Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Berlin Encounter

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

 

 

If you are already properly filled in on Berlin history and simply want a guide to the city of Berlin as it looks today, this is the guidebook for you.

This book is written to serve you with useful information while you explore the city, contrary to other guidebooks which are too big and heavy and contains too much information that you don't need when you acommodation sorted out (ie. hotel and restaurant listings) - often I find that information outdated anyways.

What I particularly like about this book is the colour indexed neighbourhood sections which have minimaps printed on their first page with, here comes the genious part, 'interesting' streets highlighted in yellow. That means you can simply take a train to the part of the city you want to explore, check out the neighbourhood map and go towards the yellow streets. This is especially useful if you want to explore the less touristy parts of Berlin, away from the main sights. The neighbourhood maps also have little symbols directing you to a small number of cafes, restaurants, clubs, sights and shops and is followed by a few pages with just one or two lines about each. The fold-out map is very useful too!

The book is logically built up by a brief, glossy introduction with highlights and pictures, followed by sections on specific neighbourhoods (this make up about 75% of the book) and practical information in the end, including a very short brushup on Berlin history. A note on the history section: If you are completely in the dark about the aftermath of WWII in Berlin, this history chapter will probably NOT answer the many questions that will undoubtedly pop up in your head when walking through Berlin. If so, you would need more information than this book provides.

I rarely bring checked luggage when travelling within Europe, so weight and volume was the primary reason I got this instead of the bigger guidebooks on Berlin, which are equally priced. But I am now planning a trip to Paris with checked luggage and all, and I am definetely getting the Paris encounter instead of the city guide.

Conclusion: The perfect guide for those of us who like to actually bring our guidebooks and just be GUIDED, not lectured or drowned in information. Perfect, if you ask me!

I had just spent a week in Athens and had found the Lonely Planet Athens pocket guide very useful, especially the detailed maps so I picked up the Berlin guide at the airport thinking it would be equally useful. Wrong, wrong. The tone of the guide is oh so hipster and assumes that the reader is a single twenty something year old. A little of this goes a long way. The attempt at trendiness and appeal to high end shoppers falls flat on its face.

I toured Berlin for two weeks and this trusty little guide never left my side. I had some bigger books that were good too (Lonely Planet's Germany) but having this in my back pocket when out and about was a lifesaver. I've bought several of these (for differing cities) as gifts for traveling friends.

Just used this book on a recent trip to Berlin:

The information is outdated. The Pergamonmuseum is listed as free the last 4 hours Thursday. Not only was it not true, but they had raised their price. We still enjoyed the museum, but based our day's plans around the advice from the book.

We tried to go to a restaurant recommended in the book which had closed down.

The simple phrases given leave a lot to be desired - how about "where is the bathroom?" and do not give any advice on phonetics.

The tear out map didn't include the neighborhood we were staying in - in the bustling heart of Freidrichshain.

The top ten and itineraries included a lot of "high end shopping" recommendations. Maybe some are interested in that but, spending my time inside internationally available retail chains seems like the last reason I'd like to visit Berlin.

I used to like Lonely Planet, but I fear my days with them are numbered or possibly over already.