Customer Reviews

Frommer's London 2002 (Frommer's Complete Guides)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just back from a week in London where we constantly used this book to great advantage. In particular, I liked that it covers several day trips outside of London, like Stratford-on-Avon, Salisbury (Stonehenge) and others. A friend recommended a B&B so we did not use this guide for selecting accomodations. The restaurant recommendations were right on. Only 2 small issues - the Milennium Pedestrian Bridge is closed because of wobbling. I think everybody knew this but us, but its not mentioned in the guide. Second, the info phone number for railways has a new area code, but a phone message gave us the correct one. If you stay a week or more, consider getting a Tube pass for zones 1&2. This covered all of our travel in London except to/from Heathrow.

Porter & Prince are the authors of the recommended `Frommer's England 2003'. "London" has many more maps and more information than their country guide and it will be all you need for this vibrant city.

The 35 page section, "Planning Your Trip to London", is a quick, important read.
Their "Exploring London" section (67 pages) is superb.

Frommer's publications tend to be for the more affluent travelers and this guide is no exception. In London words like "inexpensive lodging" are a oxymoron. The authors do offer more help for those hoping to find accommodations less than $100 a night but in London it is a quest. For example, in the South Kensington section titled "inexpensive" you will find the `Swiss House Hotel' (really a B&B) at $165 double. Their South Kensington titled "Very Expensive" quotes prices at or around $400-$500 per night, sometimes more.

That said, all of their recommendations are reliable. The descriptions of accommodation, restaurant, pubs, sights, etc. are all very good. Frommer's makes life a bit easier for their readers by giving the cost of accommodations and restaurant in both British pounds and dollars. YEA.

Almost all of the hotels have website listing. Seeing your accommodations in color via the web is a major help. However, for the restaurants there are no web page listings; even though many of the top restaurants now have their own websites with vivid photos and descriptive menus. Maybe they will add this in their next edition.

If you want one guide to take with you to see London, and if you, like me, like lots of maps that match the "where" with the "what" that the guide is talking about, then Frommer's London 2003 is the guide to get: reliable, informative and very well laid out. Strongly Recommended.

I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.

Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet your exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!

Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide

MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for pubs, hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the underground and the double decker buses. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the city centre. When you get to be an old London hand, remember that the classic Londoners guide will always be an A to Z (zed) map and guide. If you want to go a bit beyond the central core of the city (perhaps to Windsor, Hampton, or further away) you really need the proper AtoZ to be able to find exact routes and streets.

Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!

Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.

Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.

Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.

There is an intimidating array of travel guide options when one is planning a trip, especially if you're going to as common a destination as London! I checked out everything available (and up-to-date, because these guides do change annually, in many cases!) from my library. I was drawn to Frommer's 2008 for several reasons:

1. Readability. The information was conveyed in such a way that I didn't at all feel intimidated by how many choices I had. There is a good balance in the amount and kind of information given in the reviews of attractions, pubs, hotels, etc., and I was able to quickly figure out whether I wanted to add a site on my itinerary or not.

2. Organization. There is a lot of easy, helpful information about traveling to London (including packing for your trip) in the beginning of the guide. This is followed by "top ten" lists for various attractions (pubs, sites, etc.), and then a really handy series of itineraries for "Seeing London" in "a day," "two days," or "three." The city is divided into various neighborhoods, and so it is very easy to find places to stay, restaurants, and attractions no matter where you find yourself. I found this feature especially useful when organizing my itinerary.

3. Usefulness. Reviews are honest and upfront about things you really want to know - from the bathroom sizes in boutique hotels, to whether you want to go for a restaurant's signature steak-and-kidney pie. Each region has a list of hotels and restaurants that cater to a range of budgets, from very expensive to options for the budget traveler. Frommer's also includes an excellent symbol system, including one for "over-rated attractions" and an "insider's alert" for unique finds that you might not see in other guides. There is also a handy map of the London Underground lines, and a tourist-friendly city map tucked in the back of the guide.

I looked at a few different guides to try and supplement my travel plans, but honestly, the only book I'll be bringing will be the Frommer's 2008 guide. Lonely Planet London would be useful as a supplement for those interested in more cultural information, or a perspective for the alternative lifestyle (gay and lesbian, vegetarian). My only complaint is that while there are low-cost hotels listed, cheaper options like hostels are not covered, so students and shoestring budget travelers may need to resort to the internet for help in that regard. Ultimately, I was very pleased with this guide both for its helpfulness in preparing for my trip, and its suitability as a pocket guide when I'm in London.

I used the 1998 Frommer's London last summer, and found it an excellent resource; I should have left the other guidebooks home. The quoted prices are accurate, the descriptions are excellent, and everyone else who was on my trip owes this book a thanks for aiming us towards two particularly great nights at places Frommer's recommended that I have yet to see in other guidebooks. This guide is well-edited, informative, and a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.

I just returned from London and, having tried to use Frommer's London with mixed results, want to share with your readers several of my problems with this, otherwise, excellent book.

One of the reasons I took Frommers was for the clearly drawn maps, but, clearly drawn and accurate are not the same. Our first problem happened when we took the bus to Hampstead Heath and set out from there with Frommers in hand to walk to Kenwood House to see the paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer hung there. But after wandering around,thoroughly confused, found that Frommers had Kenwood House mismarked on the map. In fact it was off the map well over a mile away!

Several days later, we had our concierge get us tickets to the Lion King and set off for the theater with Frommers opened to the London Central Theater District map only to find that the Lyceum Theatre wasn't on it, though theaters on either side were.

We won't be using Frommers again until someone assures us that maps have been thoroughly proofed and fact-checked.

This book is extremely helpful. Practical information such as a map of the subway, how to dial phone numbers, and metric conversions are right on the inside covers. The format is so effective, that I can find where a restaurant is listed in the book very fast, even without using the index. I have read parts of the Fodor's guides, and this one is by far easier and better. And by the way, if you get this book, Chelsea Kitchen is extraordinarily delicious, and extraordinarily inexpsensive!

We went to London in January 2007. We bought a few London travel-guide-type books but THIS book was the one we kept turning to during our trip. It was easy to use and comprehensive. The maps of the different parts of the city were an excellent tool. We had never been to London before and with this book we felt a little more like we knew what we were doing! I highly recommend this book!

This book is very comprehensive, definately a "Must Have" for your First (or any) trip to London. We just got back and could not have seen everything we wanted to, without it. The Suggested Itineraries section is AWESOME. it gives you a 1, 2 or 3 day turn by turn way to walk through the city to make ensure you get to see everything. You can find lots of this information on Frommer's website too for free, but having the book with you is the only way to go.

We went to London in January 2007. I was so glad we bought this book, as we constantly referred to the maps (in the book and the tear-out pocket map). The lists and descriptions of things to do around London were priceless, as were the suggestions. I relied on the maps of the different parts of the city to find our way around to the lesser known places or when we got a little off course. This was my 3rd time visiting London, so I wanted to see a few things that were off the beaten path and not the typical sites to see. The maps and book helped guide us through all the different parts of the city.

The only thing I wish it had were more hotel reviews and restaurant reviews. Fortunately, with the internet, researching those topics is fairly easy. We had free internet access in the hotel we stayed at in Westminster (the City Inn Westminster, I think it was).