Frommer's Hanging Out in Europe [Paperback]

Kristen Couse (Author), Vijay Balakrishnan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000 | Series: Frommers Guides

As air fares continue to fall, global student and youth travel is proving more popular than ever. This guide to enjoying a stay in Europe is aimed at the younger traveller and covers all budgets and tastes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This is a new breed of MTV-generation travel guide, the first student guide to satisfy the real needs and interests of a college-age crowd. The tone: fresh, sarcastic, irreverent, intrepid, but not anti-intellectual.

This complete guide covers Europe's 50 hottest party towns and resorts, highlighting everything a hip, young crowd wants: the club and music scene, the best bars, hanging out, retro shopping, adrenaline sports, cheap eats and sleeps, the gay and lesbian scene, a fresh take on all the cultural sights, and more! We've covered Vienna, Reykjavik, Paris, Berlin, Nice, Prague, Ibiza, the Greek Islands, Dublin, Edinburgh, Barcelona, and much more, all with dozens of maps and black-and-white photos.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1194 pages
• Publisher: Frommer; 1 edition (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028632605
• ISBN-13: 978-0028632605
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,592,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Supplementary Guide--Don't Use as Your Primary Guide!, May 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Hanging Out in Europe (Paperback)

During my three month backpacking trip, I used my copy of "Hanging Out in Europe" as a supplement to the more traditional "Let's Go" guides, and two things quickly became obvious about this book: (1) I was very glad I had it, and (2) I was even more glad that it wasn't the only guide book I had. Some of the criticisms offered by other readers are correct--the maps are absolutely useless, and the information is often dated, inaccurate, or both. Every address has to be double checked, and many phone numbers are wrong. The book is highly irreverent, which means the PC crowd will be offended at some point (the puritanical, the PC folks, or those whose idea of partying is having two glasses of wine with dinner should probably skip this book and go with the guides that the Harvard kids put out instead). But I truly enjoyed the irreverence of this guide--I often found myself reading through the guide just for fun, which I can't say about the other guides. I mean, how could you not be amused, with gems like, "Prague is party heaven--and I'm not talking about where dead communists go"?

The fact is, unlike the other guides, this one is aimed at a very specific subset of backpackers: young people who want to party, experiment, or do things that the other guides probably wouldn't talk about because their lawyers won't let them. (In fact, "Let's Go" has a bad habit of derisively labeling as "frat-like" any bar or hostel populated by people who look like they might have actually been on a date sometime before their senior year of college.) The drug culture in every city is given a thorough treatment and they are pretty precise about where certain things are okay and where they're not. This book does not treat you with kid gloves or worry about the possibility of offending you--it simply tells you everything it can and then leaves you to decide what to do with that information. Use it, ignore it, or be offended, they don't really care.

Another underlooked benefit of this book is that so few backpackers have it. The problem with "Let's Go" and "Lonely Planet" is that EVERYBODY has a copy. This means that every hostel, restaurant, or bar listed in them will be on the tip of most backpackers' tongues. With "Hanging Out in Europe," I had a completely different list of hostels in case the ones in "Lonely Planet" were booked up, and a different set of bars to suggest while everyone else in the hostel was itching to go to the one with the star next to it in "Let's Go." In addition, each city has a section full of suggestions for conversation starters with the locals (from which we got that tidbit about insulting the French Belgians to curry favor with the Flemish Belgians, sparking another reviewer's outrage). But these little tidbits are great and are somewhat unique to this book.

So the skinny on this book is: Buy it if you're part of its target demographic (young, non-PC, itching to party). But make sure you supplement it with a copy of "Let's Go" or "Lonely Planet," where you'll get more accurate info and more tips on where to take in the culture.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent reference, but not the authority, April 10, 2003

By 

Karla (Strasbourg, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's Hanging Out in Europe (Paperback)

I am currently studying in France and am using this book to travel around Europe. It's a good reference, but should not be considered authoritative. The book assumes that the reader is a college student who wants nothing more than to pick up, take drugs and party into the wee hours of the morning. If you don't fit this description, you may find the writing style grating and obnoxious.

What's good:
-It gives you a basic overview of each city, the history and the culture, so you get a feeling for the city before you even get there
-It tells you the major museums to see (which you could find out from any tourist guide, not just this one).
-The hostel information was generally good. My friends borrowed the book to find hostels in their travels and they never complained.
-They do point out the hot spots in each city, but they're so obvious once you get to the city anyways. Look at flyers, search online and just explore, and you'll find the listed places and more.

What's bad:
-There was no information on European culture and customs. The typical traveller would not be able to enter many of these places due to their own behaviour.
-The book gave no hints on cheap travel or ways to save money. They should have had information about various rail deals, alternate food and lodging ideas, etc.
-Most of the information was either outdated or false. Phone numbers were wrong, some spots only open a few months a year and prices were way off. Yes, cool spots appear and disappear overnight, but the book led me to places which seemed never to exist in the first place.
-The information is geared to make North Americans feel at home. 'Hanging out' shouldn't mean 'finding American-style places in Europe'. Most of the recommended hang out spots were either public touristy places or American-style bars.
-The book seemed to encourage drug use. Although decriminalised, drugs are still illegal in Europe and should not be consumed by foreign travellers.
-The authors were obnoxious and downright degrading to some cultures. In the Antwerp section, they encouraged the readers to insult the French Belgians to endear themselves to the Dutch ones.

Like any guide book, this one was outdated before it even hit the press. If you use it, double and triple check sites before you go or wind up being disappointed.
It's a good read just to get the feel for a city, but you'll find the same information and more just by 'hanging out' on your own, without a book to tell you how to be cool.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - hilarious and highly recommended!, December 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Hanging Out in Europe (Paperback)

As far as I can tell, the people who gave this book a bad review are too old to be using it in the first place (who else uses phrases like 'jocular' and 'slap-dash'?) I just got back from Europe, and the authors were right on to recommend the clubs, bars, restaurants, hostels and culture for all the cities I went to. I can vouch for the sections on Copenhagen, London, Barcelona, Rome and Prague. However, some of the addresses are incorrect. But the people who have complained about this should have read the disclaimer on Page # 1 advising the reader to double-check any addresses, phone numbers, etc. before simply showing up in a foreign city. All in all, this book added so much to my trip; those of us who don't take themselves too seriously should definitely pick up a copy.