Customer Reviews

Karen Brown's Portugal: Charming Inns & Itineraries 2000

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After digesting several other books on Portugal I received Karen Brown's book. Had I received her book first, I could have saved a lot of money and time because no other book comes anywhere close to providing the information and interest in visiting the places that she writes about. I cannot wait to read her other books. Wanted to have a vehicle there but was disuaded by the other publications. However, after reading her book I am anxious to rent a vehicle and visit all the wonderful adventures that she has written about. Sorry to say we only have 16 days this time, but rest assured we will return to finish the books descriptions of all the wonderful places. The web sites and phone numbers provided are extremely helpful; even moreso that the information provided by the state run tourism office. The encouragement to explore is there. Thanks once again for a wonderfully written guide book.

I used this book side-by-side with my Frommer's Portugal and found it to be a great complement. It excels at finding wonderful accommodations across the ENTIRE country. (My Frommer's book, I found, included only the most popular tourist spots, largely ignoring the Douro Valley, for example, which every traveler should see.) Each of the places we stayed was unique and spectacular, and many of them were not included in other travel guides. The regional itineraries were also very useful. While we didn't follow any of them to the letter but rather picked and choosed to suit our travel plans, the book pointed out lots of special points of interest, again not always mentioned in my Frommer's book. (Were it not for these itineraries, we undoubtedly would have missed seeing the medieval castle at Marvao, a highlight of our trip.)

For in-depth coverage of all of the regions of Portugal and lodging recommendations you can trust, this book is it.

This was my first time buying a Karen Brown guide, and it certainly won't be my last.