Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Guides) [Paperback]

DK Publishing (Author)

Book Description

Series: EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE | Publication Date: January 31, 2003

Eyewitness Travel Guides are the original illustrated travel guidebooks-and they're still the best. Since 1993, the Eyewitness brand has established itself as one of the industry leaders, with sales of more than 6.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Featuring more than 70 worldwide destinations, new titles are being added to the best-selling Eyewitness Travel Guides series each year. In 2003, to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK is re-launching the entire series, fully updated, and with a brand-new look.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; Revised edition (January 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789494302
• ISBN-13: 978-0789494306
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Travel > Europe > Germany > Berlin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst DK guide out there, April 30, 2008

By 

Marco (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Turtleback)

I hate the thought of writing a bad review for a DK Travel Guide - they are by far the best travel guides available. But I feel I have to warn everyone about this one. There's always at least one bad apple in the barrel, and I've found the 'bad apple'.

First up, the good things. The background, history and descriptions of all the buildings are typical DK - first class, and better than every other guide out there. You can get the background story to the city and its art and architecture before you arrive.

I took the 2008 edition away with me to Berlin in April 2008. You'd expect up-to-date information, wouldn't you? I agree that some things do change; opening times change, museum regulations change etc. BUT - so many things change in a single city, in such a short time since this updated version was written?

I ended up missing so many things due to this book's wrong opening times to so many museums. Here are just a few things that happened -

- It states that all museums are closed on Mondays, and I arrived on a Monday at 9:30am. So I took my time spending the day wandering around the city. At 4pm I had a look at the Pergamon Museum, and saw its open on Mondays. I found that there are many museums open on Mondays. I could have spent a large chunk of my first day in one of the museums.

- I missed the Picture Gallery at Sanssouci because this guide stated the wrong closing time, even though I had paid for entrance to it.

- I lost a lot of time, in the first 2 days there, getting lost on Berlin's train system because the plan at the back of the book is wrong in so many places. Lines aren't shown, wrong line numbers are shown, several lines now go further than shown in the guide. Use the maps on the ticket machines.

- I wasted 2 hours traveling to a combined bookshop/art gallery that is a massive department store at the stated address. After this, I stopped relying on the practical information giving about anything.

- I nearly missed the magnificent Gemaldegallerie (Picture Gallery) in former West Berlin because the guide stated that photography isn't allowed inside. (One of my criteria for visiting a museum is to take photos.) I went there to visit the gallery's bookshop, and discovered that photography IS allowed, just without flash - and I should hope so! Luckily I went to the gallery's shop first things in the morning.

As another reviewer has already said, the 'Four Great Days In Berlin' suggested intinaries on page 10 and 11 would be impossible to do. The writer of this small section obviously has never done their own itinary. How can anyone take a 1 hour train journey to Wannsee, then walk for an hour in the forest to an art gallery, then walk further on to a lake, then take a boat trip on the lake to an island, then walk around the island, then get back to the train station to take the train to Potsdam, to 'enjoy the lovely Park Sanssouci ...' All this in the morning before lunch! (I spent an entire day at Park Sanssouci.) If anyone follows their itinaries, they wouldn't see anything at all - their trip to Berlin would be a huge blur in their mind.

Clearly DK have just reprinted the first edition of this guide, dating from 2000, and are passing it off as a newly revised edition for 2008. There is no way that entire buildings can be changed and train lines extended in the space of a few months since this newly revised guide was 'revised'. (Not even the efficent Germans could manage that feat). I have no idea what errors are in the restaurant and hotel areas of this guide as I didn't use them.

I have always used DK Guides whenever I travel, and will continue to do so. They are the market-leaders in travel guides. But my experiences with this one will make me very cautious in future. I'll be double checking the practical information given in all their guides in future.

* Just treat this guide as a book written in 2000 - don't trust any opening times or other practical information.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless book, November 3, 2006

By 

Jane (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Turtleback)

This book is completely unhelpful for anyone spending time in Berlin. I've lived in Berlin in the past but wanted a new travel book to help me see all of the newer sights. Even for someone who already knows her way around the city, this book was confusing and useless. The maps are all oversimplified to the point that they won't help you find anything, and the descriptions about where things are will get you completely lost or cause you to waste a ton of time. For example, the book's recommended ways to spend particular days are absolutely impossible to do. As someone who knows Berlin, I noticed that their sample schedules told people to go to places that are sometimes more than an hour and a half apart by public transportation and then travel back along the same route to get to another sight or activity. I felt like this was a waste of money, and I should have gotten the Lonely Planet or Let's Go guilde.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eyewitness Berlin, September 29, 2005

By 

David M. Sageser (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

The book was very useful. We have used these guides in several cities and they are always informative and well arranged. My only disappointment with this one was the map section. It lacked a good overall map. Once we got on the correct page it was OK but it was cumbersome to get there.