Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' England 2007

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Neither my wife nor I had been to England before, and we took this as our only guidebook. We stayed in the Southeast (near Dover), the Cotswalds, and in London over the course of a week, and this book had more than enough information and insight for our brief trip. The advice is very candid and straightforward, and I will use it again when I go back. The only caveat is probably that there is not a ton of detailed information about London (Steves has another book for London) in this book, so if that is where you'll do most of your visiting, you might want to pick up a more specific guide.

This book is one person's opinion of what is worth seeing in England; it includes *only* those things, and nothing else. A full 24% of the book is taken up with London. That section includes helpful bus info that most guidebooks don't include, but, oddly, not a tube map so that you can think about connections ahead of time. Also lacking is a single map of the whole of London. Instead, there is a color map in the front of the book of only the most central part of central London, and then multiple small hand-drawn maps of individual areas of London. To figure out how to get from one place to another involves putting together a number of different little maps. In addition to the partial London map, there are maps of Bath and all of England at the beginning of the book; otherwise, all the maps are small and hand-drawn, which I found annoying. As examples of what you *won't* find in this book, there is nothing at all on Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham or Exeter, just to name a few. Personally, I would prefer to pay a few dollars more for a more comprehensive guide.

We have used Rick Steves Guide books for previous travel to England and it was always very helpful in regards to the basics. However, not being a total novice to England travel I was a little surprised by all the omissions. Some of the places that he barely mentioned or dedicated only a few lines to were absolutely wonderful whereas his "must see" Blenheim Palace" was a big tourist trap disappointment. It makes sense that he condenses information and has to leave a lot of things out otherwise the amount of information would cause the reader to overload or make travel appear too difficult. This book is a great guide for the person who has never traveled independently but for the more relaxed, adventurous or experienced - it is probably best to consult some other sources.

Steves' guides are both entertaining to read and accurate. He gives great hints for travel and sights to see. I just returned from England and France, and we carried Steves' guides with us wherever we went. Specifics are great: trains to take, underground stations to use, times to arrive. Don't miss these guides for your trip!

The Rick Steves guide books are invaluable tools when travelling abroad. He gives common sense ideas on what to see, where to stay and where to eat. Would never travel to Europe without his books.

A useful guide, particularly for the Southwest. Could use more information about mass transit.

I was a little disappointed when I received this book. I bought last year's Rick Steve's Great Britain and found that he really skipped a lot of area that I was interested in....so, I bought this one and discovered he basically followed the same path. The first 150 or so pages focus on London. If I wanted a guide on London, I would've bought one. I think Bill Bryson's humorous account (Notes From a Small Island)gave me more of a feel for England.
That said, the book gives LOADS of travel tips and insight that these books are known for.

Typical of Rick Steves, this travel guide visits places not normally visited by the traveler. He offers advice on what to skip and what the "must sees" are. Saving money without sacrificing enjoyment or the ability to travel outside of the United States are a priority. Mr. Steves describes areas and tells you how to get there based on his personal experience not the information published by the places visited.

This book was a real disappointment, especially for the price. It should have said, "Rick's Travel Itinerary for His Favorite Parts of England and Nowhere Else." Basically he only talked about a set limited itinerary of his favorite locations/cities and that was it - very limiting. We are going to be based in Canterbury, one of the most famous of English cities (and cathedrals) and it isn't even mentioned. He focused on a little city that he loves on the western end of England that in our case we won't even have time to visit. The London info was okay, but as mentioned in another review his map of London was useless. What good is a travel book without a quality map? So I had to go buy a map and I will be buying another book for our first trip to England that better covers Southern England. Also, I did not care for how he expressed his preferences, they came across as somewhat too opinionated or sarcastic and didn't allow for other people's likes and dislikes.

Rick Steves' England 2009
Good source of info, in conversational style, with helpful tips and great insight. He is an expert traveler, and he offers details that differ from Frommers or Fodors.