Customer Reviews

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: San Francisco & Northern California

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I live in SF and this truly is a fabulous book! I press it into the hands of all my guests (from France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada..) and they are off to explore the town!

Among the wonderful characteristics of this book are the following:

1. ILLUSTRATIONS (several detailed pictures per page)

2. History of SF (illustrated and hitting major points)

3. Overview of city by District

4. In depth guide (broken down by district: Chinatown, Financial District, Golden Gate Park)

5. Suggested walking tours (illustrated paths and what to see while walking)

6. Attention to detail (such as rub lions at the entry gate to Chinatown for good luck..)

7. In Depth coverage of Major attractions (museums, Alcatraz, Yerba Buena Gardens) which consists of a diagram of the complex, an identification of each building and a sampling of the art, prison cell, etc, found in the respective buildings.

8. Event guide (found on p. 46-49) that details major events happening annually in San Francisco (organized by month) accompanied with a temperature/ rainfall guide (but always pack a jacket for SF). Events include: North Beach Festival, Bay to Breakers, Cherry Blossom Festival, SF International Film Festival and the like.

9. Nearby attractions: book also talks about Sausalito, Berkeley, Yosemite Park

10. Where & What to Eat: covers famous dishes & restaurants of SF - for the trendy spots you'll have to go on citysearch and look under SF b/c the trendy spots constantly change

This is the first recommendation I've made b/c this book truly is the most used in my library. All whom I have lent it to rave about the detailed pictures and hidden facts about SF.

Eyewitness travel guides are a WONDERFUL series known for MANY pictures and in-depth coverage. Lonely Planet is also a good choice but I prefer guides with pictures. My friends (who also live in SF) borrow this book when they have friends and family visiting b/c you can easily select things to do (walks, ferry rides, restaurant tastings, etc.) by just flipping through pages. Moreover, by simply looking through the book, you are already learning about the place you will visit, and you will be able to quickly find your way around the attractions...

In addition, you might want to visit the SF Chronicle's website for local events. Moving here? That's why I first bought the book. For movers I would also recommend the website Craigslist.

Either way, enjoy the city and Remember: ALWAYS bring a jacket because the fog can roll in anytime to make even an August day FREEZING cold... (that's why tourist shops sell fleeces year-round)

I have just returned from my sixth trip to San Francisco and used this particular guide for the last three. The detailed pictures helped me find new treasures, the info on transportation has saved me the cost of the guide many times over. I've used this to locate both child friendly activites and also intriguing adult adventures - different trips. This book is very well organized, beautifully illustrated and so packed with information it will take several more trips before I exhaust all it's possibilities.

I absolutely love this series of travel guides. When you first start thinking about a travel destination buy the book from this series, use it to plan your trip, take it along to guide you along the way and then bring it home to reminisce about your adventure. These guides are thorough, giving an overview of the history, climate etc as well as detailed information about food and lodging. The series is NOT updated as often as some others but up-to-date info in particulars are readily available elsewhere (other guides, both purchased and local freebies, and the internet). The pictures are a plus for locating things, detailed info about local food, transportation etc is very helpful.

The only drawbacks to this series are that the books tend to be rather heavy and the need to confirm some of the info.

I've used this guide for several trips to San Francisco and found it highly useful. I've carried this book all over the city. The detailed street maps in the back are excellent and you can easily use them without saying to everyone, "Hey, look at me holding this gigantic map. I must be a stupid tourist. Come mug me." The color thumbnail images are perfect if you're a photographer and want a glimpse of what each location looks like before visiting. There's also enough text to keep you entertained on your plane ride without boring you. This is a great guide to thumb through and pick out which places you want to visit. Each location is listed with its street address, map number and location, and admission times when applicable. The trolley lines are also covered, but you'll probably want to pick up an up-to-date bus map when you arrive.

I have the previous edition of this book, and it was the only reference (beside some tips from friends on things to do) that we used to find our way around and find cool things to check out while in San Francisco last December. The photos (yes, there's a lot of them) were actually pretty useful, I thought, since they served as a very good guide for what to look for when we hit a particular neighborhood, in terms of landmarks. We found the guide also to be right on in terms of restaurant references and pricing information, and if you want to stretch your trip to San Fran a bit, it also provides useful info for excursions into Napa Valley and the like. All in all, a nice little guide I totally recommend: not your street-by-street atlas, that's granted, but very useful nevertheless.

Northern California has needed its own travel book from Eyewitness and this is just the edition I was hoping for. San Francisco has lots of fun places to visit and they are all here. I like that it explains elsewhere to go in the state. If you are looking for a cultural city and a fun camping trip this is the perfect book to buy.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide Series are by far the best references for the traveler who wants to know everything from history to practical information. I particularly enjoy knowing what types of foods/restaurants to try when I'm visiting a city and this guide certainly does a nice job detailing restaurants, food, and drink. The pictures in this guide are fantastic! A great souvenir to have after your vacation so you can look back and relive your trip!

DK Eyewitness travel books are some of the best on the market. You can glean more information from one of their books than you can from reading several offerings from their competitors. The full-color visuals, the detailed maps, and the interesting side-bars all add up to making this guide a perfect companion when planning a trip. If you're actually going on vacation, or simply dreaming of far-away places, this is the travel series for you.

My work has provided me with the opportunity to travel a good bit. I am the type of person who wants to get a working background for my destinations, both in terms of history and geographic layout. Because I work, I don't have a great deal of time to spend reading and studying different, often lengthy, travel guides before or during my trips.

Because these guides are concise, beautifully illustrated, relatively compact, and impeccably organized, I cannot recommend highly enough the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides! The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide is THE guide I buy for every destination. Not only do I get a quick history and background of the destination, but I also will be provided with a visual guide to everything. The visual detail is really what sets the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides apart.

The street maps of common destination points are drawn in dimensional detail so you will visually recognize when you "get there." This is particularly helpful when you don't speak the native language.

The regional maps are colorful and concise. However, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide really shows its stuff with the drawings associated with attractions such as museums. Their presentation of museum layouts allow the traveler who is short on time to quickly see the best of the museum within the time the traveler has to spend.

Each DK Eyewitness Travel Guide has a good summary section in the back with practical information about where to eat, where to sleep, what to do, and how to get around.

While I may supplement the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide with others for a more detailed travel guide, the other guide is only more to read, not more to see. Buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide first for any destination.

I bought this book for a 4-day trip and needed an easy to use guide book, but it was a bit outdated (restaurants listings were not correct) and sight-seeing tips were boring and/or half-heartedly written.

I liked the Eyewitness book for Tokyo, which had a light overview with useful pictures and maps. It complemented a Frommers book well, which had lots of useful information, but required more reading to get a good idea of a neighborhood. I think this book would also benefit from another, more well-informed book, as this one lacked the in-depth details on a particular sight.

The layout was also very busy and distracting. A better layout, perhaps with selective use of color, would have been easier to navigate.

Excellent history of landmarks and sections of the city. Great illustrations and graphics.