Customer Reviews

California (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Being a pretty busy person, and usually hating to read travel guides, I find that the DK Eyewitness Guides are the only ones I can stand reading - in fact, I find them enjoyable.

Their main force is that you don't have to imagine whether a destination would be something for you - the guide shows you what to expect, where others just tell you about it. That is the series' main force: They are very easily digestible.

That said, an Eyewitness Guide can't stand alone, so my wife usually acquires a Lonely Planet guide for the place, and I read the Eyewitness Guide, and the two complement each other nicely.

At 630 pages, this is the largest Eyewitness guide I have seen to date, but it also covers a very large subject: All of California, including large and comprehensive sections on both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In addition the introduction, Survival Guide and Travellers' Needs sections that are found in every Eyewitness guide, this book consists of four main sections, roughly equal in size: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Southern California and Northern California.

The section on Los Angeles is the largest, and at 129 pages is in itself as much as some of Dorling Kindersley's city guides. The section on San Francisco isn't much smaller, but lots of pages are still left for the rest of California. In essence, you get two complete city guides and a nice country guide in one reasonably priced package.

Although I'm satisfied with my purchase, some things could be better: Disneyland gets disappointingly dull treatment, considering that it is LA's main attraction - although 4 pages are used we don't even get an overview drawing of the park, although that's something I'd really expected from the Eyewitness guide.

In more general terms, these guide are always very neutral in tone, so it's often difficult to get a feel for an attraction - it might be interesting, but is it worth the money? Is it expensive? The guide doesn't say...

As a conclusion, the book gives good value for money and is an excellent preparatory tool, although its shortcomings as a travel companion becomes too evident with use - for actual day-to-day planning, we had to turn to Lonely Planet for detailed information and subjective recommendations.

This book was a great find! Now I only use the Eyewitness travel books. It is organized in sections based on region. Then each section is organized by area. So everything in the book is organizaed by area. This lets you plan your days extremely easily, if you want cultural, arts, or historical. And all the points of interest are great. Has things for the Adventrous and the Classic traveler.

I picked up this book to see what California has to offer. Sometimes living in a place, you forget what different museums, restaurants and different things to do yet. So, this book was an excellent choice for me!

It also includes lots of information on San Francisco, where I have not been yet, but really want to visit. It also has a section on Las Vegas which is pretty good too. So, if you are looking to see and do everything California has to offer, this guide is for you.

It includes hotel information and restaurants according to location. This book is an excellent tool, showing you just what you'll see when you visit different locations in California.

Enjoy!

This is a good book to use to begin researching a trip to California. The focus is primarily on LA and San Francisco but there is also quite a bit of information on the rest of the state as well. Like the rest of this series, this one also includes lots of pictures, illustrations and maps to give the reader/traveler a clear idea of the various sites. Detailed information about public transportation - where available - as well as traffic, health, banking...everything a traveler to California might need to know is offered.

This particular entry to the DK Eyewitness series covers a very large and diverse area making this volume rather larger (and heavier) than others in the series. Unless you are traveling throughout the state I would recommend getting one of the more specialized volumes. In addition this series does not update as often as other travel guides so it is necessary to check specific information just as hotel rates, or opening/closing of attractions by another source. For detailed local maps outside of featured areas it is also necessary to go to another.

With all of these drawbacks why get this book? This book contains a wealth of information concerning California history, geography, weather as well as the usual guide book information about tourist attractions and accomodations. This is an excellent book to give a would be traveler needed information about the area. Once the destinations have been selected this guide gives incredible detail about major (and some not so major) attractions in the form of photos, illustrations and diagrams as well as written descriptions.

Get this book to research your trip and keep it to remember your adventures.

Dorling Kindersley makes the best travel guides hands down. They are extremely well illustrated, have extensive and detailed maps up to date information on hotels (rates, rooms etc), restaurants (costs and reservation policies), and sites to see.

The travel guides have wonderful pictures, well researched histories and facts about California (the cities and the sites), what wines to look for and taste (not just by region and vineyard but also by year), detailed walking tours, information on famous sites (The lore behind Man''s Theater in LA, the La Brea Tar Pits as well as Alcatraz and some of the top wineries to visit in Napa and Sonoma).

The guide covers travel information, driving directions, the best places to shop and see celebrities in LA, where to get good deals and SOOO much more. The book give you wonderful ideas on how to best see each area in a limited time or really enjoy it if you are there for more than a few days.

The book also covers things to do that many tourists might over look as well as telling you what is worth your while and what to skip.

This is one of the best guides available on the market. It is perfect if you are planning to go to a few cities in a limited time or for more in depth information when planning a longer trip.

I purchased this book and also the current Frommers CA guide. I appreciated this book, because as we drove around the cities- the book gave detailed information about the different points of interest including their history and origins. It was great for all of those times we wondered what the heck something was- or how it came to be - while driving around CA cities. I also found this book more helpful in pointing us to some cool shops in the cities. While the Frommers guide was more detailed in its restaraunt and hotel descriptions, this book was more helpful in finding some of the off the beaten path - fun to see sites.

While I've been to LA a billion times (plus a few other Cali locations), there is still so much I've missed and so a book like this comes in real handy when I'm planning my next vacation.
Eyewitness Travel guides in general are a fantastic series of guide books. They, like this one, are full of colour and beautiful glossy pages packed with photos and heaps of helpful information. It starts with an introduction to California and other subjects like The History Of California, Los Angeles (and within that there is many suburbs, shopping and entertainment and street finders). Then there is Southern California like Orange County, San Diego County, The Inland Empire and Low Desert. Following that there is San Francisco and The Bay Area, more of Northern California etc. Then toward the end, there is sections such as Where To Stay, Where To Eat, Shopping In California, Practical Information, Travel Information etc.
It is full of helpful stuff and you can get a great idea of what there is to do and see and you can almost plan out an entire vaction based on this book alone. I really recommend this to all people planning on taking a trip to any of the big Californian cities, because there is a lot to learn and make decisions on and this book will become your best friend. I love it.

I tend to agree with a previous reviewer. Eyewitness Travel Guides are great for seeing the sights in large cities. But when on the road, they are a bit less than fantastic. My wife and I used this one a few years ago on a tour along Route 1 from Calistoga to San Diego. Most of the info was very useful. The way this guide book introduces the area and its culture is one of its strongest points. Its picture-driven approach is also a big selling point. Four stars.

This is a book to buy if you only want to go to LA and San Francisco, a lot of details about these two cities. But I am sure there are books specifically wrote for these 2, so why not go for those? This book covers very little on the scenic places such as CA coast line, several national parks, and Sierra. Not recommended!

This is a great book to own about California. I wish there had been more complete maps, but I purchased an atlas and that helped. I was mostly in Southern California, and so I didn't get much into the large section on San Francisco bay, but next time I go, I'll have a nice resource. I like the pictures and the writing and the information, I'd recommend it.