a current book for Tobago. I am also aware that in many guidebooks dedicated to T&T, Tobago gets short shrift. I wondered if anyone could recommend a guidebook that was either dedicated to Tobago alone or has a comprehensive Tobago section. I've done my homework on Amazon but it is no substitute for a personal recommendation.
Hi Manda
I just recently purchased "The Rough Guide to Trinidad & Tobago" which has a good, comprehensive section dedicated to Tobago. This 4th edition was published in Nov. '07. It was written by Dominique De-light and Polly Thomas, published by Rough Guides. www.roughguides.com is the web site. Hope this helps.
When are you planning to travel to Tobago?
Manda, I have yet to see any guide books that give Tobago more than a passing reference, they seem to concentrate on Trinidad, with Tobago as an afterthought. I have never bothered with a guidebook. The tourist information centre is directly opposite the airport at Crown Point, there is loads of information available there about the island and maps available, also they are all free! Other than that, I have yet to find a question about Tobago that cannot be answered by somebody on this forum! - often much more accurately that the publishers of guide books!!
Save your money and spend it on rum instead.
I'm sure there is much better information once you arrive in Tobago, but if want a guide to food, culture etc......and a chance to look at some lovely pictures, we found a very good book just on Tobago jut called 'Tobago' by Eaulin Blondel.
We bought it 2nd hand off Amazon.
Still 8 months to go till we get to see the real thing, so this will have to do for now!
I second Glen's recommendation for The Rough Guide to T&T.
My well-thumbed copy is a constant source of useful info. and is particularly useful if you plan on travelling around the Island independently.
I think that there is only one definitive visitor guide to Tobago though and you are looking at it right now
Have a great time
Steve
Take only photos - leave only footprints. I like that concept.
Hello Manda,you could also have a look at www.visittobago.gov.tt/ It is produced by the Tobago Division of Tourism,and contains info on culture,cuisine etc.
David
Manda
Steve is so right ! We visited Tobago for the first time this year and all the information we required was on this site. I'm not a guide book person when visiting somewhere this small, fair enough if huge areas have to be explored but this ain't one of 'em. Use this resource and I can guarantee you will have a great time. We have booked for the next two years - and can't wait.
Regards Sandra
Well folks - the good news (?) is that one of my proposed projects is a hard-copy version of myTobago. My designer has already finished the cover design and we've got as far as 'appointing' copy and proof editors. It's just a matter of me getting down to the hard work of deciding what goes into it and putting it all together.
As a matter of interest, what articles/information do visitors most expect to find in a guidebook?
Steve Wooler myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
Hi Steve
Re. query regarding guidebook - sorry if this sounds a bloomin' stupid thing to say - but what we all want is the truth. OK the "Lonely Planet" may be a tad larger than you at present but that's why everyone uses it - it is wonderfully objective. I think it is a great idea , especially as there is so little written exclusively for those travelling to Tobago. We all have our likes and dislikes. I woukd never go fishing having been brought up hauling saimon nets on the Tamar/Tavy - my father not realising that I was , in fact, a daughter. Hope that simple analogy says it all. People want concise information but a broad spectrum,easier said than done I know, but if anyone can do it , you can. Good luck with the project
Kind Regards
Sandra
This is probably preaching to the choir, but I'm assuming that by the time people actually get here, they have things like car, accommodation, etc., booked, so what I'd be looking for would be ideas of days out, tour guide recommendations, things just not to be missed (like the rainforest for instance!). Places of interest, ie the forts, Shore Things, Ciao Cafe, etc., and generally the sort of places that keep YOU coming back to them year in and year out! There must be places that you feel almost a (welcome!) obligation to visit each year... the places that make you smile when you think about them... They're the things that people want to read about! Likewise, things that CAN be avoided if you're pushed for time, ie Scarborough, which is fine, but probably not what most people expect a capital to be and it's not the end of the world if you don't go there...
I´m agree with Linda regarding these so called "Maps over Tobago", avaiable by the tourist information and also inside the Airport.
Some of these maps are even wrong as they doesn´t really show how the roads are in real. The names of the roads can also be wrong, and some villages aren´t placed as the are in real!
On example is Arnos Vale Road, some maps show the road passing all villages all the way up to Moriah, but the fact is that Arons Vale Road is a small dirt track from Lex Coteaux, from Lex Coteaus up-hills via Golden Lane to Moraiah the name of the road is Colloden Road.
And when you are in Golden Lane, on the top, the road split into four directions, and so far I haven´t seen that into any map. That part of the area is shown wrong at the map in my Tobagoinfo too, named "Region 3 Upper Caribbean".
I´d mention these maps for a life guard at Store Bay Beach, who was involved into one of these tourists maps. He did know the maps was wrong, he only added some bigger tracks into the old one, but no one did correct the map itself!
I have been looking for a big, real map over Tobago, I have one for Trinidad, but so far I haven´t seen the same type of map into any shop in Tobago. There´s some older big maps, I´d see one at the office for Caribbean Holydays, nearby the Airport, but no one have so far been able to tell me where I can get a real good map.
If you Lisa can search for that kind of big, good, more real map over Tobago, I´ll buy one at once next time I´m in Tobago.
I´m using the Tourist Maps when walking around on the roads, but I know that I can not trust the maps for 100%, only the bigger roads are correct. And a first-timer in Tobago can get confused when driving around, seen the roads he are using but see no road at the map.
But, as Tobago is such a small island, they can´t get lost, and therefore mayby the Tourist Information doesn´t put much attention to create a real map over Tobago.
Ronald
I would also expect a section on worship, many people like to attend church whilst on holiday, so a listing for churches of different denominations in main tourist areas would be useful.
Maps are a real problem and a huge frustration to me. We've been lucky enough to get a licence from Borsch Gmbh, the cartographers in Germany. However, the cartography is yonks old, as mentioned above. The truth is that I don't think any full cartographic surveys have been done on Tobago in many years. Sadly, there simply ARE no accurate up-to-date maps, Ronald. I have considered using our cartography as a base and getting my graphic designer to 'redraw' the most obvious errors, but the cost is so high that frankly it is out of the question.
The truth is that for the average visitor, the freebie advertising maps available everywhere in Tobago are probably as accurate as they need.
Anyway, please keep the feedback coming. It is all useful.
Steve Wooler myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
I was given a map by KCNN last year which is produced by Environment Tobago.It does show minor roads and tracks quite well.It is about twice as big as the normal tourist map so it splits the island in two,rouhgly Englishman Bay to Barbados Bay west to CrownPoint and east to C'ville both parts being larger than A4.It shows forest boundaries,parish boundaries etc.On the other side is a huge tourist map showing all the major routes towns and villages,places of interest,beaches and so on.
David
Steve Wooler wrote:Maps are a real problem and a huge frustration to me. I have considered using our cartography as a base and getting my graphic designer to 'redraw' the most obvious errors, but the cost is so high that frankly it is out of the question.
Hi, Steve. During our holiday in Tobago in November of last year, I was carrying a sat nav device (Garmin Etrex Legend Cx) for all our outings by road, and we covered a great many of them. The saved tracks I have map the roads in considerably more detail than the tourist maps; I even drove down the track from Moriah that Ronald speaks of, emerging at Les Coteaux from the other side of a sign saying "No Through Road"
I've converted the tracks to kpm files so that I can superimpose on Google Earth, and there is some limited free digital mapping of Tobago available, too. Let me know if any of these are of interest, and if you want them they're yours.
I think the guidebook would be a valuable thing if it emphasised the reference material from the site, more than the reviews, unless you intend to republish often. It's noticeable how the reviews for some places fluctuate on a year-by-year basis, so coming to the site for up-to-the-moment is going to be best. However your advice on activities, and all the things under Odds & Sods are useful to be able to pack and carry along.
Good luck with the project, and let us know if we can help. You have an enormous bank of goodwill from your satisfied readers.
Well Steve you have taken on a massive task there & I agree with most of what has been suggested however when it comes to the food a good description of what one could expect to find would be better than naming individual businesses.
While a guide book would be deemed to be accurate at the time of going to press a restaurant changing hands or closing down could easily make the book out of date, when it comes to this sort of thing it may be better to refer the reader to this forum where they can get an up to date review.
David Watkins wrote:I was given a map by KCNN last year which is produced by Environment Tobago. http://map.environmenttobago.net
Wow, that does look like a much better map than I was able to find; I'm sad I didn't come across one last November: it would have saved a certain amount of navigation by intuition
It would be cool if Steve could get a deal with Environment Tobago to distribute the map with, or in conjunction with, the guidebook.
Jonathan - that sounds really interesting and yes, I am most certainly interested and will contact you directly.
You both make good points about being out of date, Jonathan and Gary. However, that will not be a problem. With the incredible advances in digital technology, it is now feasible to print books on a short-run or "as needed" basis. Its clearly far cheaper to print by the thousand, but the Tobago tourism market is too small to get a normal publishing deal for something that is already well-covered by Lonely Planet. Apart from that, any printed media is obsolete by the time it is printed, so I wouldn't be interested anyway.
I shall be publishing direct. Although the quality is every bit as high as normal printing now, digital printing is more expensive but without a publisher and retailers to look after, my initial calculations indicate that we can provide a high-quality decent product for much the same price as obsolete guides from Lonely Planet, etc. The difference is that ours will be bang up to date - or at least as up to date as it is possible to be (come on guys, TELL ME when you spot that something we list/mention is no longer true). Orders through myTobago or Amazon will be printed as needed (it only delays delivery by about 4-5 days). We might also make it available through selected outlets on Tobago.
As a matter of interest, regular readers will probably remember a forum discussion about the origins of the name 'Castara' which led on to interest in David Phillips' book La Magalena - which many readers promptly ordered from Amazon. Well, this was an example of a "printed on demand" book (I would be using higher quality paper stock than used in that book).
Steve Wooler myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
I can't see enough information from their website to judge the detail of the map. Maybe I'm missing something? However, your idea is a good one - the only problem is Environment Tobago. I am 100% behind most environmental and social projects for Tobago and offer free website hosting and sites to all deserving causes. Environment Tobago couldn't even be bothered to reply to my emails and, to be perfectly honest, the more I hear about those involved, the less I want any involvement. I am simply not into politics.
Steve Wooler myTobago.info - the definitive Visitor Guide to Tobago
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