Customer Reviews

Frommer's Scotland (Frommer's Complete Guides)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As good as this guide is, it still leaves me with unanswered questions. We are traveling by rail, and this and the other guides assume that all travel by car. I need to know, as I would find out from Rick, where the train station is in relation to the accommodations.

Wonderful book. Gives all of the information that you could ever need while visiting Scotland. I know where to sleep, where to eat, where to drink, what sites to see, and everything in between now. Thank you!

Worth looking at for the person who loves to research a place before they go. Fodor's and Rough Guide are better. Not as comprehensive, but more readable than Fodor's. I think I liked this coverage of the big cities better, organization wise.

The used book (2007) is filled with information that is still accurate and interesting and the cost of the book was 10 percent of a new edition.

We are planning a trip to Scotland this pring and this book has been invaluable!

If you are planing on spending more than a few days in Scotland, you should read this book.

Purchased this book to help with planning for a forthcoming trip to Scotland. Seems fairly informative, but can only really review it after taking the trip.