Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Germany

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

 

 

I first picked up the "Rough Guide to West Germany" in 1990, and have bought every update since. The key to remember is that the guide is written for the average tourist, not for someone that lives in Essen. Having said that, I have lived in Europe for 8 years, and find the guide indispensible. The beginning chapters provide you with all the essential information you need to plan the trip, including tourist office addresses, best prices for airlines, reminds you to purchase Eurail passes while still at home, etc. The guide itself is written in a slightly irreverant way, giving a wide berth to commercial tourist attractions in favor of historically significant areas. It lists accomodation (sp?) for all price classes, and even directs you to a good meal in individual cities. The guide stands as a good read, even if you aren't travelling. It gives you everything as advertised, and then some.

Really a quite excellent source of information covering off the beaten track, for the self-exploring traveler, advice, regarding accommodations and tourist sites. Recommendations I gleaned from this guide provided me with a truly memorable vacation in Southern Germany such as attending a dragon festival that had its origins in the 14th century Bavarian forest village of Furth-im-Wald. If you like your traveling independence, but only wish you had a friend who lived in the neighborhood who could makes some suggestions, you'll love this book.

I was very happy with this book. Unlike many other guidebooks that are list-heavy and extremely soporific, this guide utilizes more of a narrative style that is fun to read yet retains a guide-like quality. It was very honest and excited me greatly for a trip I took last summer. One warning: the lists of hotels and restaurants are incomplete, but Rough Guides seek to give an overall feeling of attractions and not the details.

This guide promised to be the most extensive guidebook to Germany, a must-have for people relocating to this country. It's great if you happen to live in one of the cities it covers, if not, you'll still have to wing it. The information contained in this book is readily available in many other travel guides in better formats, too! The book is too thick to lug around while traveling and is not very entertaining, even in the bathroom! I would advise people planning to visit or move to Germany to pick a different guidebook.

I was living in Germany at the time and this was my least favorite guide book. I really disliked the way it was formated and the fact that some of the info was wrong. Yucky book!!!