Customer Reviews

Frommer's South Florida: With the Best of Miami & the Keys (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

This book was better than any tour guide. I drove from Jupiter all the way to Key West stopping in Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Ms. Abravanel's advice was unbiased in an otherwise jaded market (she is the only Miami Beach travel writer I have read, to claim the Delano Hotel overrated...which it is!!!). Her restaurant recommendations were more helpful and insightful than any Zagat guide could have been. And mostly, her witty writing style made reading a pleasure. I look forward to more Frommer's with her at South Florida's helm.

Tourism generates over {$$$$} billion annually for the Florida economy, which is more than twice the entire GNP for Cuba. That is why there is a fierce fight for the Florida travel guide market. Frommer's is one of the best guides available.

This South Florida guide is somewhat more expanded than "Frommer's Florida" Guide (see my review). If you are going to visit just MIAMI, the EVERGLADES, PALM BEACH, FT. LAUDERDALE or the KEYS, then you will find this guide more compact, lighter and a bit cheaper.

The same great writing style that is in the Frommer's state guide is found in this more compact companion. The accommodation and dining recommendations are reliable and on the money. This guide lists the best restaurants that South Florida has to offer. A lodging and restaurant index would be a definite plus for this guide. As it stands now, if you have a restaurant you want to look up, you have to go through all the listings in the city you are in until you stumble across the name you seek or miss seeing it completely.

The rating system is labored and difficult to understand. The explanation of the "new star rating system" is buried in the book and not indexed. It was by quirk that I found it. Strange.

The Internet web site addresses provided for hotels could be more comprehensive considering that this is a 2003 guide. In today's world of "connectivity" you can visit the hotel sites and see the accommodations and rates prior to making reservations. And, website/email addresses are restricted to the lodging listings even though many of the restaurants now have their own websites with photos and menus and email to makes reservations.

However, there are two significant areas in this guide that could use improvement: maps and hotels/restaurants.

Regarding the maps: the maps in the guide are lackluster. More and better maps would greatly help the user.

What put this guide on top of the competing guides is the clear and enjoyable writing style of the review. The introductions of the regional areas are the best of the guides I reviewed. You will do well if you have to chose just one South Florida guide and you select Frommer's.

Well, not really, but i've lived in south florida for 13 years and this book is a must have for anyone who lives down here or is thinking about visiting. Everyone thinks they have a true grasp of the miami scene, but this author actually does.

If you want a never ending list of expensive hotels and restaurants with never-to-the-point reviews than this is the guide for you. Not user friendly at all. And don't let the nice beachy cover picture fool you: there's no useful "local" information, nor real suggestions on natural gems and where to find them. The whole book is just a long list of websites and links, or names you are supposed to google to find the practical informations you are looking for.

I've always liked the Frommer's guides and since getting my iPad, I decided I'd give an ebook version a try - figured it would be an easy format to take with me.

Wrong! This is the only ebook I've ever downloaded that does not have a Table of Contents - there is no way to navigate through the book other than flipping the pages. The book has chapters, but you just can't jump to them!

And the maps suck! You can't zoom the maps in the book - they just pixilate from being enlarged too much for their resolution. A note at the beginning of the book gives you a Frommer's web site to go to download pdf versions of all the maps in the book (which I did), but then they are completely disconnected from the book. And they're not very good anyway - I can get better by using the Maps function of the iPad (basically Google Maps) and zooming right in to street level..... anywhere!

This is a typical travel guide from Frommer. It details much of the Miami and Keys area listing hotels, restuarants, entertainment and much more.

The listings are detailed and accurate and provide abundant information on each of the cities/keys listed in the book.

If you are heading south this year, this is the book you want to have with you.

This is a typical travel guide from Frommer. It details much of the Miami and Keys area listing hotels, restuarants, entertainment and much more.

The listings are detailed and accurate and provide abundant information on each of the cities/keys listed in the book.

If you are heading south this year, this is the book you want to have with you.

Wow. I used to think that South Florida just meant Miami and palm trees. This book proved to me and my husband that South Florida is much, much more. I got the book on a bet with my husband, who insisted that So Flo was a lot of fun and not just laying out at a pool kind of fun. This book proved me wrong and I lost the bet, but boy was I glad to be a loser in this wager! This book is a must have for anyone who thinks that a trip to Florida can be hot and boring. Quite the contrary!! Thanks, Frommer's. We'll be back to So Flo very soon.

I find Frommer guides to be very helpful and routinely order them before a trip to any new area.....and many times even when I return if a new edition is available. They help select restaurants, hotels and places to visit of interest that my wife and will enjoy. They also help us avoid wasting time going to places that aren't open and give tips on saving money that only the locals would know about.

This is probably the best guidebook I ever read. The author has a really good writing style and it is genuinely interesting and fun to read (not that I'm suggesting you pick it over Fitzgerald or anything, just that it's a really well-written book). Her restaurant reviews are really excellent--just reading some of them made me start to drool. And while many of the restaurant listings are for priceyish places, she does list some great, fun, authentic, and in some cases, way off the beaten track yummy places to try. I trust her opinion completely!

This is a really thorough guidebook, with good and honest hotel listings (one of the only people to vocalize what we all know--the Delano IS overrated!) and a great chapter on what to do and see if you want to do and see more than just the beaches of South Florida. The Miami coverage is awesome-- good tips on shopping, a really knowledgeable chapter on nighlife, and more.

The Everglades chapter has a hilarious essay about how the author was reluctant to go the first time, and the coverage of the Keys, Palm Beaches, Boca, etc. are just as good. I usually expect a Frommer's guidebook to be a bit stuffier than this, but as soon as I read the intro, I knew I had to try this book, and I'm so happy I did. You will be too. It rocks!