Customer Reviews

Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Mountains, 8th: Including Asheville, Biltmore Estate, and the Blue Ridge Parkway (Insiders' Guide Series)

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

 

 

While there's some very good information contained within this 450-plus page guide, it is very difficult or impossible to access quickly. Speed is what most travelers want in a guide right after quality information. The Richards have the quality down but need to work on the index in the next edition. There's just not an excuse in this technology-driven age (with "word search" engines, etc.) to not include highlights in the index that *are* included in the text. The organization by chapter headings (Restaurants, Art & Culture, Recreation,etc.) rather than by geography makes this particularly necessary.
Several times in the week we spent in the Western North Carolina mountains we sat in the car on the highway shoulder thumbing through trying to find info on a particular historic spot. We came up empty by using the index only to later discover there was something in the guide afterall. . . .five miles down the road! Very frustrating. "Historic Johnson Farm", anyone? Nothing in the index under any of those three words and yet it was in those 450-plus pages somewhere. The challenge would be to find it *again*....much less the first time for anyone. The glorious North Carolina Arboretum (just outside Asheville)? Couldn't find it anywhere. A serious mistake to have missed including or an offense that one can't access the info? Either way an irritating loss.
A better way of organizing this guide would be to follow the 'tried & true' Fodor's formula which divides first by geography and then subtitles 'Restaurants', 'Places to Stay', etc. It's only because of a dearth of North Carolina guides that I feel this earns three stars. With much competition it would have been two.....even with all that good information. If you can't access it how much good is it to you? Few people have the time to read a guidebook from front to back and certainly not while they're on site.

I use this book from to time when I'm in the mountains in NC. I find it more of a textbook rather than interesting reading. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book but not what I was looking for.