Lonely Planet Great Britain (Lonely Planet) [Paperback]

David Else (Author), Jolyon Attwooll (Author), Charlotte Beech (Author), Oliver Berry (Author), George Dunford (Author), Andy Symington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Discover Great Britain

Puff your way up 530 steps to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral for a heavenly view of London.
Let the train take the strain while you admire the views on the Ffestiniog Railway.
Get your Gaelic up to scratch with a course on the Isle of Skye.
Tube ride a Cornish wave in Newquay, a the capital of English surfing.

In This Guide:

Eleven authors, 3000 hours of research, 195 maps.
Insider views - tailored itineraries, reading lists and do-it-yourself travel tips help you get under the skin.
Content updated daily: visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler suggestions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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From the Publisher

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
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* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1014 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 7th edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741045657
• ISBN-13: 978-1741045659
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jack of all travel, Master of none, April 20, 2008

By 

Colleen "big reader" (SF East Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Great Britain (Lonely Planet) (Paperback)

I just returned from 3 weeks in the UK and think the reviews over sold this book. It was not at all the travel bible I expected. You know the comments about how weak the maps are? Well....... if it isn't on the map, it isn't in the book. This book is an excellent resource if you are looking for ideas on what to do with your time in Britain but if you know what you want to do and expect it to be in this book you will most likely be disappointed.

If you just want to see the standard tour stuff, you are better off looking up the visitor information center location for each major city you're visiting and heading straight for it when you arrive. You can book your city tours and attractions and get the best deals on city sanctioned accomodations from the visitor centers.

I had a car for half the time and used the rails the other half. This book did not have the detail for either modes of travel. I needed a little more detailed maps, local rail stations and how the underground connected with major hubs in the major cities. I did not even see anything on the Heathrow Express into the London Paddington Station. That is elemental info for getting into London from the airport.

This book is not bad, it just was not right for me and was not what I expected. I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do and there was very little about those things in this book. They really tried to cover too much in a single volumne. They need to break England, Wales and Scotland into individual volumes.

I still recommend this book but don't rely on it to get you where you want to go and copy just the pages you need (including the area maps at the beginning of each section)instead of lugging the whole book all over Britain. I ended up leaving mine in a the hotel because it was just one heavy item too many.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor content, December 25, 2009

By 

Mr. Michael E. Binstead (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Lonely Planet Great Britain (Lonely Planet) (Paperback)

This is probably he most useless guide to GB that I have seen. Very poor choices for accommodation. Some major cities totally missing and accommodation info way out of date. Consider another option if you want to travel UK with ease. ie. Rick Steves

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, with odd omissions, December 26, 2008

By 

Not a Clue (Redondo Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Great Britain (Lonely Planet) (Paperback)

The first item I looked for was Darwin's house, Down House. The only related entry is the little known Darwin Centre, where Erasmus Darwin lived. Down House is even having a celebration in 2009 for the 150th anniversary of Origin of Species, but no mention in this book. It is on the southeast England map if you know where to look. Sure, they could skip the geologist William Smith or the alchemist Isaac Newton, but Darwin?

The other negative is lack of map coordinates. It would be simple to label two edges of each map and put a simple 2-character coordinate code on each town or site description. It is often difficult to follow clues like "southeast of York" (once you find York) to a small town on a complex map.

OTOH, the histories are great lively and informative. The book is packed with enough information to provide a good basis for any visitor, and I was impressed by the coverage of hill climbs, skimpy but better than most sources. I was disappointed with Lonely Planet in several countries, but feel no need for any other book except the pictures in Eyewitness for Great Britain (and climbing routes for Scotland).