Customer Reviews

Frommer's Portugal (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

I went to Portugal November of '98' and had purchased several books before my trip. I found this book very acurate and helpful. I was nervous because this book had no pictures or photos, I had to just trust it. It was right on the mark. The best place we stayed was in Sintra in a bueatiful bed and breakfast among Sequia Trees, and was average in price.

I went on a trip with a bunch of friends and between all of us we had every travel book on portugal that's been published so I had the chance to compare Frommer's to the other guides.

Pros: Great restuarant/bar and hotel tips. All the restaurant tips were spot on. We used this guide almost every night to find places to eat and go out. Very informative about the historical/architectural significance of the sites.

Cons: Poor maps - not much detail and street names and sites are not labeled. The book could also use a bit more description on how to get places. We took a side trip to Sintra and the Let's Go guide was much more useful for getting to and from the sites.

Overall the book caters to a wealthier traveler than some of the other guides. Restaraurants that were listed as "moderate" in Frommers were listed as "Expensive" in some of the other guides. However, Frommers was very accurate when giving price ranges for the restaurants.

We just got back from a 30 day trip to Spain and Portugal yesterday.. I feel so compelled to write a review about this book so no one has to rely and or depend on this guide book going to portugal in future.. Here is my two cents about this guide book...
If you get a hold of this book for free ( I wouldn't spend any money on this guide book ), read it at home to get a general overview of portugal but do not rely on the detailed information because we actually found the hard way how incorrect some of the information was...
I would suggest spending your money on lonely planet only when it comes to europe.. our spain lonely planet book was very accurate and we depended on it for 22 days on the road...
here is a few of the "cons" about frommers portugal..

Did not have any information how to get to or from the airport from lisbon... that is basic information any guide book should have about the capital city of the country...

Do not even bother looking for maps.. The few maps that are in the book lack detail and are NOT accurate... NO MAP ON EVORA... one of the major touristic cities of portugal...

Lack of detail in general and too much history....

Anyway, that's how I feel about this guide book.. that is sucks and should never be published so no traveller gets a hold of it like me who borrowe it from library and a last minute thing thought I could at least use it.. Wrong..

I heard a lot about how good are frommer's guides,and I had my experience using other companies guides for different countries,but I did not find a guide that is worst than this one.
I came from Portugal a week ago, I spent nearly a week in Lisbon and I could write a much more useful guide than this easily.
It all started upon arrival, the guide gave us wrong information on transportation from the airport to the City Centre including wrong prices and the travel info kiosk saved us.When it comes to restaurants and Cafes it suggested the worst with one or two exceptions.It gave us wrong closing time for a restaurant and when we arrived there paying the taxi driver 10 Euros, we discoverd that the restaurant closed already.The maps of Lisbon had wrong srreet names that are different than the names on the signs and on the map that we bought from there.In conclusion if you want to screw some one send him to Portugal with a Frommer's Portugal guide.

Pleased to get this newly published book before our trip to Portugal in August of 2008. The usual combination of information -- just the good stuff I have come to expect from Frommer.