Customer Reviews

Let's Go 2009 Western Europe (Let's Go: Western Europe)

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

 

 

Previously I used Lets Go China and fully satisfied by its contents. For 3 years the book was my bible which I shared with some travelling friends. With perfect category breakdowns and useful information to details, perhaps were my best consideration to buy Lets Go Western Europe.

Unfortunately the contents of this book is an 80% dissapointment since it tries to cover too many too little.

Instead of buying this book, I'll strongly recommend Lonely Planet which has more information or Frommers if you chose to travel by trains.

We decided to bring copies of Lets Go, which ended up in the bin since we'd rather found our ways around using the other two.

I went to Rome and I found some very reasonable priced (but very good) restaurants and cafees with this guide.
It does not say much about the history of Rome, but it is a good idea to go for this guide if you want to avoid the turist traps.

This book is overall an excellent travel book. Yes it does cover all of the countries in western Europe, so if you are not planning to go to more than just a few countries in Europe, then get the individual country travel guides instead - they are smaller and not as heavy as other reviewers have complained about. This is a large guide book covering wester Europe well, so naturally there will be a lot of information.

This is a comprehensive book that covers major cities throughout all of western Europe. They also include great day trip ideas from the major cities in most countries. The book recommends the researchers top picks for everything from restaurants to hostels and cheap hotels to museums and general sights. The book gives younger info in my opinion, with recommendations for night life in all cities and areas to avoid at night, even including gay/lesbian friendly bars. The packing and planning tips in the beginning are great and the maps are great to have all in one place at the front and in color. There are more specific maps in each country's section and they also give you suggested itineraries for each country depending on how long you are planning to be there. There are step by step instructions to get to each place they list and information on train stations, airports, buses, etc. Each country section starts with a brief overview of the country's history and then continues with important visa, money and travel information, including emergency numbers and pharmacies and hospitals - which you never know when you may need! The suggested sights, museums, hotels/hostels, restaurants, bars, clubs, cafes, coffee houses, wine bars, tea houses, gelaterias, etc. are extremely useful and give you good ideas of which neighborhoods to look for other options as well. The budget ideas and tips are very useful and many of the tips can save you from spending lots of money and time. Additionally, the book has a small section on eastern European countries as well, so if you are only quickly stopping off in any countries in eastern Europe the information is general but helpful. If you need more info they have an eastern Europe guide also or a general Europe. Since I traveled quickly (2-3 days per major city in each country) only in western Europe, with the exception of Prague, this book was perfect for my needs.

Overall I think that this book is an excellent guide book and very useful to have while you are traveling. If you want to cut it down, just take the book to a copy center and have the binding removed, then take only the sections you need while you are on your trip! The suggestions are unbeatable and this book is updated every year unlike some other books. A definite must if you are traveling quickly throughout western Europe! The book is entertaining to read while planning and useful to have with you as you finally enjoy your trip!

This book is huge. It might be helpful if you're planning on going to a lot of countries (like, more than ten), and want info for all of them in the same place. If you aren't however, and need a book to carry around each day during your travels, this isn't it. It's too bulky and heavy and all the useful maps are lumped at the front of the book, which isn't particularly helpful either.