Customer Reviews

Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book to help me plan my trip to Europe and it was so useful, it was the only book I packed to take on my trip. The book covers mainly Western Europe along with Poland, Czech Republic, Hungry, and Greece. The former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia are not covered and neither are the islands of Iceland, Malta, and Cyprus. Similarly, of the "tiny" countries, only Monaco and the Vatican are mentioned; Liechtenstein, Andorra, and San Marino are not.

The book describes what is available to see in Europe. For each country, about six to twenty cities/regions are discussed and for major cities (e.g. London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, etc.) there is more detailed coverage, such as six to twenty sights within that city along with a city map. Usually, each attraction gets about a four-paragraph write-up plus a photograph. A few major attractions (e.g. Louvre, British Museum, St. Peter's Cathedral, etc.) are devoted two to four pages plus a larger diagram. Also, each country usually has another dozen or so pages covering its history and culture as well as a discussion about practical information such as climate, banking, methods of travel, shopping, etc.

The book doesn't teach you everything you need to know about Europe (e.g. nothing about foreign languages), or will want to know (e.g. hotels, restaurants, and food have modest coverage). Nor does it include everything you'll do - only places, not events, are written about (e.g. Oktoberfest only warrants a photo). But the book does an excellent job at detailing what popular, famous, interesting, or important places there are in Europe. The pictures and illustrations make the book come to life. The maps help you judge the relative positions of sights within a particular city. The descriptions are usually detailed enough so you can determine how interesting you'll find a particular place. Some people might criticize the book because it doesn't judge how "good" each sight is. However, I find this nice because everyone has different tastes and I like to have the opportunity form my own opinions.

If you want to know what is available to see in Europe then this is the book for you.

If you're already a fan of the Eyewitness Travel Guide series, you know what to expect from this book. If this is your first time, let me tell you you'll be amazed with how great and how useful this book is.

This particular guide summarizes the contents of over 20 other books by DK, including information for 20 countries in total, organized in the following way:
- The British Isles (Great Britain & Ireland)
- France and the low countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg & The Netherlands)
- The Iberian Peninsula (Spain & Portugal)
- Italy and Greece
- Germany, Austria and Switzerland
- Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark & Finland)
- Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary & Poland).

This guide contains, for every country, information regarding sites to visit, hotels, restaurants, shopping, museums, travel info (how tos for travelling by train, bus, car, metro, etc). Worthy of notice are their trademark cutaways of castles and churches, maps and street-by-street graphics.

The only drawback is that since it includes information on so many countries, some of it might not have the detail you'd expect. For example, the France section has only 73 pages, while the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Paris (another book from DK) has over 350 pages on Paris alone!

A phenomenal guide if you're planning on visiting many countries on one trip, but if you intend to dedicate more time to just a couple, you'd be better off getting the specific country/city guides.

Yes, this is one heavy book. It is more than likely not a guide you want to carry around with you unless you intend to lose a few pounds from the extra weight in your backpack. Otherwise, it is quite a great guide for deciding where you want to take your next vacation in Europe. It is filled with color photography, illustrations and details you wil enjoy reading. It is graphically exciting and visually pleasing. Of all the guides I've seen, the Eyewitness Travel Guides are sheer brillance.

On the inside cover there is a map of Europe and then the pages are color coded so you can find the following countries: Great Britian, Ireland, France, Belgium & Luxembourge, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

So, if you wanted to find the information on France, you just turn the book sideways and look for the yellow markings on the pages. Viola, you are there. If you are dreaming about visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or want to go see the Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau de Versailles, may I say...they are worth a plane ticket to France. Finding a bottle of Huile D' Olive in the South of France is also something you won't soon forget.

There is also a guide to Europe's Rail Network and the Index is perfect.

After you look through the main spots to visit in each country, there is a section filled with practical information: Visa Requirements and customs, tourist information, personal security issues, climate, banking, communications, directory for embassies, travel information like car rental and buses, etc. Then there is a shopping and entertainment. So where do you want to stay? There is a guide giving the hotel ratings and it is divided up by the areas you might enjoy visiting. Then, there is a guide to places to eat. While finding a restaurant just by exploring can be exciting, there is something to be said for a guide. Unless of course you happen to be traveling with someone who knows the country and I can imagine that is the best way to travel. Is there a lonely Frenchman out there who wants to show me Paris? Sigh

Just kidding, but hey, a fantasy is a fantasy.

So, think of this guide as an overview and then you can select an Eyewitness Travel Guide for the specific countries of interest. They are all excellent although on a first trip to Europe, I'd advice a guided tour so you can enjoy your trip instead of worrying about language barriers, etc.

If you go to Paris, take a tour because I would not drive there if you paid me a million bucks! The highways in Germany are also equally terrifying. Everyone is in such a hurry to get to nowhere. If you want to enjoy your vacation without as many hassles, a tour might be the way to go. There is nothing quite like being guided through the most gorgeous cities in Europe.

This guide is just the start to many adventures.

~The Rebecca Review

Eyewitness travel guides are splendid and this is not an exception. This is a handy guide to Europe and shows some of the more popular spots to travel to. I was a bit confused that not all countries were included. However, that might be because they picked the places that most people travel to. I personally was a bit disapointed that Romania, Ukraine and other more far eastern european countries were not included. However, still and all, this is an awesome guide for the countries that are included. I love how they show everything instead of just writing and writing like many travel guides do. These are the best guides out there and the many photos make these guides stupendous and astounding and many leagues better then closest competitor.

I recently took a backpack trip through Europe, which lasted close to a month; before heading out there I went through a few guidebooks and at that moment this one appealed the most. I cannot say if it was the presentation with the colored photographs; maps of the cities with visitor information or that I was just to plain sick of spending time searching for a guide book to take me though my journey. Nonetheless I am quite pleased that I took this guide with me. I had planned initially to visit a friend in Netherlands and spend some time scrolling through the cities; I left my guide there to my host; but off and on I would reference the book with places I visited; I must admit that this book covered all the places. Now of course I personally feel the best way to visit a place is to have some one show you around as like any other travel guide will not detail the places where the locals would head over to; like the bars, restraunts and night clubs. My visit from here lead me to Paris; it hit me with all its charm and glamour; here too I was fortunate to be taken around by friends. The real use of the guide came when I went on a solo journey to Belgium Austria and Italy. I found this guide an immense source of information. On my way to the city mostly by trains; I found the chance to orient myself and somewhat have a time frame as to how long I would stay in each city. I found that even though the book has information about hotels and hostels but at the train station's Hotel Guides; I was always able to get better deals. Pretty much I carried this heavy 800 pages book with me where ever I went.

Even though this book provides immense information I would highly recommend getting additional reference books on cities, which are known, for immense sightseeing and historical attractions. One such place where the guide fell short was Florence; even tough it has considerable information and provides all the most popular sites. It literally will take a 1000 pages to detail all the places to visit; as a comparison there are over 78 places to visit which have historical importance but the book has listed only about the best 14 of them; well visiting all the places would take a few weeks of stay in comparison to a typical 3-4 days that tourists generally spend; which is sufficient time to visit the places listed in the book. Another important place not mentioned in this test was the "Museum of Arsenal" in Vienna; here on display is the car in which duke Ferdinand traveled with in Sarajevo.

On the whole this covers only the most western countries of Europe and leaves a lot of East European countries and Turkey as well.

This guide is great for an overview of many of the great places in Europe - but I cannot believe anyone would consider using this as their only guide. It should be used to maybe narrow down places to visit- then more comprehensive guides should be used. I have never been a believer in those 1 and 2 days in 18 cities over 3 weeks tours. 1 or 2 days is certainly not enough time to fully appreciate and get to know any city you visit. Furthermore, this guides biggest flaw is in doesn't cover anything in central/eastern europe besides the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary! Where's Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic States, etc....? Yes, Europe is big but the countries not contained in this guide have so much to offer and certainly should not be overlooked. For example, St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - not mentioned here!

Don't rush Europe - relax and enjoy it. Take time to get to know the people and cities. This guide can certainly help to narrow down Europe - but should certainly not be relied upon for extensive info on the many great places.

This is a condensed and abridged book covering most of Europe. It gives you the highlights of the countries of Western Europe. It is a good book if you planning a trip where you will spend a day or two in many places. Otherwise you should consider DK more comprehensive guides to a particular country, region or city. On the positive side the book covers several countries that DK does not have a guide for yet. On the down side, the only Eastern European countries covered are Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Also the book is heavy. Is the book worth the money? Only if you are taking a "buffet" tour of Europe (a little France, a little Italy, etc...).

I just returned from a two-week tour of Western Europe and this book was simply fantastic. Obviously you can't cover everything you could possibly do in Europe in 800 pages, but this book covered more than many of the other Europe tomes. I had this book and one other with me on my trip and this was the only book I opened the entire journey.

The best part about this book was all of the illustrations and color photographs. This book shows you what the other guides only tell you. It's hard to tell what building your looking at if you only have a written description, but with the four color illustrations in this book things are easy to identify and find. I would recommend this book to anyone taking a trip to Europe. (Plus, when you get back from your trip this book can even help you identify all those photographs you took)

All Europe guides are, of necessity, a selection of the very best things to see and do in that vast continent. No one book could be comprehensive, and all Europe guides are pretty bulky and heavy. But the Eyewitness people have managed to fit an astonishing number of places into 800 pages - and their choices are always exactly right, especially for the first-time visitor. It can be hard to decide whether to go to Antwerp or Bruges or Brussels - if you only have time to go to one city in Belgium - and all the photographs and illustrations in this book, plus the informative descriptions, make it a lot easier to make up your mind. The maps alone, all in color, make it worth buying.

This guide is great when considering what sites and places to visit. It covers most any city you might find yourself visiting. It does a great job of describing the sites and the history behind them. Does not help with city transportation. Lightly covers the character of each city. I do enjoy the pictures and diagrams in the book. I highly recommend having another guide book that covers more logistics. I used this book along with Rick Steves Europe 2007. They were great companions to one another. My other complaint is that I am a student with a budget. This book does not cover many (if any) cheap places to eat or sleep. It does tell you which places charge admission, but does not tell you the admission price. It is a great book when accompanied by another (like Lonely Planet or Rick Steves.)