Frommer's California 2009 (Frommer's Complete Guides) [Paperback]

Matthew Poole (Author), Harry Basch (Author), Mark Hiss (Author), Erika Lenkert (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: December 31, 2008

America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series

• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides

• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries

• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

Frommer's. The best trips start here.

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer.

• Explore the bounty of the Golden State-from its cosmopolitan cities to its ancient redwood forests, beaches, deserts, lakes, and mountains.
• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Frommer's. The best trips start here.

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer.

• Explore the diversity of the Golden State, from its city lights and wine-growing regions to its ancient redwood forests, beaches, deserts, lakes, and mountains.

• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.

• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.

• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

About the Author

Harry Basch is the author of Frommer’s Exploring America by RV and RV Vacations For Dummies, and a contributor to Frommer’s USA. His books, articles, and photographs—many of which he produced in collaboration with his late wife, Shirley—have been published internationally for more than 25 years.

Mark Hiss is a San Diego–based writer and photographer, and a third generation Southern Californian.

A native San Franciscan, Erika Lenkert spends her time traipsing through San Francisco and across the globe in search of adventure and great food. She has written for Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Bride’s, Wine Country Living, San Francisco Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, and Time Out. Her latest work is an entertaining and cooking guide called The Last-Minute Party Girl: Fashionable, Fearless, and Foolishly Simple Entertaining (www.lastminutepartygirl.com), which mixes fun, humor, and recipes into a tasty, useful guide to living large, Bay Area–style.

Matthew Richard Poole, a native Californian, has authored more than two dozen travel guides to California, Hawaii, and abroad. A regular contributor to radio and television travel programs, he has made numerous guest appearances on the award-winning Bay Area Backroads television show, among other broadcast outlets. Before becoming a full-time travel writer and photographer, he worked as an English tutor in Prague, ski instructor in the Swiss Alps, and scuba instructor in Maui and Thailand. Highly allergic to office buildings and mortgage payments, he spends most of his time traveling the globe in search of new adventures. His other Frommer’s titles include California from $70 a Day, San Francisco from $70 a Day, Los Angeles, Portable Los Angeles, the Irreverent Guide to San Francisco, and Portable Disneyland. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; Revised edition (December 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470287721
• ISBN-13: 978-0470287729
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,074,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Guide for Trip to San Francisco Area, February 10, 2008

By 

Steven Briley (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frommer's California 2008 (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

I needed to plan a 3-day visit to the San Francisco area, and this book proved to be perfect for that. Far better than random information available on the web. I chose a wonderful small hotel from the book and loved it. Also chose restaraunts, grand and small, with excellent results. Chose a variety of sites to visit as a tourist from the book's descriptions. Also charted a 1-day trip through Sonoma valley from the guide, ending up at the Point Reyes Pacific coast and beautiful views. The book also provides site addresses (wineries, for example) useful for tapping into the GPS navigator in the rent car. Too large to carry on a walking trip, but otherwise absolutely a perfect guide for my needs.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not "Complete" - but still pretty good, June 21, 2008

By 

Curly Willow (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's California 2008 (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

I was born and raised in California and live here with my 2 school-age kids. I bought this book for ideas for summer day trips and longer weekend excursions. Somewhat favors Northern California in its thoroughness, and it does cover No. Calif. very well. Good coverage of Los Angeles and surrounding area, with a lot of good notes on places a little more off the beaten path, as well as the "must-sees". Orange County is completely glossed-over -- as if it consisted solely of Disneyland and the beach, with trite references to out-dated stereotypes. Coverage of San Diego and the So. Calif. Desert are covered, but definitely not with the same level of attention devoted to No. Calif. areas. Still a good overview of the state, but if your trip is solely within Southern California, this probably isn't the book for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of a vastly diverse travel destination!, April 30, 2009

By 

A. W. Fishero (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's California 2009 (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

California is so varied from South (San Diego, Anaheim-Disney, LA) to North (San Francisco, Muir Woods) to in between (Tahoe mountains, Monterrey coast, wine country), so a comprehensive travel book may seem impossible. Still, this is a great collection of Frommer's top (and not so top) choices from each region of the state. The maps are a nice perk. This book includes enough information to last travellers many vacations around California.