Customer Reviews

Frommer's Greek Islands

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

 

 

The principal difference between this book and "Frommer's Greece" is that this one covers the option of selecting a cruise of the islands, and that section is very good. So, if a major concern is choosing a cruise line (or ship) for your Greek vacation, take a look at this guide. Otherwise, "Frommer's Greece" covers all the mainland (and all the islands) for the same price. Frommer's stands out for clear writing, logical indexing, and especially for running the gamut from budget tourism to the more affluent. His starred system with comments for value or attractiveness to family is understandable with good common sense. Studying Frommer's helps me make the decisions I personally want to make. It will save you many times the price of the book and make your stay much more enjoyable.

Reviewed by David Lundberg, author of Olympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece

Unfortunately this book lacks much of the detail and thoroughness that some other guides to the Greek Islands offer (such as the Eyewitness travel guide). Although the major islands are covered in some detail, this book almost entirely ignores a lot of other islands, even some that are quite large. This is a real disappointment because the true wonder of the Greek Island experience is that you can travel to all kinds of places, some very small but no less significant. A good travel guide for the Greek Islands therefore needs to include just as much detail about these less-visited islands as it does about the more well-traveled ones. This book also lacks a lot of the photograps that other books include, which I think is important because the Greek Islands are so diverse. It really does help to see pictures of the islands to help you decide which ones to visit. If you're planning a trip to the Greek Islands you can do much better than this book for a travel guide.

I usually LOVE Frommer's books. Their book on Costa Rica is outstanding and so is their Europe on $50 a day. However, I was a little disappointed with this one. My husband and I are about to travel to the Greek Islands and we wanted to at least see a one page per island description -- even if the description just says "uninhibited, don't travel here.' This one only goes through the main islands. I'm sure it's still a good guide but we wanted to see at least a listing of all the islands. It does give good tips and stuff and I'm sure we'll find them all helpful.

I went traveling in Greece 2 years ago and found other travel books to lack info on the Greek Islands and had to struggle my way through the islands. As I am planning to return this summer, I have found this book to be a good reference to prepare, and one that I will bring with me. When most of us think of Greece, the Greek Isles are the place most of us invision. This book gave me a good reference as to where to go, where to stay and what there was to do. I would reccommend this book to others.

We just got back from a Greek isles trip and this book was a big disappointment. Overall it was a blah assessment of the islands that did not differentiate good sites from bad. It also appeared to us that the Crete section had not been updated in several years as we found restaurants and hotels that the locals told us had been closed for a while but were given stellar reviews. It's too bad Rick Steve's doesn't have a Greek Islands book!

Frommer's Greek Islands is just what I was looking for! The section I found most helpful was the appendix in the back of the book that gives info on Greece in depth which briefly lists the Gods & Goddesses, language, useful words & phrases, as well as some menu terms. Even though the book is very light weight I plan on cutting out that section out of the book and keeping it in my pocket for shore excursions on the Islands. I have used Frommer's books in the past with the most recent being Rome. I live in New York and keep a copy of Frommer's New York for foreign travelers who visit me and want to head out on their own. I also found alot of info. in Eyewitness Travel Guides "The Greek Islands" it has glossy color photos, and is a good guide but way too heavy to pack let alone carry on a tour!

I thought this book would give me additional info about the Greek Islands but it only repeated what was in the Frommer's Greece book,with a few extra inconsequential chapters. You really only need one or the other.

I supplemented this book minimally on my trip to mainland Greece and some of the islands. It is quite comprehensive.

Helpful and full of inside hints about what to do, where to go, what to avoid and why, where to stay off the beaten path plus on, and specific travel insights about the Greek Islands. Worth the investment.

If you want a well written background book for the Greek Islands and culture this book does a good job but as a format for planning your trip (hotel, restaurants, etc.) it is pretty useless. I tried retreiving information about the Peloponnese region and Crete a number of different ways in my Kindle and could come up with no hotel reviews except a couple of brilliantly expensive highly rated hotels -- useless for those seeking a selection. I am hoping Rough Guides and Lonely Planet will have a more comprehensive listing. In paperback this guide might be more helpful but for Kindle it rates two stars.