Customer Reviews

Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Mountains

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2 star:		(1)
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I've used Insider's Guides for individual cities; this is the first I bought for a region. Insider's Guide to North Carolina mountains divides the region into 3 sub-regions, and then by county in each sub-region. Restaurants, accommodations, shopping, activities, etc. are all grouped together in individual chapters, thenw those chapters are grouped by subregion and county. So there isn't, for example, a single chapter on Asheville giving you some history, city layout, neighborhood descriptions, restaurants, accommodations and activities. To find Asheville listings, you have to jump from chapter to chapter (e.g. restaurants), find the "Central Mountains" section and then the Buscombe County sub-section. Its tedious and lacks flow. I much prefer guides that group all resources for an area together. Yes, the information is here, but you don't get a good overview. It feels more like a telephone book than a narrative travel guide with listings.

We went to Asheville and Boone for our Honeymoon a few weeks ago and took the Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Mountains with us. It was extremely helpful in providing good choices for restaurants and local attractions. We knew very little about the area before visiting and the book directed us toward many unique eateries and destinations.

My only two complaints are that: 1) there are no maps of downtown areas of any of the towns. This is understandable for some of the tiny towns, but it seems to me that including a map of downtown Asheville would be a given...not so! 2) There were no prices included for any of the hotels, attractions, etc. Granted, they do give phone numbers for each place, so it's not hard to find the information, but it would be nice to have a price range for hotels and restaurants (other than $, $$, $$$, or $$$$)

Man, if anyone is planning on going up to the North Carolina Mountains should first read what the Insiders' have to say about. This book is kinda like your guide around the mountains when you are traveling. The authors know what their talking about because they live there. It's Awesome!!!

We often use this guide to locate special places our clients would like to see. With the vast array of activities and sites in the western NC area, you would need several volumes to cover most of it. This book goes along way to providing extensive, unique and accurate information on the area. Several reviewers were worried about the map(s) or lack there of. I would urge you to buy the book then hit the Visitor Center in Asheville and C of C's in the smaller towns for very good, simple maps that will work very well with the book. Best of all, they are FREE!!!! This book is one of three that we use extensively in planning self-guided tours.