Customer Reviews

Fodor's Exploring London, 4th Edition (Exploring Guides)

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I won't be going back to Britain this year (or probably anytime soon, unfortunately), but I've been a London junkie for a couple of decades and I'm always interested in what travel books and touring guides have to say about the city. Of course, everyone wants something different from a travel book. I'm mostly interested in historic locations and rubbernecking generally, not in where to eat and sleep and shop for souvenirs, so the balance among types of information in the Fodor's "Exploring" series suits me just fine. First, there's a good general introduction on politics, recent immigration, styles & trends, and London's apparent rush to knock down its history in favor of turn-of-the-21st-century garish architecture, followed by a short but equally good survey of the city's cultural and social history. At the back is a very brief guide to accommodations, dining, shopping, and "travel facts," but you're usually better off with an annually updated quick guide for assistance in those areas. (Take a look at schedules and reviews in the Saturday Times and the Sunday Evening Standard, too.) It also would have been helpful to include addresses of a few of the many official and commercial trip-planning web sites for London that are now available. (Try London.Net.) The bulk of the book is organized by neighborhood -- thirteen of them, so there's quite a bit of detail wherever you might be spending your day. Sidebars throughout provide information on such things as the role of gentlemen's clubs, regularly scheduled arts festivals, and the history of "Bedlam," which is exactly the kind of thing my sort of visitor finds fascinating. There are also plenty of detailed street maps, though you will definitely want to acquire a proper fold-out map, plus a London Transport map (because even native Londoners can get lost in the twistier areas). To pick nits: I wish they had included more about the Underground system and its history instead of just giving describing the fare zone system and advising you to use a Travelcard and to avoid the rush hour. And how could such a history-heavy guide omit London Stone and the Roman wall? Nevertheless, this is an excellent and well-written guide. Also, Fodor's used to skimp on photos, and what they did include were generally in black-and-white, but this volume is packed with artfully cropped and arranged pictures on heavy, slick paper. Very nice indeed.