Frommer's Switzerland (Frommer's Complete Guides) [Paperback]

Darwin Porter (Author), Danforth Prince (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: February 19, 2008

Much more detailed and complete than its major competitor, Frommer's Switzerland has everything you'll need to experience the best of this gorgeous corner of the Alps. You'll find great places to stay for every taste and budget, including grand hotels, luxury ski resorts, intimate inns, and affordable chalets, plus the latest on dining, from fresh lake trout and hearty farmer's plates to fondue bourguignonne. You'll rely on our complete sightseeing guide, from cosmopolitan cities to charming alpine villages—with all the best outdoor adventures, shopping, and nightlife. Don't leave home without it!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Frommer's. The best trips start here.

Experience a place the way the locals do.
Enjoy the best it has to offer.

• Including detailed walking tours to guide you through the cobblestone streets of Zurich, Bern, Geneva, and Lucerne.

• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.

• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.

• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

Find great deals and book your trip at Frommers.com

About the Author

An experienced team of veteran travel writers, Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince have produced numerous titles for Frommer’s, including best-selling guides to Italy, France, the Caribbean, England, Germany, and Portugal. Porter is also a noted Hollywood biographer, author of such recent releases as Brando Unzipped and Jacko: His Rise and Fall which documents the saga of Michael Jackson in a way that London’s Guardian and Observer defined as “dangerously addictive.” Four of Porter’s recent biographies have been serialized in major newspapers of the U.K., including The Sunday Times and The Mail on Sunday, and collectively, they’ve earned at least six awards from literary foundations in the U.S. Porter is also a widely respected film critic, entertainment columnist, and radio commentator, with broadcasts heard in all 50 states. Prince, formerly of The New York Times’ Paris bureau, is president of Blood Moon Productions (www.BloodMoonProductions.com) and other media-related firms.

Product Details

• Paperback: 505 pages
• Publisher: Frommers; 13 edition (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470181885
• ISBN-13: 978-0470181881
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Travel > Europe > Switzerland

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good But There are Better, December 22, 2005

By 

J. E. Robinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's Switzerland (Paperback)

I have been to Switzerland many times. Recently I sat down with my daughter who has worked at a hotel at Interlaken in Switzerland during her years in Business Administration at McGill - up to last summer - and we went over the Switzerland guides to see how they ranked, and what was currently the best guide in our humble opinions. We are not experts but have certain requirements and preferences. It helps if one can get a feel for the area in advance of a trip, and generally that is helped by good maps and color photos. So those guides do better in our review. We like to make reservations by internet and telephone and just use the Guide as a "guide".

Generally it costs more to publish a book with color photos so when all else is reasonably equal, one feels that they get better value with a guide with photos. Also we wanted to see if the ambiance at certain hotels and resorts was accurately portrayed in the text based on our knowledge. So those aspects of the guides determine our ranking. Incidentally all the books are excellent. When we did our review the new DK Eyewitness guide was not yet available, but in any case it will be short, under 400 pages.

For the Swiss guides we separated the guides into three groups, 5, 4, and 3 stars.

5 Stars (this group has nice color photos plus maps and text).

A. Green Guide to Switzerland published February 2001 by Michelin, 395 pages, $14., ranked 24,380 on Amazon.com, 0.64" x 9.4" x 4.7", lots of photos, maps, text, accurate portrayal of areas. Gives a nice idea of what you will find. Goes right down to small villages in detail even though it is just 395 pages. First choice.

B. Lonely Planet Switzerland published July 2003, 335 pages, $ 14., ranked 29,913 on Amazon.com, .69" x 6.42" x 6.5". Solid effort, lots of good photos and descriptions.

4 Stars (this group mainly text and maps).

C. Rough Guide to Switzerland published June 2003, 704 pages, $13.27, ranked 30,209 on Amazon.com, 1.08" x 7.8" x 6.38". Solid effort lots of things to see and do and best "text and maps only" books.

D. Frommer's Switzerland published February 2003, 512 pages, $15.39, ranked 47,638 on Amazon.com, 1.1" x 8.5" x 5.08". Similar to Rough Guide but shorter.

E. Fodor's Guide to Switzerland 42 edition, published December 2002, 448 pages, $14.7, ranked highest in group on Amazon.com at 3,172, 1.2" x 8.98" x 5.01". The smallest in the group, do not know why it is so popular?.

3 Stars

F. Michelin Red Guide published in 2004, 563 pages but in four languages: Italian, French, German and English so English sections are just a fraction of the book.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth taking with me, October 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's Switzerland (8th ed) (Paperback)

I recently purchased this book from a local bookstore and found it very informative. It had a balanced view of history and was entertaining reading. I am planning on taking the book with me as I travel Switzerland. It seems to have a good selection of hotel and restaurant offerings and I can't wait to get there. I find that the Frommers books as well as the on-line site at frommers.com are very valuable to the budget minded traveler. I paid more for the book than Amazon is selling it for so it is a good value from Amazon.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good as reference, not for much else, July 30, 2001

By 

Julius Kusuma (Cambridge, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's Switzerland (Frommer's Switzerland, 9th ed) (Paperback)

I purchased a copy of this book to help with my summer research internship in Switzerland in 2001, and found it to be less useful than the Rough Guides.

The Fromer book is written as a fairly terse reference book, listing a few restaurants, hotels of various price ranges, and not much else for the different cities. Sure, there are listings of attractions for the different cities, but the way they are presented is not very helpful to plan trips. On the other hand, the Rough Guides have suggestions on things to do for the different places.

So all in all, it depends on your style of planning but I feel that this book is more suited to business travelers.