Customer Reviews

Explorer's Guide Northern California (Explorer's Complete)

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

 

 

This book is amazing in its scope. It covers the details of places you didn't even know were places. That makes it ideal when you have picked a general location, but want to know the restaurants and attractions in that area. The book conveniently divides "Where to Eat" into "Dining out" and "Eating out" categories. We are usually in the more-or-less "cheap eats" category of "Eating out," but it's also good to prepare for the occasional splurge. The recommendations we have tested so far have been reliable. The author noted one popular restaurant famous for it's expensive (about $20) lobster sandwich, saying that she had serious problems with spending that much on a sandwich, no matter what. That's exactly my thinking!

The book has addresses, phone numbers, and website references. I hate to be so geeky, but I'll suggest the author add GPS coordinates for some of the more remote attractions. Street numbers on Highway 1 may not work in GPS, and some places, like Point Lobos State Reserve, don't have assigned street addresses that can be referenced, so they exist only as directions (e.g., three miles south of Carmel). The Apple Hill area could use a little more detail. These are nits; the book is terrific!

This is the guidebook to get if you live in Northern California or if you are a serious visitor.

With so many places to visit in northern California, I look forward to using this book as an on-going reference while out and about and for longer term planning of adventures. There are so many excellent aspects of this book that I look for in a travel book, including helpful hints for traveling as a family, camping in nature, eating good food and finding off the beaten path adventures. In addition, I love that this book supports and takes a preference for local businesses. Awesome book and great for any budget.

I thought this book would be good for our road trip though Northern California, however we did not find that much useful into here. Used our other books more. It is lacking in maps as well.

This book does a great job of explaining both the must see locations and little known treasures in Northern California. Having lived in San Francisco for over a decade, I was pleasantly surprised by how many new places I discovered. I highly recommend it for tourists and locals alike.