Customer Reviews

Provence & The Cote D'azur (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was our bible on our two week driving trip through these areas. Once I got the hang of the organization of the book, it was a wonderful planning aid, to be sure we could fit everything in. It's acually an Eyewitness travel guide, which I have purchased again for Venice, and I'm now getting the Paris edition. No matter what they say, pictures do help! The strength of these books is their travel and itinerary advice, not hotels and restaurants, although there is a brief section about them. It's a wonderful trip, and this book is an excellent companion.

We recently traveled throughout Provence and used this guide to determine what to stop and see and what to miss. Great pictures, up-to-date information about costs and hours. We use this series whenever we travel.

We just spent five days in Cannes, France. This book was great as a pre-trip planning guide to do preliminary research the area and the sites to see. The wonderful pictures got us very excited for the trip.

However, once there, we found the guide book didn't have enough practical information, such as how to get to the sites. (It was shear luck we found the Matisse Museum in Nice) It gave a great overview of the entire area of Provence and the Cote D'azur, but didn't go into depth enough on any one place to be your only guide book.

I was very impressed with one of the resteraunts they recommended. It was one of the "least expensive" restaurant and was one of the best meals we have ever had. While the quanity of recommended resteraunts was not there, I would continue to get the DK travel books if the quality is as good.

What a great guide; this book is a gold mine of off-the-beaten path places. I ran into very few American tourists and discovered many secret places that I'll definitely visit again. The photographs and detailed descriptions of using pay telephones, parking meters and public bathrooms were great and saved me alot of time on the learning curve. I like that it doesn't contain huge laundry lists of hotel and restaurant addresses; I enjoy patronizing establishments that I find by just walking around. There is something for every style of traveller in this little gem!

I love the eyewitness guides. I have both the Provence/Cote d'Azur and the Paris guides. The numerous pictures and computer graphics are very helpful. I was able to plan a lot of my trip by these guides, having the knowledge of what was out there before I went which, when on a limited schedule, is very helpful. I recomment all of the eyewitness guides for anyone who travels.

My work has provided me with the opportunity to travel a good bit. I am the type of person who wants to get a working background for my destinations, both in terms of history and geographic layout. Because I work, I don't have a great deal of time to spend reading and studying different, often lengthy, travel guides before or during my trips.

Because these guides are concise, beautifully illustrated, relatively compact, and impeccably organized, I cannot recommend highly enough the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides! The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide is THE guide I buy for every destination. Not only do I get a quick history and background of the destination, but I also will be provided with a visual guide to everything. The visual detail is really what sets the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides apart.

The street maps of common destination points are drawn in dimensional detail so you will visually recognize when you "get there." This is particularly helpful when you don't speak the native language.

The regional maps are colorful and concise. However, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide really shows its stuff with the drawings associated with attractions such as museums and churches. Their presentation of building layouts allow the traveler who is short on time to quickly see the best of the attraction within the time the traveler has to spend.

Each DK Eyewitness Travel Guide has a good summary section in the back with practical information about where to eat, where to sleep, what to do, and how to get around.

While I may supplement the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide with others for a more detailed travel guide, the other guide is only more to read, not more to see. Buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide first for any destination.

The book was invaluable in assisting us determine what city to home port in during our one-week visit to Provence -- Avignon. But once there we discovered the book lacked sufficient specific detail about the nearby vilages and town we wanted to visit. We suspected as much beforehand and purchased other travel guides to the region and between all of them, developed a decent undertsanding of the sites and places to visit. Don't forget to purchase the Michelin map titled "Provence, Cote d'Azur" (No. 582 Regional).

Oh, this book made me wish I was in France. Pictures of Lavender fields, sweeping views of the Plateau de Valensole (the largest lavender-growing areas of Provence), the Vieux Port looking south, with Notre-Dame de-la-Garde that I didn't have time to see because we were too busy shopping for pretty French clothes and soaps.

You will be delighted with information on The Riviera, The Alpes Maritimes, The Var, The Iles D'Hyères, Bouches-Du-Rhōne, Nīmes, Vaucluse and Alpes-De-Haute-Provence.

This book is part of a series of books called: Eyewitness Travel Guides. Each book is a graphically exciting and visually pleasing guidebook. You will find concise maps, carefully selected hotels, restaurants and cafes in all price ranges, 800-full color photographs, unique cutaways and floor plans to help you explore public buildings and landmarks and town-by-town information on sights, beaches, cafe life, markets, and festivals.

I started reading: "Cassis is a lovely little port, tucked into limestone hills.....Cassis is still known for its excellent seafood." pg. 153 (Is that why I ordered two helpings? :) We sat in the sun at an outdoor restaurant and had the most amazing fish I have ever had in my life.

They brought the fish out to us and then we selected what looked like freshly caught fish. I am sure it was because it was quite delicious. We wandered around and found a bakery (la boulangerie) and a place to buy olive oil and garlic. Of all the places I went, Cassis stands out as a place I would want to stay a bit longer. We found it quite by accident and even though you might take this book along, I think sometimes the places you find just by accident are going to be the most memorable.

If you want to visit Provence or if you have been there, this book will serve as an excellent way to wet your appetite or as a journey of delightful remembrance.

If you don't hear from me again, I went to live in an idyllic spot in Provence. Sigh....

P.S. 1. The French Phrase Book ISBN: 0-7894-3234-X is a great little book of essential words and phrases.

P.S. 2. Provence: A Country Almanac by Louisa Jones is not to be missed as a coffe table collectable book.

P.S. 3. To learn how to make those French desserts: Chocolate by Patricia Lolusada

P.S. 4. The French Dictionary ISBN: 0-7894-4494-1 has over 50,000 words and phrases.

P.S. 5. If you want to see a cute movie: Go look up the reviews for: A Year in Provence. What I loved was that Peter was a writer and he is always trying to finish his novel. His wife helps him on a writing assignment about Provence and that is when things turn more into a mystery.

~The Rebecca Review

Just returned from a trip to Nice, Villefranche, St Jean Cap Ferrat, and Monte Carlo and this is the guide we lived by.

We've been very pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail on the cities and the beautiful pictures in this book on Provence. The book contains historic and cultural information as well as information on hotels, restaurants, and shopping.

We hope to visit some vineyards in the area and there is an itineray included, however, it doesn't give the "specific" locations - but maybe that isn't possible.

Although we usually don't travel with guidebooks, we are definitely planning on taking this one along with us!