Customer Reviews

Eyewitness Travel Guide to London (Revised)

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The verdict - Eyewitness is more useful and user-friendly than Frommer's, most of the time.

On a recent 2-week excursion to London, I brought Eyewitness and Frommer's along for comparison purposes and to be sure not to miss anything. I ended up using Eyewitness every day throughout the day and referring to Frommer's only for occasional reference. Mapwise, Frommer's is virtually unusuable with its pull-out map being too clunky while covering too little. Eyewitness' many maps at the back of the book were a life-saver, and the mini neighborhood maps in each section were a nice touch as well.

Visually, Eyewitness is more appealing with its colorful photographs and better paper. Initially I thought all those photos, drawings and captions would be too distracting and superfluous but they turned out to be quite nifty.

The restaurants featured are a select few (perhaps too few?) and the couple we tried based on recommendation from Eyewitness (Sofra and L'Odeon) did not disappoint.

I must acknowledge that Frommer's tends to be more in-depth when it comes to historical info and off-the-beaten-track/quirky stuff. At the same time, there seems to be almost too much text in Frommer's which can be difficult to weed through when hunting for a hint or two in a rush. Frommer's also includes admission/ticket prices missing in Eyewitness, while neither guidebook bothers to provide info on free admission times offered by many museums.

And, since I have your attention, here's a sample of the places I grew to love in London during the trip -

The National Gallery (be sure to check out the audio tour - it's an immense resource)

The Courtauld Gallery (a small but mighty collection)

The Theatre Museum (do ask about a complimentary - on Wednesdays, at least - tour of the nearby Drury Lane Royal Theatre - it's the most underappreciated tourist attraction in London!)

A walk in Kensington gardens - as close to urban heaven on earth as it gets.

Have fun!

If you are planning to tour central London, this is THE guide you should buy. There is nothing better. DK is amazing. I have used it to visit each and every attraction listed, and it works really well. Each attraction is explained in detail with colour photographs for most. You can actually read the book and plan your trip to the hour!

The added bonus are the maps. Wow! Forget A-Z. Forget Collins. The maps are SO EASILY READABLE!

Finally, a few shortcomings are: (1) the pictorial sketch-maps are not very accurate, but that is not so bad. (2) the outside boundaries of the pictorial maps do not mention the street names, so you have to look up the map pages and plan (3) web site addresses should have been listed with each attraction (4) the approximate cost of admission per adult is not listed where applicable. But, in most cases, I could find these on the web (5) the opening timings for attractions are not correct in a few cases (eg Royal Naval College, Greenwich) (6) the book weighs quite a lot! But the guide has good glossy paper and is bound very well.

Besides these not very significant shortcomings, this is the greatest guide I have used. It made my touring really enjoyable.

Finally, if you look through the pages, you will realize what kind of effort and research must have gone into preparing this guide. No wonder it is so good! Hats off to editors/researchers/artists at DK. (DK's other books are really great, too)

My family and I recently vacationed in London this past summer, and found this guide to be a wonderful resource. It is clear, easy to understand, and covers every aspect of your visit to this lovely city on the Thames. Many travel guides have wordy narratives and microscopic maps, but not this one. Once you open it's cover you will be treated to wonderful full color photos, detailed color drawings, maps, and illustrations. You will be inspired by this book because it literally shows you what you'll see in London, even before you leave home. You will be able to identify sites like St.Paul's, Westminister Abby, Trafalgar Sq, and will actually recognize them when you arrive in London (this is no small feat)! In addition to a liberal amount of practical travel information, many historical facts are provided to whet your interest, and prepare you to absorb more from guided tours or plaques you may read. Finally, even after you return home, you will find yourself looking at this guide to refresh your memory, and to explain some of the finer points when telling friends "what you did on your summer vacation". It is a beautiful book, a great travel guide, and a wonderful keepsake.

When my wife and I take a trip to Europe, we always buy more guidebooks than any sensible person would want. The one that always gets used - over and over - is the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide. The one for London is excellent but we have also used the guidebooks for Rome and Paris with equally satisfactory results. What is great about these books is the careful combination of text and pictures. The traveller can get a "feel" for the city in advance, so that once on site there is a comfortable familiarity with the terrain. The maps are excellent and the 3-D breakout views of museums and other sites of interest are quite helpful. And the book doesn't skimp on that information that all traveller's need when visiting a foreign country - practical information about currency, custom, emergency help, precautions, transportation, entertainment options, plus lists of recommended hotels, restaurants and sites of interest.

And even after the trip, this book stays on the bookshelf to be taken down whenever we need a reminder of what we saw and did. Printed on high quality stock and beautifully illustrated, these guidebooks are a pleasure to browse at any time. If you plan to visit London, and don't know the town well, get this book. You'll be glad to have it before, during and after the trip.

I purchased this guide well before my trip to London and read it cover to cover. I was able to plan many of my activities and budget the trip without ever leaving my livingroom.

Even though this was my first trip abroad, the information contained in the guide made me feel as if I was a seasoned travel veteran..from how to use The Tube for transportation (get a London Visitor's Pass) to opearting hours and admission prices for all of the places I wanted to see to a translation of the "English" language (a "subway" is not a train that runs underground).

If you are in need of a very useful travel companion for your trip to London, this guide is well worth the price.

This book and the others in the series (e.g. for Paris and Rome) provide photos, drawings and diagrams of what other books only tell about in print. Beautifully designed and easy to use, this is the one superb resource to read before your trip; you'll know London before you arrive. And during your visit you'll refer to it continually. You'll get a satisfying balance of information about the city's history, culture, arts, neighborhoods, customs, traditions, shopping, events, transporation and more...plus an excellent "survival guide" section...and detailed street and subway maps and recommendations about carefully screened lodging, restaurants and shopping. We don't travel without the Eyewitness Travel Guide. While this book is similar in style and layout to the equally excellent Knopf guides, I find a better balance of information in the Eyewitness Guides.

I used this book extensively on a recent visit to London. The maps were easy to use and very helpful. The guide and floorplans to various sites and museums helped to zero in on those sections that most interested me before I arrived and then to easily locate and explore them once I was there. The restaurent reviews were helpful in narrowing down the choices and when I did eat in a place that was reviewed found the reviews to be quite accurate. Overall I would rate this guide very highly because of it's usefulness both in planning a visit and it's practical use once in London. A good investment for the first time visitor.

Before moving to London for three months (summer of 2001) to finish up my graduate degree, I went to the Rand McNally store in Boston to find a good guidebook to take with me. I figured I would go there, because it specializes in travel and maps, unlike a regular bookstore. The clerk, when I told him how long I would be living in London, suggested this book, and since then I have been a huge advocate for the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides.

When I travel, I am either staying with friends or already have my accommodations arranged, so there's no need for the Fodor's or Frommer's hotel section that their guides offer, and for restaurants I prefer Zagat's, or, better yet, asking the locals or friends and family for suggestions. And, for plays, musicals, concerts, the club scene, movies and shopping, get the Time Out London weekly magazine.

If all you have for your trip to London is the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide and the most recent Time Out London weekly magazine (and I highly recommend its sister magazine, Time Out New York for trips to the Big Apple), you will have everything you need.

Every tourist attraction has listed the nearest Tube station(s), the most popular sites have schematics labeling what's in what room and the most interesting things to see, and the layout by neighborhood makes it easy to make the best use of your time. I know I would not have visited half the places I did had I not found out about them in this guidebook.

While over there, I bought the DK Great Britain, since I was taking some trips outside London. In the past few years I have gotten the DK Washington, DC (where I now live) and the DK New York, gave the DK Greek Islands and DK Istanbul as gifts, and every time someone asks about guidebooks, the first recommendation I give is DK. So far, I have been equally impressed with each DK Eyewitness Guide, and I plan to purchase one for every trip I take.

Visually sublime, this book made my stay in London wonderful. I am 19 and living on a student's budget, and this book contains a plethora of activities in all price ranges. This guide ranges from the touristy things to the obscure. There are even reviews of clubs and restaurants and a lifesaving map. Also helpful is the shopping, market, and specialty stores section. And despite other comments I have read, I never left home without it. It's not too heavy unless you're not carrying a bag.. You can't stick it in your pocket, but who would want a guide book that you could? Its only faults were some inaccurate museum hours and a limited review of restaurants. Otherwise, I loved it. It's a cool souvenir, too, since it's packed with beautiful photos of some things that you can't photograph like the interior of Westminister Abbey.

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to London was a wonderful resource on my just-completed trip. It's a delight to look at with its wealth of photographs but it also contains solid travel information. For instance: 1) Neighborhood walks through areas such as Chelsea, Whitehall and Westminster 2) A self-guided tour of Westminster Abby. 3) Where to find the most interesting exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museaum. 4) A great series of street finder maps. Though not quite as comprehensize as the London A to Z series the maps in this book are very good. Much better than other guidebooks I've seen. 5) A great tube map. You need this map to get around the London tube system. I carried my book all over London last week and saw many other people with the same book in their hands in not only the English version but also French, Hebrew, and Japanese. It is an excellent book and I recommend it highly.