Customer Reviews

Michelin the Green Guide Greece (Michelin Green Guide: Greece English Edition)

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

 

 

I generally prefer Michelin guides for planning travel because they are loaded with background stories about the points of interest. The three-star rating system is kind of handy too, although sometimes I don't agree with the rating Michelin gives, which is totally understandable.

One thing I found very helpful during my travel in Greece was that Michelin always has the sites of interest listed in the native language as well as in English. I barely knew how to say "thank you" in Greek (efharisto), so I wasn't sure I could get around despite I was told Greeks are better English speakers in general. The world is not created for English speakers in mind, so there are times that the information is only available in the native language. At least being able to find out which way to go to get to the site I know better was such a relief.

I have long loved Michelin green Guides. Though they have grown heavier and less to the point, I still like the three star rating system for sites. However in this case it is hard to love a book where the spelling of site names in some places, like on the map with the stars, does not correspond to the spelling in the index or in other places. Finding things involves your figuring out the different ways in which Greek names can be spelt.

Other books have found ways to cope consistently with changing tastes in Greek spelling. Michelin has not. Coping with these inconsistencies can be extremely frustrating.

I now believe the best a traveler can do is to get this and the DK book on Greece. Both were done before the Greeks finished their preparations for the 2004 Olympics so beware of errors about practical things like airport access, a major new bridge, and consequences of a troublesome earthquake.

I would like to recommend this guide to people that would like to visit Greece. Originally I am from Greece and several times I've been asked to make some suggestion to friends about what travel guides to use. I've done some research on bookstores and I think this guide is well written very concise and covers the most important places. I think the writers must have really travelled a lot around Greece because they recommend places, like my hometown, that are not very well known but they offer some very important sights of interest. I have also learned things I didn't know before. In the past I had bought a similar guide for New England and I was very satisfied. I gave 4 stars rather than 5 because there can be some improvements in the greek spelling and in covering more recent historical facts. It's a guide you can enjoy reading from begining to end.

I would trust this seller as the condition of my purchase was exactly as described by the seller. Thank you

I spent a semester studying abroad in Greece and this was one of the required texts. My class traveled all over the country and used a variety of guides including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, etc. From a travel guide perspective, this was one of the most frustrating and unhelpful books I've used. It is not laid out in a user friendly way and the quantity of information is overwhelming. Plus the size it rather tall and awkward to carry in many small bags. What this book lacks in helpful travel info, it makes up for in historical and background information about the sites. I would never use the book to pick a restaurant, but if I wanted to read the history of the city of Nafplion, it was helpful and very informative. Perhaps that's why this was a book required by my school. Maybe they thought of it more like a compact text book rather than a true travel resource. I would NOT recommend this to people traveling to Greece unless they are very interested in the background about all the places they visit. For some who enjoy that kind of encyclopedic knowledge, this could be a better fit.