Holland: The Rough Guide, Second Edition (1st ed) [Paperback]

Phil Lee (Author), Martin Dunford (Author), Jack Holland (Author)

Book Description

Series: 1st ed | Publication Date: July 1, 1997

This Rough Guide has been expanded by more than 100 pages to provide readers with an insider's view of Amsterdam, including everything from cafes to museums, while not forgetting the country's beautiful scenery in places such as Arnhem and the duney islands of northern Holland. 45 maps & plans.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Authoritative and opinionated, this series can't be beat," extols the Chicago Tribune of the Rough Guide's lively collection of guidebooks, including their first-edition Holland manual. Looking beyond truckloads of tulips and wistful windmills, these three rough guiders--Dunford, Holland (he should know his stuff) and Lee--take you mucking through the mud to the Frisian Islands, biking to the Biesboschmuseum nature reserve, lurking around the fish houses of Urk, and gulping Gulpener beer in Gulpen.

Along with essential coverage of places to eat, sleep, and meet, you'll learn a polder is an area of land reclaimed from the sea, a spoor is a train station platform, a VVV is a tourist information office, a gracht is a canal, beiaard are carillon chimes, and a fietspad is a bike path. The Rough Guide's penchant for using boldface type for words like meal, beer, bus, opening hours, payment, campsite, and the names of local towns and attractions is a useful way to help the traveler quickly glean the appropriate information from each chapter. In addition to a concise presentation of Dutch history, art, and literature, the authors provide useful reviews of the sites and charms of the larger towns like Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, and Delft.

About the Author

Martin Dunford and Jack Holland were part of Rough Guides' founding team in the early 1980's, after both graduating from University of Kent. They have since co-written several other guides in the Rough Guides series. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2 edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858282292
• ISBN-13: 978-1858282299
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,417,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The rough guide was rough reading, February 19, 2004

By 

CarlaANG "CarlaANG" (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide to the Netherlands, Third Edition (Paperback)

After years of visiting family in the Netherlands and visiting obvious tourist attractions, I felt it was time to find a guide to help me unearth those not so noticeable sights. I quickly discovered that it was challenging to locate a book that focuses solely on the Netherlands. Then I stumbled upon the Rough Guide to the Netherlands. I thought I had finally discovered the ideal comprehensive Dutch travel book. But after opening the beautifully photographed cover, I dove into the introduction only to find the following statement, "Indeed for such a small and accessible country, the Netherlands is, apart from Amsterdam, relatively unknown territory." Unfortunately, I did not find that this book helped to dispel this myth and encourage travel anywhere outside of Amsterdam.

By the tone of the writing, it felt as though the writer(s) had a negative image of this country even before writing a sentence. They overlooked many of the quaint, personal aspects of this country, as well as many of the attractions that I considered obvious places to visit. I was able to attain more useful information about cities in the Netherlands from my outdated copy of Let's Go Europe 1994, which covers information on over a dozen countries in just one book.

In the back of the Rough Guide, there is a section of assorted English/Dutch translations, which can be extremely helpful for travelers. They list simple terms like hello, good-bye, thank you, etc and important translations for questions like, "where is the bathroom?"

If you are looking for a travel book to list a handful of plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face attractions in Amsterdam, then you found your book. If you are looking for an all-inclusive guide to aid your explorations throughout the Netherlands, this is not it. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review, I have not found a book I can recommend and I am also sad to say this is the first book that I will return to Amazon.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable resource, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Holland: The Rough Guide, Second Edition (1st ed) (Paperback)

This is the closest thing out there to my ideal guide. The authors really did their research, and it showed in the copious amounts of background info for each city and region. Listings for lodging, restaurants and attractions were scrupulously accurate. The Rough Guide does not have as much of a budget focus as Let's Go; it does list inexpensive places to stay, but has a little bit of a tendency to sneer at them. The only drawback for me was that the authors' taste is more boyish and more upscale than mine. They like military and shipping museums and dungeons a lot, and are a little too harsh on places they find kitschy or dull. Nevertheless, I'm glad I brought this guide along. It made my trip much more enjoyable and did a lot for my peace of mind.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There is a Holland outside Amsterdam!, September 3, 2001

By 

I. J. J. Nieuwland "Ilja Nieuwland" (Den Haag) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Holland, 2nd Edition (Rough Guide to the Netherlands) (Paperback)

It is always dangerous to criticize a travel guide to a place you have always lived, but reading this guide once again confronted me with the prevailing prejudice that Holland (the Netherlands) equals Amsterdam. Allow me to let you in on a little secret: it doesn't.
Personally, I don't care for Amsterdam that much: much of it is a noisy, messy, tourist trap filled with people you would prefer to avoid. Outside the capital life is generally much more gentle. However, there is enough hustle and bustle to be found in the nightlife of Rotterdam, Utrecht, or Groningen.
The problem is that you are unlikely to experience those places after having read this guide. Often it reads like an extension of the RG to Amsterdam, showing an unwillingness on the part of the researches to take the long one-hour train journey to Utrecht or Rotterdam and take in those places. Although I generally prefer this series over Lonely Planet, my advice is to take the 'other' guide to the Netherlands if you're really interested in travelling outside Amsterdam