Customer Reviews

Michelin THE GREEN GUIDE London, 2e (THE GREEN GUIDE)

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

 

 

If you are spending more than a few days in London to "see the sights", then you must have this book. All other tour guides to London are superficial in their coverage of the major museums and tourist sights. This book offers the details the others lack, with well written descriptions of the collections of the major museums including their highlights. The strength of this book is when you want to know more about a particular museum or sight than where it is and when it is open; it is actually most useful when you are in the particular sight. This book does NOT cover hotels, restaurants, etc.; for that information, try any of the other guide books on the market.

I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.

Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!

Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide

MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for pubs, hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the underground and the double decker buses. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the city centre. When you get to be an old London hand, remember that the classic Londoners guide will always be an A to Z (zed) map and guide. If you want to go a bit beyond the central core of the city (perhaps to Windsor, Hampton, or further away) you really need the proper AtoZ to be able to find exact routes and streets.

Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!

Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.

Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.

Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.

We are just back from a trip which included London. As always, Michelin is the best at having handy maps of districts you are interested in exploring. And the size fits nicely in a coat pocket. But, as my wife said, the descriptions are not inspiring. I find the maps and portability matter while on a trip. But for planning, maybe something else might be better.

This guide has nice, detailed histories of the all the sights but is so poorly organized and indexed that it is almost impossible to use. God help you if you know you want to visit the War Museum but don't happen to know that its full title is "Imperial War Museum"... you'll never find it in the index or book. Want to go to Hampton Court? That is in the index, but finding the map which shows where it is (mentioned in text but missing from index and table of contents) is difficult. Oh, well, just flip through the book for 15 miniutes, you'll eventually find it, but only a cryptic two words on how to get there. Organization by neighborhood is not, in itself a bad idea, but requires careful indexing. Also, the book seems to assume you will drive through London on your Michelin tires (not advised in London's insane traffic) and provides almost no information on public transport. Pass this one by!

I use several travel guides but always refer to Michelin Travel Guides to get a flavor of the history/time line, geography, weather, and special events of a country. You can't beat Amazon prices.

Michelin guides are thought to be very good guides, that's why I bought the London Michelin green guide before I visit London. Unfortunately, the guide of London - at least - is not helpful. The subjects are organised in alphabetical order and not in routes! Moreover, there is not in it a plan of the underground, so you need an extra map to organise your plans depending on the tube stations. Besides, the information given on the monuments some times are not correct.

This is a premature general review. I am currently going through the guide, the visit in London is projected for end-September.

This seems to be a very comprehensive guide, providing a great deal of historical information.
Insofar as museums are concerned, I would have preferred more details on artists' works of particular importance and interest, at the expense of the quite extensive background and general information provided in this guide. I cannot imagine being able to take time to absorb such information, even if read on the eve of the visit in the museum itself, certainly not on the spot; I would want then to know what to look for and pay special attention to in specific exhibit.

this book has great maps and many, many suggestions about places to dine. in conjunctions with rick steve's london 2006 all you could possibly need fora great week in london