Customer Reviews

Rick Steve's Spain & Portugal 1998 (Serial)

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This is the first Rick Steves Guide I've read, and I bought it because several people recommended the series on web travel sites. I was disappointed. While the book says clearly that it's a brief, opinionated guide and it costs less than most of the others, there is a reason for this. The Guide is brief because the author has arbitrarily decided that he will guide you round a hypothetical 3 week trip of Spain and Portugal, spending two days at the most in any one place. If Rick didn't like it, it isn't there. If he only liked it a little, you get half a page. So Cordoba gets half a page, because Rick thinks there's not much to see there. Now, he may be right, but I'd rather have a guide book which tells me what there is to see, and lets me make up my own mind. Even places he does like are set into this pattern of racing through in three weeks, so he'll tell you, for example, that Seville is a great place, and deserves two days and two nights. So everything about Seville is condensed into that time frame.

I also didn't like the self congratulatory tone with which he dismisses some areas. For example, an area of coast in Southern Spain which some guidebooks recommend as interesting with small villages and a general lack of tourist facilities, compared to the frenetic and artificial Costa del Sol, is dismissed by Rick along the lines of "I've been there, done that - it's boring, so you can thank me for warning you off".

That's the bad news. There were some good things about the book. It was the first guide book to Spain that I saw with phonetic pronunciation of Spanish place names which are difficult. It contained some down to earth advice on things Spanish, like not trying to buck Spanish dining hours, because no good restaurant works American dining hours. The little hand drawn maps are a great way to get maximum information without clutter. The book is well written within its space limitations, and if you can get over the annoyance of Big Brother (Rick) telling what you have! to like, it is worthwhile to buy. But I'd go for Lonely Planet, plus the Rough Guide to Andalucia ahead of it any time.

I just returned from a trip to Spain, accompanied by Rick Steves and Lonely Planet. Rick's book was a disappointment, for I do enjoy his television series on PBS. The book was very weak on any type of usable maps or directions to important sites, which is mandatory in Spain. I found his warnings on the dangers of Morocco, especially Moroccan cuisine, to be unwarranted and a detriment to our enjoyment of our day in Morocco. We tried a couple of restaurants he recommended, without success, and switched to Lonely Planet's recommendations for the remainder of the trip if we needed help. His commentary is always enjoyable but the concrete information you need to find your way around is definitely lacking.

Rick Steves' book keep you away from the overtouristed areas and encourage you to not just see the famous sites, but taste the lifestyle of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. We adored the places Rick recommended to us much more than the places we went based upon other guides.