Bonaire (Textor)
Here are some of our favorite guidebooks and general interest background books on the Caribbean. We include the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Bermuda, Miami, and the Florida Keys here, as well as the Caribbean coast of Central America and the northern coast of South America.
We especially like the Rough Guide's coverage of the Bahamas, Cuba, and the smaller Anglophone islands in this guidebook. Most chapters list budget hotels. (Disclaimer: one of our team updated some chapters for the most recent edition.)
Lonely Planet's Caribbean Islands is another solid and broad-based guidebook, with strong budget listings.
Densely packed, the Footprint Caribbean Islands benefits from a long publication history. This is the guide's 17th edition.
Fodor's most recent Caribbean tome is better for upscale travelers than budget hunters, though there are some good budget surprises here and there.
Frommer's, like Fodor's, isn't exactly a budget guide to the Caribbean. But with its depth of coverage, it has its strengths—as well as many fans.
Lonely Planet's Central America on a Shoestring is full of ultra-cheap accommodations listings. For travelers to the Caribbean coast of Central America, this book is essential.
Rough Guides offers Lonely Planet competition for your budget tourist change in this Central American budget guidebook.
Footprint's enormous Mexico & Central America guide has good budget listings.
Lonely Planet's South America on a Shoestring is packed with good budget-enabling information for Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
Footprint's South America guidebook is detailed and jam-packed with listings, including lots of information on Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
M. Timothy O'Keeffe's Caribbean Hiking is a labor of love and an inspiration. This book will direct you into the tropical wilderness and map out explorations of the region's stunning natural bounty.
Patrick Leigh Furmor's masterfully wrought journey through the Caribbean of the 1940s is a flashback to late colonialism. It's full of beautiful observations and a striking attention to local culture.