Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' 2001 Great Britain & Ireland (Rick Steves' Great Britain)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In both 1998 and 1999, we travelled to Britain using Rick Steves as our primary guide. I have used other guidebooks before: Frommer, Let's Go, Rough Guides, and Lonely Planet. While I admire the detail in the latter two series, I trust Steves only in two important areas:

(1) Trustworthy accommodations recommendations (he and his people really do check out the places he recommends) and

(2) Useful training in the practical "how to" aspects of travel, such as how to phone home without using your overpriced American telephone credit card and how to take trains and other public transportation. The man is a serious educator: witness his entertaining PBS TV series. He is willing to make himself look like a dork to make you enjoy European travel.

On the negative side, Steves' restaurant recommendations are sparse and uadventurous (though this is an area in which no one excels). Also, in selling the areas in which he is most interested, he leaves out large areas of the British Isles (especially in Scotland, where the omission of Glasgow and the Orkneys may take some explaining).

In the rec.travel.europe newsgroup, Steves has legions of detractors and defenders. Mere mention of his name sets off knee-jerk flaming responses from people who do not understand him.

The simple fact is this: If you follow his recommendations --particularly if you are relatively new to European travel -- you are likely to have a better time. Why? The man is not afraid to be prescriptive (instead of largely descriptive like Lonely Planet). Also, you are not likely to waste as much money, because you will weight your trip more on the side of small towns than large cities.

All you need to know about planning your iteniary and nothing you don't. Good, honest, reliable information. I customized my book by adding tabs at all the places I planned to visit. I had nearly worn my copy out before I even left for my trip!

I used this book, along with many others, during my trip to Scotland this year. The book is very fun to read and gives interesting recommendations; however, Rick Steve's books are not for those who want to explore an area deeply. He tends to give you the "whirlwind tour" along with the occassional interesting off-the-beaten path site, but doesn't give you the deep detail on every site you might be interested in. If you are spending significant time there and want to get deeper, I would use Rick's guides, along with Eyewitness Guides, when planning the trip for the broad outline only (and leave them at home), and then use Fodor's and Michelin's Guides to get deeply into the areas you want to explore (and take them with you).

I'd never heard of Rich Steves before I checked out this book. After reading just the few pages I realized this book was what I had been looking for before traveling to Britain.

This book has at least two excellent features: 1) everything is explained clearly and concisely, so you won't miss the important details; and 2) the author lists and recommends specific B&Bs and hotels, which can be very helpful in picking out a place to stay.

[I personally value the first point a great deal. All too many travel books -- Let's Go, "Rough Guide" -- are wordy and use small fonts that just throw you off -- but this book focuses on useability and practicality, so every bit of information is esp. helpful to the first-time traveler to Great Britain. In addition, the book gets updated *annually* so (as far as I can tell) the information is very accurate.

I think I have become a Rick Steves fan. I'll definitely buy his other travel books in the future.

I've been a fan of Rick Steves for many years and have taken his books with me on many first-time and repeat trips to various cities in Europe. His books are always helpful, concise, not overloaded with unnecessary info, very entertaining and filled with details such as hotel rates/contacts, daytrips, ratings on sights, sample itineraries and many more. I'm bringing this book with me on my 3rd trip to the UK (and have done so twice before). I would also recommend his "Mona Winks" (museum guide) and "Europe 101" (history overview).

If you're planning a trip to Ireland, Rick's book is not for you. Sure, he's a likable travel-partner - indeed, a possible travel/drinking buddy - and he does have an easy-going, entertaining writing style, but his take on Ireland is a real disappointment. It's way too limited, offering the Eire-bound traveler only a surface-level sketch of this fascinating, most complex island. More specifically, the edition that I read reduced the island, for the most part, to its major cities (Dublin, Belfast), the Dingle Peninsula, Aran Islands, and the Wicklow region. Tis a pity. Ireland deserves a guide of its own, not one connected to Great Britain. In short, turn to the wonderful, highly detailed Rough Guide to Ireland, Michelin's take on Ireland,the recently published Footprint Guide to Ireland, for far more satisfying and helpful reviews of Ireland. Rick, I have very much enjoyed your "Backdoor" videos, but I must suggest that you return to Ireland. Get off the tourist trail and seek out Ireland's byways (e.g., west Mayo, west cork, Inishowen Peninsula, Connemara, to name but several areas). By the way, when was the last time you traveled to Ireland?

I'm a fan of Rick Steves, don't get me wrong! However, if you're looking for the usual indepth and detailed outline regarding the Northern part of Ireland, you will be sadly disappointed. There are very few pages covering the coast of Northern Ireland (in fact one could count the pages on one hand!). Had I known this ahead of time, I would not have ordered this book. So, this one will collect dust until I gain an interest in travel within Great Britain. I found it necessary to purchase an additional book that contained alot more info on Northern Ireland (Lonely Planet Ireland, 3rd Ed.).

I recommend Rick Steves' books and videos however, save yourself some money if you're interested in information regarding travel in Northern Ireland!

Rick Steves fans know what you are getting. For the uninitiated, his travel philosophy is to travel better by traveling cheaper and closer to the people. If your idea of a dream vacation is sleeping on the eighth floor of a high-rise hotel for a fortune every night, this is the wrong book for you. If your idea of wonderful is to sleep in an exquisite four-poster bed at a Scottish B&B owned by a pleasant old lady who will talk to you for hours, all for [amt.] a night -- buy this book. Steves has three big strengths, which are all at work in this book: The most important, by far, is the accomodations. Steves consistently finds amazingly good buys among centrally located B&Bs with friendly owners. The only problem is that everybody knows this, so getting a room on short notice in the summer at one of his spots can be dicey. The second big strength is the practical guides to sights, which include lots of interesting little details that you won't find elsewhere while telling you in no-uncertain terms which sights are must sees and which ones you should skip. Over time, his picks may not always coincide with yours -- but I almost always found his stuff on-target. The third big-strength is Steves' travel philosophy, which is especially helpful to first-time travelers (or those venturing away from the Hilton for the first time). I highly recommend that you also check out Europe Through the Back Door, Steves' classic magnum opus, now in its 19th Edition.

I planned a trip to England and Ireland using Rick Steve's books (last year's edition and this year's edition) and the Lonely planet books. The combination was great. Rick Steve gives you a very up to date selection of places to stay, things to do and the prices you'll pay. He also included lots of internet addresses. I organized the whole trip over the web with no travel experience! I had to use the old edition to start planning because the new one wasn't available at the time I started planning. I invested in the second updated version a month before leaving and some things had changed! This guide wasn't as comprehensive as the others, but it was full of good usable information. I wouldn't even try traveling overseas again without one of his guides.

My family and I used this book extensively in our 3-week trip to England. Rick's suggestions for lodging are especially apt -- we used them in York, the Lake District (Ellas Crags B&B is superb!) and in Bath. I suggest that you team this up with Bill Bryson's irreverant "Notes from a Small Island" (read it before you go), for a wonderful look at the best of England. Rick has good ideas about where to spend time, and what's not worth waiting in line for. At Rick's suggestion, long before our trip, we sent ahead for tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, and it was one of the most memorable activities on our trip. We also recommend starting your trip in London with an audio tour of Westminster Cathedral -- for a quick history lesson on both London and Great Britain. One note of caution: Rick sometimes underestimates how much time you'll need at different sites -- for example, the changing of the guards takes many hours, even doing it "through the back door" as he advises. Also, if visitors are like us, you will likely want to schedule more time for the art museums, especially the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate British, and the Victoria & Albert.