Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet London (Lonely Planet London, 2nd ed)

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

 

 

Having used two editions of the Japan guide book I turned to Lonely Planet for another trip. The London book is a great guide if you want the occassional opinion and are looking for solid advice on the standard tourist sights and some insight on the less-well-known sights. It's also a good size - it fits into large pockets or easily into your backpack or camera bag. Unlike the book on Japan, the London guide is not long on specific directions on how to get places once you exit public transportation. Still, it has a broad listing of things to do and places to see, good maps, a reasonable but hardly exhaustive list of hotels and restaurants, and the quirky but entertaining point-of-view that characterizes all the Lonely Planet guides. The descriptions are arranged by topic and then by neighborhoods. I found this very useful when making general plans for each day - we could focus on one or two parts of the city and not spend all day riding back and forth on the tube. The guide includes interesting walks through parts of London and a good variety of day trips outside of London. In short, it's useful and well-worth the price.

This is an excellent guide to London. the best way to travel is without a guidebook but often a good book can simplify thingsand make life easier- and this book does just that The book is organised by locations ( west end, north london, etc). For each sectiono the city there are extensive descriptions of places to visit, restaurants and other attractions. There are also useful chapters on getting sround using local transpotation and on places to stay(broken down by budget). Unlike other "tourist" guide books , this is not filled up with glossy photographs and hype.

As with the other Lonely planet books,the target audience are independant travellers who will find lots of essential information - such as locations of supermarkets, laundromats and other conveniences.

The maps at the back of the book are easy to read and accuratew butI would also recommend buying a pocket subway map ( easily available in london) because all travellers will need to refer to it very ofen and it is tedious to have to refer to the back of the book constantly.

only problem i had while using this book was that all attractions are listed with the name of the nearest underground station but there is no information on how to walk to the place from the stations.

In the past year I have had the chance to travel to Prague, Paris, and London, and for each trip I brought along a Lonely Planet city guide. These books are simply the best. In previous travels I have tried books by other groups, but Lonely Planet has never steered me wrong. The books are accurate and up-to-date, and offer advice for all modes of travel (economic, social, time constraints, interests, and so on). The history and culture sections are useful but not too long, and the same is true of the descriptions of the various sites and sights. Don't travel without one!

I just got back from a 2 month tour of Europe including 3 weeks in London, where the LP London guide was invaluable. I used it constantly, not only for it's great maps and solid recommendations, but also for suggested walks and sights ratings. Add this guide with Walking in London, and you see all the best London has to offer while always being in the know!

This edition is much better than the previous one.