Insight Compact Guides Beijing [Paperback]

Franz-Josef Krucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996 | Series: Insight Compact Guides

China is the most populous country in the world, with borders that stretch for more than 12,000 miles. Beijing is the capital and political nerve centre of China. Readers of this guide can experience its great ancient culture, displayed in countless pagodas, temples and palaces, unique tombs and works of art. Part of the "Inside Pocket Guides" series, this book takes the reader on a trip on foot and on a bicycle, and shows that Beijing is also a sprawling village that fills the nooks and crannies between the Forbidden City, the Great Hall of People and the Great Wall. There are do-it-yourself itineraries, including all-day tours, half-day tours and short excursions. Hotels, restaurants and shops and supplies are also provided, with practical information on how to get there, when to go, what clothes to take, what visas to obtain and what to do in an emergency.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since 2000. Hammond, American Map, Langenscheidt Dictionaries, Insight Travel Guides, Delorme – the famous names in the Langenscheidt family. These represent the most authoritative, up-to-date, and extensive travel and reference products available. In January 2003, the renowned Berlitz Publishing became part of the Langenscheidt Group. The Langenscheidt Publishing Group, the premier group of map and travel companies, offers over 4,000 North American and international street maps, road maps, atlases, language-learning, bilingual dictionaries, and travel-related products covering countries, cities, and languages in every continent. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Apa Productions (June 1996)
• ISBN-10: 0395788374
• ISBN-13: 978-0395788370
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,085,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice compact travel guide for use when visiting Beijing, October 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Insight Pocket Guide Beijing (Paperback)

I found this book quite good for general info about places to visit in Beijing. Beijing a little over 1/2 inch thick, it is quite thin. It primarily lists the 10 main sites to visit in Beijing. For each spot it lists quite a bit of info, history, pictures, operating hours, etc. It also lists what is nearby to visit each of the 10 sites, whether it be shopping centers or resturaunts.

In addition to the 10 major scenic sites, it also has a section called 'excursions' for detailing where to go outside of Beijing for nearby excursions, such as, the great wall, ming tombs, chengde, etc. It also has sections for resturaunts, nightlife, shopping, leisure activities, history, general everyday use info, getting around etc.

Overall, it is a good bare-bones book for use when going to Beijing. It is not as thorough as other guidebooks for example, Fodors china. But considering the small size of the book, it obviously can't go into tremendous detail about such a large and exciting city!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Vivid guide to Beijing, November 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Insight Pocket Guide Beijing (Insight City Guide Beijing) (Paperback)

I was impressed by the vibrant photos and informative commentary and bought this Insight Guide before my second visit to Beijing.
I realized soon afterwards that while this book makes for captivating reading, it's really not that useful for planning activities and day-to-day getting about. There are no Chinese characters given for most place names and the romanization of names and addresses isn't pinyin, so you can't be sure how words are pronounced. This is a great book for background reading and vivid photographs, but you can't get by on this book alone once you're actually on your trip.

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Guide, August 21, 2011

By 

Humble Patriot (New England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beijing (City Guide) (Paperback)

I used this on a recent trip to Beijing. Overall, it is reliable and helpful. It is fairly compact and easy to carry around, the road atlas is accurate, the pictures are great, and the descriptions are helpful. Things are changing so fast in Beijing that it is difficult for many of these guides to remain current year to year, and even then information on restaurants and other attractions often change before the guides are even published. A few places list therein were no longer in business, but overall it was reliable. I was able to use this to guide me to some places I might not have considered otherwise, and it gave a good overview of many of the attractions a new visitor to Beijing would want to see. I brought along a couple of other guides as well, including "Top 10 Beijing," which was also helpful. I find that one guide is never enough, so I always get a few. This one is recommended.