Customer Reviews

Let's Go 2003: Israel

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

 

 

While there was a lot of great ideas and information in this book, the phone numbers and address sites that were listed were EXTREMELY inaccurate. The maps in it were excellent. I just think that it is very important to review the information and put in up-to-date material. Especially in this time of turmoil, this is the most recent publication in all of our searches for Israel trips. So as far as that goes, I guess it's better than nothing. I also think that there should be a choice of accomodations listed, as opposed to just Youth Hostels and "cheap-end" accomodations, my wife and I were often looking for moderate hotels, but there were never any listed in this book. Until an updated book is published, this should be the one that you go with if you are looking for a tourbook of Israel.

I borrowed two guide books from the library, had then special order this,,,,, what a bad guidebook, I am an experinced traveller and found this unusable for trip planning. This is what you get when you let eighteen year olds write travel guides. Give it a skip, and buy the frommers and use the internet to fill the blanks. I lead tour groups, and need decent information.

From the inaccuracies in the so-called historical review to the inaccurate descriptions of non-existent "perils and pitfalls" and the failure to describe the real areas of concern, it's hard to believe the author of this guidebook has ever been to Israel. Buy Frommers and use the on-line updates.

I've been living in Israel for about four months... saw this in my friend's room and fell in love with it! Seems to be very well-tied-in with the culture, pointing out interesting items "off the beaten path"... Never saw the Frommer's but in any case this is a whole heck of a lot better than the Rough Guide I bought. Anyway, I'm going to probably buy this.

Bought this book a couple of weeks before traveling to Israel. Guidebooks invariably save you much more than the money you spend in buying them, and this book was not an exception. Found it very informative and easy to read. We visited Israel at Passover and Easter (Orthodox)--were there from April 17 through April 24, 2006. It was a busy tourist season and the book proved helpful in making first night's reservation in Tel Aviv (at Hotel Nes Ziona). [Next day we found a comparable but cheaper hotel (Hotel Eilat, not mentioned in Let's Go) not too far away and moved there.] Generally speaking, in lodging and eating we found prices higher than those cited in the book. This was expected as the book was printed in 2003 based on research done in August 2000 and the publisher had warned the readers they "may have different experiences since prices, dates, hours, and conditions are subject to change." Let's Go Israel covers Jerusalem, most favorite Israeli destination, extensively. Though I believe it should have mentioned the possibility of staying in West Bank (say in Bethlehem which is hardly 20 minutes from Jerusalem) and making day trips to the big city.

On a lighter note, the book doesn't warn readers about dog poop that is found everywhere on Tel Aviv sidewalks. Apparently Israelis are not too scrupulous about cleaning after their pets, if such laws exist in Israel.