Customer Reviews

Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Top 10)

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

 

 

I have bought many Eyewitness travel guides but this was the first time I used one of their Top 10 guides. It is an incredible travel aid, especially for first time visitors to a major city like Berlin. The guide is about much more than just the top 10 sites in Berlin. For example, each major site, such as the Pergmamon Museum, is further divided into its own top 10. This is an especially helpful aid in a city such as Berlin where the museums alone are worth the trip and each museum deserves days of exploring. When we fell further and further behind our self-imposed schedule, we defaulted to the Top 10 guide and used it extensively: the top 10 at the Egyptian Museum, the top 10 at the Pergamon, the top 10 on Unter den Linden, etc. In addition, the book lists the top 10 in each of a number of categories such as museums, art galleries (which are separated from museums), restaurants, stores, bars, architectural sites, etc. Plus there are neighborhood sections, each with a top 10 list of things to see and a list of cafes, bars and restuarants. This allowed us to go to a major Top 10, see the top 10 within, and then see some of the top 10 of the surrounding neighborhood. I found the recommendations to be reliable. The book is very well organized and includes helpful thumb nail photos. You may or may not agree with all the "top 10" judgements but as a first time visitor I was less concerned about that and more concerned with getting the most that I could out of my few days in a major city. This is the best city guide I have ever used. As an addendum, if you are going to Berlin, buy the murder-mystery novel "The Good German" set in August 1945.

If you are planning a short trip to Berlin this is a must have book. It covers excellent restaurants and wonderful places to stop and shop. The essential sights are all listed by region and are explained in enough detail for one to decide if they want to visit. If you are going for a longer period of time I would recommend a bigger guide but I would still get this one to walk around with.

I recently stayed in Berlin for 4 days and took this useful little book with me, popped it in my pocket and found it indispensible while travelling round. It contains the following:-

* Pull-out map and guide

* Guide to the Top 10 best of everything in Berlin

The first section of the book deals with the Top 10 locations in Berlin which were:-

1. Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz
2. Reichstag
3. Unter den Linden
4. Potsdamer Platz
5. Pergamon Museum
6. Kurfurstendamm
7. Kaiser-Wilhelm Church
8. Schloss Charlottenburg
9. Kulturforum
10. Zoologischer Garten

A small map of Berlin shows the locations of all the above places which is handy for planning your travels.

Each of the above places has several pages devoted to it, and also detailing another 10 sights nearby, which was extremely informative.

The next sections give the traveller lots of useful information about Berlin, some of which include:-

* Lakes, Rivers & Canals
* Best Places to Eat
* Famous Berliners
* Historic Buildings and Modern Buildings
* Children's Attractions
* Festivals & Fairs

and lots more.

There is also a section entitled 'Around Town' which gives detailed information about 10 attractions area by area, including shops, Pubs and Bars, Restaurants and Cafes, together with suggestions of what to do for the whole day.

The last part of the book has more practical information about Berlin such as the transport, security and health tips, places to stay, helpful advice for disabled visitors plus lots more. There's also a few phrases that you may need!

This little guide is packed with lots of tips, full of colourful illustrations, a detailed underground map, all of which I found incredibly helpful.

Overall, a well-designed mini-guidebook. The first part covers the 10 best of the entire city in several categories. The second part of the book divides Berlin into multiple neighborhoods, and provides the best of for each neighborhood. To me, this organization was ideal. The first part allowed me to chose from the major sites, places that are worth traveling to just for that one site. The second part allowed us to find nearby sites when wondering in various neighborhoods. It also includes a very small but decent German (language) dictionary and the standard general tourist information.

It's not perfect. It would be better if the side of the book used different colors for different area, and if there were a neighborhood map in with each neighborhood, but those are details. Also, once in a while, it just fails; for example, try to find Arkaden based on information in the book. [I couldn't.]

The big problem is that the book is quite dated. The copyright is 2002, and while it says it's been updated since then, there is some out-of-date information. Some examples: "Turkish families having barbecues" (pg 70) -- not any more, there are "no grilling" signs everywhere. "you can assess progress in the construction of the Holocaust-Denkmal" -- which was completed in 2005, as correctly stated elsewhere on the same page. "There are no intercontinental flights to Berlin" (pg 161) -- there are now. While we didn't encounter noticeable problems with the information being out of date, it did make me wonder what we missed.

I had traveled to Berlin on a day trip once before, and I loved it so much I planned a return. I got this book to help me determine what sights to see during the three days I would be there. Even knowing a little about the city, I found this book difficult to utilize as a reference. I hated the way it was organized -- into about a million disjointed top ten lists -- and couldn't really make hide nor hair of the lists, which seemed to include anything and everything about Berlin in one form or fashion. In other words, it is no help when narrowing down what to see. It traveled with us to Berlin, but it never left the suitcase.

I ended up using -- just as I had on my first visit -- Rick Steve's Germany and Austria. I used this book for booking my hotel (Hotel Pension Funke is SO awesome -- huge and unique rooms, great service, free breakfast), choosing pubs and restaurants (San Marino in Savignyplatz is a great value), and deciding which sights to see (the free Original Berlin Walks Tour can't be beat for a great city orientation). Get Rick instead -- I went to Munich and Salzburg on this same trip, and Rick's book helped me out in all three cities, no other guide needed.

The guide arrived much earlier than predicted and in perfect condition. I would buy from this seller again. As for the guide itself, it's not a comprehensive, cover-the-waterfront reference, but rather meant to give someone a quick introduction and overview of the city. The guide fulfills this quite well. It's compact and serves as a portable carry-along guide. The fold-out maps of the central city area and train systems are especially useful, although the u-bahn map is in very small type and a bit hard to read.

I have used the top ten series of books for both Paris and Amsterdam and found them to be extremely useful for a first or second trip. We plan to go to Berlin this fall and ordered this book because of our past experience. As we will have only two or three days in the City, we want to see the best of the best using public transportation.

I had a friend living in Berlin to supplement the guide but for somebody who wants to explore by oneself the city is easy, clear, no-fuss guide. I would just ignore the hotels and restaurants recommendations, you have to do your own research before you go there. Things like that change.

This was the only Berlin-specific guidebook I bought for a recent trip, but the heavy weight of the small book meant that I didn't carry it with me when out touring. I did use it to help me label and describe photos that I posted on-line when I returned, and I did try to visit the book's top 10 list. I would recommend it for reference, or for someone who doesn't mind a bit of extra weight when walking around all day.