Customer Reviews

Frommer's London Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just got back from a five day trip to London showing my wife the sights on her visit. This book was our primary guide for two major reasons.

1. The day by day itineries show the must sees, including where the must see's are in the museums. If you know you're going to be there for a few days, you might wish to regroup them a bit (moving some things from one day to another) to ease a bit of travel, but are excellent overall.

2. The whole thing fits in your back pocket! Most travel guides now are encyclopedias you leave in the hotel room. This one with its convenient fold out high level street plan and Underground map made getting around very easy. The pull out detailed map in the map offers even more detail once you're downtown.

Also, the restaurant guides were superb, important when the pound is $2.00! We really like the Audley and Rules.

BTW, you can also get to Paddington station from Heathrow via the "Heathrow Connection". It's half the price of the Heathrow Express and only takes ten minutes more time. Essentially it's the local train on the same line.

This book contains basic "best of" nuggets of information. First-time travelers should be well equipped to visit the main highlights of London. The plastic-covered tri-fold map of the subway and of the main attractions (which is built into the book's front cover) is sturdy, easy to access, and just the right size. The fold-up map (stored in a pocket in the back of the book)would be cumbersome to use while standing on a street corner, but the detailed site maps within the book are very helpful.

Note that the publication date is 2006, so some attraction prices may have increased (for instance, as of 2/2008, the Tower of London's entrance fee is 16 BP, not the listed 14 BP). However, you can use web addresses listed in this guide to double check prices.

If you're looking for "off the beaten path" sites to visit, you may want to supplement "London Day by Day" with a more comprehensive guidebook (i.e., the thick books you leave in your hotel room as reference).

Advice for travelers: Take advantage of the subway (tube), which is easy to use, safe, and much cheaper than a cab. Also, considering the weak dollar, take advantage of the many free (and spectacular) museums: National Gallery, V&A, Tate Modern, and British Museum are my favorites.

We have been to London several times, and this was the perfect addition to our trip this Feb/March. We didn't want to lug a big book around -- this one fit in a small bag and held lots of (color-coded) useful information. I also liked that one of us could pocket/refer to the map while the other one flipped through the book.

Because we go to London regularly, we also use other guides, such as Rick Steves' or Lonely Planet, as well as a London A-Z mapbook. This is for several reasons. First, we always stay a bit out of London to cut costs and thus need a more comprehensive map. Also, we tend to spend more time in London and need a wider range of budget/activity options. For example, the entries in Day-by-Day, while not all ridiculously expensive, are past what our budget allows. We had a beautiful cocktail at a bar called the Library in Knightsbridge that was recommended by the book, but even w/the decent exchange rate it came to more than $30US for two cocktails. This was a special treat for us, so we were okay with it, (and their olives were amazing) but an already expensive city like London can become even more so if you aren't careful. It really is a perfect book if you're out touring in the city and want on-the-fly ideas of what to do next, or how to treat yourself; it is not as good if you need to navigate greater London or if you want cheaper hotel/restaurant recommendations.

Overall, this series of guidebooks is great. Just make sure to check the date of publication of the book and supplement it with internet research if the book is more than a year out of date, so you don't get stuck w/ a restaurant closure or a museum closed for renovations. For example as of this writing there is a 2006 and 2009 version of this book both listed on Amazon. Make sure you get the current one!

I love the Day by Day guides and have used them for various US cities; however, today I purchased three for an upcoming trip to Europe, and ended up taking the London edition back, as it was missing the tube map. There was a flap that seemed like it should have the map printed on it--like all of the other guides do (Paris and Barcelona were exactly what I was looking for) but the London book had only a blue blank page that folded out. Just be warned. Also, it seemed to cover far fewer areas than most Day by Day guides. I cannot stress enough how much I like the guides in general--but do avoid this particular edition, at least until it is updated/corrected.

Though it is smaller than your average travel guide, I think that this is a great book that shows how to explore London broken down on a day-by-day basis, like the name of the book implies. There are great pictures (probably my favorite part of any travel guide), as well as a good map of London and its Underground system map that are essential for getting around the city. It is well worth purchasing before traveling across the pond.

I'm going to London for 3 days, and this book is perfect for the amount of time we are staying as far as things to do. Small enough to carry around with us!

All I can say is it has the information you need in a size that will fit in a jacket pocket or purse.

It may be premature to write this review now since our London trip is a few months in the future. However, the book is well written and concise; and we have no doubt that it will be very useful to us. Our confidence is based on my previous experience with another "Day by Day" guide (Madrid).

I bought this book for my husband and I as we prepare for an upcoming trip to London. This book seems to have great itineraries, good walking tours of neighborhoods, and a nice "before you go" section in the back with practical tips and ways to save money. We will definitely use the "best in 3 days" itinerary, and probably a few neighborhood walks. The separate, large map that is included should be very helpful. Overall I'm very pleased with this book.

Very useful and informative. Saved me a lot of research time. Highly recommend these books to plan a trip.