Customer Reviews

Great Escapes: Northern California (Great Escapes)

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

 

 

I always thought you should have a really heavy guidebook when traveling, even close to home. But I don't think that any more after reading this one. This book is a great deal, an excellent guide for both locals and visitors to the Bay Area. From Big Sur to Mendocino to Lake Tahoe, it gathers a wide range of both well-known and more obscure Northern California destinations in a concise, informative, and personable volume. Its less than 200 pages are packed with dozens of ideas for one- to three-day getaways with ample specifics to keep you busy.

The book pulls it off through a combination of tight, interesting writing and limited but thoughtful and discerning listings for things like food and lodging. Other examples of this approach: This isn't the guide for a full-bore winery tour, but it will get you to some smaller off-the-beaten-track vintners. And while Great Escapes includes San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, it skips the typical tourist attractions, instead opting to describe some neighborhoods and spots that locals will recognize approvingly.

Use this book on its own for some outstanding and even unexpected experiences, or as a starting point for your Northern California travels. As someone who has lived in San Francisco for several years, the book makes me realize how many places I didn't even know I wanted to visit.

This is an excellent book to read, plot, imagine and plan your next adventure in Northern California. My sister and I were on a "staycation" and used this book to help us see things we hadn't even thought of, as SF Bay Area Natives. Highly recommended!

I would never think I can be more excited about my "all but first two years of life" home of Northern California, and then I read this book. It's the perfect balance of planting & nurturing enticing seeds, without telling the reader how to harvest, prepare and enjoy the results. It's a great book for "lifers" as well as new residents, vacationers, folks on business trips ... something for everyone. I am so glad this book was written!

I am very disappointed in this book. It is simply a book of descriptions and listings which could have been gained from any internet site.