Customer Reviews

Let's Go 2001: Europe: The World's Bestselling Budget Travel Series

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are going to Europe for a month or more and have a flexible travel plan (or no real plan at all) and an inflexible budget, this book is for you! Since it covers all of Europe, the information on any given country or city is somewhat limited - but the bottom line is that if you have this book (and a few bucks) in your rucksack, you probably won't have to worry about sleeping in the street or missing a European highlight - even if you decide to get off the train in a particular city on impulse with no reservations....and even less of a clue of what to see and do!

Let's Go does a great job of giving you the best sites, several choices of decent hostels or budget hotels, a list of "hot spots" for meeting folks, and a selection of places to eat cheap - often conveniently broken down by area of the city! These guidebooks have an excellent, readable style, basic maps, and a frank, honest assesment of what you are in for at any given hostel or attraction - often with a little humor thrown in as a bonus (which is, by the way, an attribute which all indy travelers MUST have in abundance).

That having been said, if you have your destination(s) selected in advance and your travel schedule all planned out in detail, you might consider purchasing an appropriate individual country or regional guidebook instead. This book is HEAVY and bulky in a rucksack, so if you know at the outset that you will not be going to most of the countries covered, consider the country guides instead.

Went to Europe for 3 weeks a year ago January, and took the 2000 edition of Let's Go Europe with me, and what an invaluable guide! While we wound up in hostels recommended by the guide only about 1/2 the time (and didn't always love them - guess we weren't into the whole true backpacking experience), it was a great start to know where to look. It was also immensely useful for figuring out where to go, what to see, when we could see it and for how much. Found myself frequently walking around acting as tour guide to the rest of my group, reading descriptions from the book. The maps are also really useful for finding your way around the cities. Even though between the six of us, we had 3-4 different Europe guides, Let's Go Europe is the one that we came back to most frequently. After a while, I didn't even bother putting it in my daypack anymore, I just carried it around in my hands. On a side note, the second to last day I was in Europe, my daypack was stolen off of a train with the guide in it... good thing we were so close to the end of the trip...but definitely, heed all advice you get about protecting your stuff!

If you're looking for a nice, preplanned vacation at nice hotels, then Let's Go Europe isn't the book for you. However, if you're travelling through Europe on a lower budget, and are kind of taking things as they come, I highly recommend this book.

If you are budget travelling in Europe buy this book (or the appropriate country guide), and then buy a "real" travel guide (i.e. Rick Steves, Frommer, Lonely Planet). Generally, I use this book for accomodation recommendations and eating while I use the other book for information on sites to see. The reason is that these books are poorly written with inscrutable directions and lackluster descriptions of the sites. For example, if you are not already an expert on the forum in Rome, any attempt to use Let's Go to make heads or tails of it will fail utterly. Also, be careful about the information given in the books especially if you go off the Eurrailer trail. I discovered (while in Sicily and Malta) that despite their claims to the contrary, the book is not fully updated every year. The maps are often wrong; half of the hotels may be closed that they list and none of the resaurants may exist anymore. More worrisome, the boat schedules for some minor fairies may not in any way resemble what the book lists. By the end of all of my trips with Let's Go, I had a list of errors written out, ranging from the irritating to the frustrating to the nearly disastrous. So, buy this book if you are budget travelling especially if you are sticking to a standard Eurrail tour, but be careful and take any information about more obscure locations with a huge grain of salt.

This popular guidebook features a nice and complete section of essentials for traveling to Europe, and a well documented section for european culture that can quickly put you up to speed before you go to the old continent.

The country contents are well structured including: accommodations, food, sights, museums, entertainment, shopping, nightlife, excursions and good maps. Even when the information is fairly complete, I still recommend that you get an additional guidebook, like Lonely Planet, which extends the "per country" information.

The list of hostels and hotels is good, they are not rated by starts since all of them are small budget accommodations. However, I recommend that you get an additional source of hostel listings since everyone backpacking in Europe has this guidebook and very often the listed hostels are crowded. An alternate list always helps.

The Let's Go guide for Europe was the most awesome thing we had with us on our trip. I graduated high school and the next day was on a plane to Frankfurt with no parents and no experience in travelling. My use of the 2000 edition while there for four plus weeks wore the cover off. It's got maps, directions, ideas on what to expect, and more. The focus on budget is great, with sometimes quite extensive lists of hostels. Other times it lacked enough to where an alternate list came in handy. My suggestion, also look into Rick Steve's Guides, and if you're looking at one country in particular, check out the more specific country books. For a first-time, student-budget trip, this book was an invaluble resource.

The book overall was helpful in a general sort of way. As a first time backpacker, you will soon learn that all other backpackers will have the same book and all trying to book the same hotels and hostels. That will be a drawback. The choices they provide in lodging are limited in what is really out there and some of their recommendations need to be reevaluated. As far as food and restaurants they will usually guide you to a touristy place w/ adequate food. But these are really nit picky details, the map and overall orientation of a particular city proved to be quite helpful.

Let's Go is THE guidebook for cheap traveling, especially for students. It's secret? It's written by students, mainly for students...It's strength is that it has a lot of truly budget accomodations listed -- hostels, etc. -- in practically every city in Europe. The main weakness? Because it is put together by students, who by definition are amateurs, the writing can sometimes be weak, the info can be out of date or wrong, and the reviews of lodging and sights are incredibly uneven. (For example, when I used Let's Go almost exclusively for a 3-month Europe trip, some of their $10-25/night budget accomodations listed were fantastic -- but others were dumps unworthy of a listing in any guidebook). The problem is that, unlike a Lonely Planet or a Rick Steves guidebook, which are written by professionals, Let's Go has had hundreds of writers over the years, with students writing about one country but not all the others...If you are unlucky enough to go to a country reviewed by Mountain Man Jack, for example, and he doesn't care about a lack of air conditioning, lumpy beds and smelly rooms, and fails to mention these items, you are out of luck. All in all, though, a great resource for people who need truly budget accomodations, with lots of good maps and other tips... I've personally outgrown this guidebook, having moved on to Rick Steves, who focuses not on the cheapest possible budget but on getting the most possible out of your trip...($50-$100 day vs. the $25-$50 that Let's Go specializes in).

My friend and I have used Let's go Europe three times.
The guide is highly reliable as regards lodgings and instructions about transportation and important sights to see. Yes, I admit sometimes the hostel was not as clean and spotless and there were some mistakes, that is turn left when it was right. But when you really want to travel budget (I live in a South american country so I MUST do it this way) it is excellent.
Rick Steve's is wonderful but too expensive per day for us!!.

I finished college last december and headed off to Europe with my Let's Go in tow. Let's Go Europe gave me really helpful tipsfor travelling within my budget. Their coverage of sights is superb, and the guide pointed me to cheap but tasty restaurants and cheap hostels. the reason i only gave LG four stars is because of the physical book--if you want glossy paper, LG isn't your guide. But if you're after coverage, LG beats the competition. My roomate had lonely planet and while lonely planets look nicer than let's go, they're inferior books. Other than that, Let's go is great! ...

I backpacked alone in Europe for 3 months, and Let's Go was a lifesaver! Although some of the info was inaccurate - like a few museums they talked about were closed down or non-existant, and a few hostel phone numbers were wrong, overall it was extremely helpful. The wide range of travel tips and interesting facts made me feel like I really could be confident taking off for unknown cities all alone. I will always bring a copy of Let's Go with me! Some people thought it was too thick, so one thing they did was cut out the pages they already used. Then, they could have a lighter book and also give out the pages. One problem...I met a few people who only brought the pages they thought they would need....BUT, that was a problem, because once you are actaully over in Europe traveling, you will be much more spontaneous, and it was really sad when we would reccommend a place for the person to go, and they would say "oh, I can't go to Czech, because I didn't bring those pages...."

good luck traveling!!! BRING LET'S GO!