Customer Reviews

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: India

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a guidebook only in the broadest sense of the term. In 800 hefty, glossy, photo-filled pages you will find everything you need to know as a Westerner to make a trip to India an amazing experience.History, culture, art, religion, architecture, food--for every region!--are all covered, accompanied by lavish photos,drawings and maps. There's a cursory section in the back listing hotels and restaurants that's already outdated, but there are othere more mundane guides for that sort of thing, not to mention the internet. I wouldn't even consider hauling this book with me on a trip, though--too heavy, and it would be ruined. It's worth it to copy the pages for the areas you'll be visiting, and keep this book on your travel treasures shelf.

DK's India is a work of joy. Very thorough and informative (including phrase books for five languages and tons of practical tips). Bought it in India and browsed through it as we visited places doubling the wonder of each experience. Written and put together by obviously a great team of writers, illustrators, art historians, photographers, editors and seasoned travellers. I am now finding that it is great for easy-chair travel around India also.
Wonderful. Shabash!

As an Indian and Indophile, I found the layout of this book quite unique. It is not only a travel guide but also a concise historical, cultural and culinary guide.
The photographs, plans and descriptions are so well done that I am reading it as I would a novel, reveling in every page!
I am learning so much about the land of my birth through this book.
Thanks to the writers and the editor for a magnificent job.

Krishna Jayaraman

I was delighted to read your review of the Eyewitness Travel Guide to India. As the project editor of this title, I would like to add a few words on why this guide is special. First, it is the only international guide to India written entirely by Indians. This makes it more accurate, more authentic and more full of insights into Indian culture, customs and lesser known aspects of the country than any of the other guides. Apart from the well known sights, this guide also covers fascinating off-the-beaten track places and subjects that most other guides do not cover. Our special features on themes such as religion and iconography, Indian music and dance, and the great epics make these complex subjects easily accessible to a foreign visitor. This guide is like a visual encyclopedia, and is as much a book for the armchair traveller, or an India enthusiast, as for the first time traveller.
Please do however give the correct names for the editors of the 2 Eyewitness travel titles on India. The editor of the Delhi, Agra Jaipur Eyewitness Guide is Aruna Ghose. The editor of the India Eyewitness Travel Guide is Nandini Mehta.
I look forward to reading reviews of these titles by your readers.

I purchased this book, along with the latest Rough Guide India. I found Rough Guide to be my guide, and used this book as an inspirational guide.

Summary:
This book is a good supplimental travel guide. If you have a guide, or on a guided tour, this is a nice book as it gives you detailed information like culture and history. But if you are someone who likes to drop into the city and find a place to stay, and figure your way around the area, this is not your book. As some have mentioned, list of hotels, restaurants, and travel means are very limited, if not completely missing. I have to say that this book was not useful to me.

About India:
After traveling through central/northern parts of India, except for rural parts of India, you can pretty much get anything in Delhi or Mumbai that you can pick up in other parts of India, thanks to improvement in transportation, and inexpensive communications. You can often find pay phone to call any part of india for well under 1rs, and almost everyone has a mobile now.

Good:
Nice pictures. When approached by several 'offical tour guides', this book was all that I needed.
Cultural information, such as famous cuisines and so forth are nice. (See below for cons)

Cons:
Slim information on big cities. I stayed in Delhi and Mumbai and information was too little. I would prefer more words then nice pictures.
Some cultural information is pretty uselesss. So you know the cuisine, but how do you know where to eat it in a big city like Mumbai or Delhi.

"Greetings from New Delhi. The city is fascinating, troubling and exhausting all at the same time." ~postcard with a picture of the Taj Mahal from a friend who seems to travel a lot lately and was very sweet to send me a postcard

I was just about to review "Eyewitness Travel Guides: India" when a postcard arrived. In a few minutes I had located "New Delhi" on a map on page 71. I've been fascinated with India since I was very young. My father used to travel to India and bring us back little trinkets and fans and tell us fascinating stories about rickshaws, exotic breads and curry. Later we moved to Africa and learned to make curry and other fascinating foods. My Indian friends taught me how to make Chai tea and even Biryani/Bryani.

This book doesn't have any recipes, but it will give you an overview of the foods you could expect to find while traveling. I highly recommend "Tandoori" anything. Naan and mint chutney are also a favorite. I also found this book useful while watching the Apu Trilogy. You can look up information about various cities and see where they are located.

Features in this Travel Guide:

Over 2,400 color photographs
Information on mythology, religion, regional food and Mughal palaces
Where to find the Tiger Reserves
Advice on Local Etiquette
Visiting Temples and Going by Rickshaw
Cutaways and Major Sights
Easy-to-Use Maps and Plans
Information on more than 3,000 sights, stores, restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues

There are all sorts of intriguing facts. Who knew the popular paisley motif was derived from the shape of the manogo fruit. Calcutta is now Kolkata and you will even find pictures of women picking tea around Darjeeling. Ever wondered what a saffron flower looks like? See page 62. The Buddhist architecture and Hindu Temples have always fascinated me and you can find diagrams and pictures on page 23. Page 24-25 explores the areas of Hindu Mythology and The Great Epic Poems that have had a lasting impact on Indian culture and philosophy. Want to brush up on the History of India? This book is an amazing overview and is so much more than just a travel guide.

I am often amazed at how one book leads to another or how you will find common threads within a number of books you just happen to be reading at the same time. After reading the paraphrase of the 30th poem in Rabindranath Tagore's The Gardener in "Love Poems," I found more information on his life in this book.

Tagore was India's ultimate Renaissance man and his influence is still felt in all branches of the arts, particularly in Bengal. ~pg. 292

If you are interested in India, this book seems to be essential reading.

~The Rebecca Review

This is probably the best Eyewitness Travel Book yet. It's BIG (824 pages), got lots of cutaways, floor plans, and history. And also includes great Indian cuisine. And the in-depth coverage on Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, and Madras is amazing! THIS IS A GREAT BOOK! Any travel fun MUST buy this definitely!

If you don't know anything about India and want to visit this huge country...this guide is perfect for you.
Very nice pictures of all main touristic attractions can help you decide what you want to see and where you want to go. It really inspires traveling there.
I first owned the Lonely Planet which is much better at giving you recommended itineraries and routes to get to specific places, as well as cheap but comfortable hotels, but which lacks the visual part to help decide where to go in the first place.
Both guides are quite heavy and rather inconvenient to carry on a trip. I would recommend making photocopies of important pages only to take with you.
Unlike other guides, you are likely to read this one again after your trip to see what you missed, what you want to visit next, compare the pictures you took...this is a good investment.
Why only 4 stars ? Well, the restaurants section is unnecessary in my opinion (especially because it lacks maps to tell you where there are), and the price categories of hotels are too imprecise and sometimes wrong (some hotels double their prices during the peak season).

These DK guides are always wonderful. Use them like an color encyclopedia. Even if you never get to these places, the 3-D model walk through of palaces and museums can make you feel like you know them.

This is a nice book for getting an overview of India and picking out things you might want to do there, which is no small task in a country so large. It's more extensively illustrated than any other India guide I've seen. However, having been to India, I wouldn't want to use this book for the actual trip. It doesn't contain nearly enough detailed information about transportation, lodgings, and places to sleep, and its maps are pretty much useless. For actual travel I recommend the Lonely Planet guides, of which there are several for different parts of India.