41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good coverage, but not great for budget travellers, April 11, 2006
I'm planning a trip to Scotland (leaving next week), and have never used Frommer's guides before. It has good suggestions for interesting touristy places to visit in Scotland, and gives a well written, concise historical description of the sites, which I like.
However, for booking hotels, I haven't selected a single suggestion from Frommers. This is because their suggestions are generally way too expensive. For example, looking for accomodations in the Orkney Islands, you'd think it was impossible to spend less than $150 a night if you relied exclusively on this guide. On the web, I found that there are at least a handful two and three star hotels in Kirkwall that were less than $100 a night, and look very nice.
Also, it says in Frommer's that it's ~$100 to travel by train to Edinburgh from London, but it doesn't mention that there are actually a huge range of fares, from ~$20 to more than $200 at www.virgin.com/trains, that depends on how early you purchase the tickets, and how flexible you want the ticket to be.
From these and other examples, I've decided that Frommer's is a fine place to start for an overview and figuring out where I want to go, but I'd end up unnecessarily spending a fortune if I relied on it for the practical stuff.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, but not the best travel book, February 21, 2009
I've been to Scotland 8 times (my relatives live there) and I think the author and I have differing opinions on what towns are really worth seeing. On our most recent trip a couple months ago we used this guide to travel through southern Scotland, an area we hadn't been to before. We found a few of the towns recommended to not be worth the drive there. Also, it seems that the book was not really updated. One wonderful restaurant in Oban was not listed (Seafood Temple) even though it was the most popular and famous restaurant and one restaurant we tried to go to in Elgin had apparently been closed for about 3 years.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frommer's Scotland, February 2, 2003
By A Customer
Of all the travel books I purchased for my first trip to Scotland, the Frommer's edition is the one I used and kept after my trip. It is comprehensive, detailed, and gives good advice. It had all the attractions I wanted to visit and more. They also have a great website as a reference tool.
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