Customer Reviews

Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona & Central Arizona: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide (Explorer's Great Destinations)

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Christine Bailey's "Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona & Central Arizona: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide" is an unusual entry in the world of modern visitor guides. Although it includes the standard reference material found in any good guide, this book is actually meant to be read by the traveler. Its conversational tone reflects the author's living experience in "the Valley of the Sun" as well as the necessary research.

Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country, and one of Bailey's challenges is to do justice to a cityscape and metropolitan area spread over a couple of thousand square miles of high desert central Arizona. It turns out there is a lot to see and do beyond enjoying the warm, dry climate: everything from golf to professional sports. Bailey succeeds in providing a honest sense of history and character in detailing the recreational and touristing opportunities. Her narrative includes a broad swath of recommendations for places to eat, sleep, and shop.

This reviewer's one complaint is a shortage of detailed maps that could tie together a geospatial sense of a sprawling metropolitan area. A supplemental map of Phoenix is recommended to go along with this guide, itself highly recommended as an introduction to Phoenix and central Arizona.

If you want lots of info about hotels and restaurants then this is your book. If you want more information about sightseeing and things to do, this is not the book for you. I was highly disappointed and thought I should have stuck with Fodor's or the like.

This is a handsome, well-organized, easy-to-follow full-color guidebook with exceptional writing that is conversational and breezy without being informal. Maps abound, making it a snap to follow up on great suggestions for things to do. I highly recommend this book even if - or perhaps especially if - you're a local. I guarantee you'll read something new even if you've been here a while, and if you are a recent transplant, the book is invaluable. Instead of talking up just the must-do tourist spots, Bailey delves into where the locals go and what they do. There are a lot of good restaurant recommendations, too.

I also enjoyed how Bailey weaves the history of each area through the narrative along with what is going on currently. (In full disclosure, I contributed a sidebar to this book, but I do plan to buy more copies for friends and family because I think it's so useful.)

This is an excellent travel guide for anyone who plans on visiting Arizona.
Detailed information on Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona, Tucson, Tombstone and other cities in Arizona.
If you are going to any of these areas you should consider purchasing this travel guide.
Don't miss a thing..... It can all be found in this well organized book.

This explorers guide has just been updated to reflect a number of realities of the central Arizona area. It will give the reader a quick snapshot of the key features and attributes of broader Phoenix and it's tourist attractions and/or communities within easy driving range. For those who seek detailed narratives and data, this book may disappoint but it has enough of both to give any reader a sense of the variety and qualities of each featured site. For those who seek a good mix of photos along with to-the-point narrative, this guide should please. We are moving to the Scottsdale area within the next year and found the book's descriptions enticing but informative in a balanced manner.

This book was vague and boring. The pictures were all black and white which is a shame because Arizona is such beautiful country. Overall the book read like a high school essay and gave little information on specific places.