The Rough Guide to Europe 2002 (Rough Guide to the Europe on a Budget) [Paperback]

Rough Guides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2001 | Series: Rough Guide to the Europe on a Budget

The ultimate budget handbook to the continent, giving comprehensive coverage of all of Europe's top cities, towns and sights, with up-to-date listings of the best accommodation, restaurants and clubs and the latest information on cultural events. Includes practical guidance on getting around the continent as well as tips on how to adapt to each country's culture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Written by a team of researchers, many of whom are the authors to separate Rough Guide city and country guides.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CLIMATE AND WHEN TO GO

Europe’s climate is as variable as everything else about the Continent. In northwestern Europe – Benelux, Denmark, southwestern Norway, most of France and parts of Germany, as well as the British Isles – the climate is basically a cool temperate one, with the chance of rain all year round and no great extremes of either cold or hot weather. There is no bad time to travel in most of this part of the Continent, although the winter months between November and March can be damp and miserable – especially in the upland regions – and obviously the summer period between May and September sees the most reliable and driest weather.

In eastern Europe, on the other hand, basically to the right of a north–south line drawn roughly through the heart of Germany and extending down as far as the western edge of Bulgaria (taking in eastern Germany, Poland, central Russia, the Baltic states, southern Sweden, the Czech and Slovak republics, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Romania), the climatic conditions are more extreme, with freezing winters and sometimes sweltering summers. Here the transitional spring and autumn seasons are the most pleasant time to travel; deep midwinter, especially, can be very unpleasant, although it doesn’t have the dampness you associate with the northwestern European climate.

Southern Europe, principally the countries that border the Mediterranean and associated seas – southern France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and western Turkey – has the most hospitable climate in Europe, with a general pattern of warm, dry summers and mild winters. Travel is possible at any time of year here, although the peak summer months can be very hot and very busy and the deep winter ones can see some rain.

There are, too, marked regional variations within these three broad groupings. As they’re such large countries, inland Spain and France can, for example, see a continental type of weather as extreme as any in central Europe, and the Alpine areas of Italy, Austria and Switzerland – and other mountain areas like the Pyrenees, Apennines and parts of the Balkans – have a climate mainly influenced by altitude, which means extremes of cold, short summers, and long winters that always see snow. There are also, of course, the northern regions of Russia and Scandinavia, which have an Arctic climate – again, bitterly cold, though with some surprisingly warm temperatures during the short summer when much of the region is warmed by the Gulf Stream. Winter sees the sun barely rise at all in these areas, while high summer can mean almost perpetual daylight.

There are obviously other considerations when deciding when to go. If you’re planning to visit fairly touristed areas, especially beach resorts in the Mediterranean, avoid July and August, when the weather can be too hot and the crowds at their most congested. Bear in mind, also, that in a number of countries in Europe everyone takes their vacation at the same time (this is certainly true in France, Spain and Italy where everyone goes away in August). Find out the holiday month beforehand for the countries where you intend to travel, since you can expect the crush to be especially bad in the resorts; in the cities the only other people around will be fellow tourists, which can be miserable. In northern Scandinavia the climatic extremes are such that you’ll find opening times severely restricted, even road and rail lines closed, outside the May–September period, making travel futile and sometimes impossible outside these months. In mountainous areas things stay open for the winter sports season, which lasts from December through to April, though outside the main resorts you’ll again find many things closed. Mid-April to mid-June can be a quiet period in many mountain resorts, and you may have much of the mountains to yourselves.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1408 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 8th edition (November 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858287375
• ISBN-13: 978-1858287379
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,796,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overviews for the Business Traveler, January 11, 2006

By 

Keith E. Webb "Cross-Cultural Leadership Coac... (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Europe 2006 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I travel to Europe a couple times a year for business. I needed a guide book that would help me find the main sites to see in various European countries during my trips. (I rarely go to the same city twice.)

The Rough Guides are GREAT guide books. They are not for the backpacker crowd like Lonely Planet tends to be, nor the rich. Rough Guides cater to that middle crowd - me. Their single country or city guides go into great detail on each location. Don't miss these guidebooks if you are traveling extensively in one country. However, that's too much for my 2-3 day visits. That's where the "Rough Guide to Europe" comes in.

The Guide covers 30 countries. It gives a brief history, tips on culture, hotel and dining recommendations. It lists details on the top sightseeing sites. The photos and maps are better than many other publishers' single-country guide books. On my 2005 trips I found I was just as informed as my colleagues who invested (weight being a larger consideration than cost) in a single country guidebook.

"The Rough Guide to Europe" has plenty of information for the business or limited time traveler. If you are going to spend a week in a country sightseeing upgrade to a single country guidebook.

Happy travels!

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Buy for the Average Traveler, January 30, 2006

By 

Christopher Silbernagel (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Europe 2006 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

The Rough Guide To Europe 2006 is a great book to pick up if you're not the most adventurous but more-so the average traveler looking for a great time in some of the best known or little known towns and cities. The guide provides an easy to read and discover map legend that will help you decide what route to choose whether you're using car, train, or other means of transportation to get around. However, I do enjoy the highly detailed country maps of Fodor's Europe more for getting around country to country.

The introduction itself gives you a nice opening to Europe even if you've been there previously. This shows you top five catagories about some of the best places to go, where to eat, what events to check out and a host of other features. After reading through the introduction you'll find the Europe Itineraries - this section will give you good ideas about where to go if you plan to travel from place to place in different regions. The writers even go as far as to write out a Grand Tour featuring the top 12 cities to visit in order to really take in Europe at it's finest spots. Although, this is only for those that can afford such a trip. Each town and city is covered very well, some more detailed than others of course.

For personal opinion I like that they added Morocco even though it is not a part of Europe. This is a rather unique and wonderful country to visit. In many cities you'll be able to see snake charmers, street performers, and a host of lovely family created items that you will desperatly want to take home with you. On a sad note, information on Iceland is not present again even though the country's largest city Reykjavík is rising as a popular vacationing spot for parties. The country itself is a wonder to view and is sorely missed from this guide, however this does not hold it back from receiving a 5-star rating as there is other material available that will make up for the loss. For information on Iceland I suggest buying Fodor's Europe.

I travel a lot so these (Rough Guide to Europe and Fodor's Europe) are the two European Guides I pick up each year to stay updated. I hope that this review has been helpful to those who took the time to read it. Good luck on all of your journeys.

1.0 out of 5 stars Way too broad., July 6, 2010

By 

Sam H. (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Europe 2006 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

Didn't realize it when I bought it, but it's too broad to be useful. I think you can get most of this information online, and it's heavy, big, and just not like other Rough Guides, which get down and dirty with bus times, rail schedules and quirky things about little towns you'd miss otherwise. Skip it and buy a few extra beers with the money you've saved.