Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Greece 11 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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

 

 

The good things about this book are the index, maps, and descriptions of museums and background information on a myriad of sights, accommodations and restaurants. The weaknesses are that some maps are not totally accurate, such as street name misspellings which can be frustrating, nor are the maps detailed enough at times, and that the book is rather heavy when you are toting it around Greece in a backpack.

I took it with me on a two week trip to Greece. I traveled very loosely, meaning I was never sure where I might end up. So, this book was great to have as it covers just about every possible place in Greece you could be. I did spend time in a village or two that were not described, but the main surrounding areas were, so the text was very useful nonetheless.

I used some of the phone numbers listed throughout the book and they worked fine. The color pages are filled with great information that enhance your experience for those of us not too informed about Greece and its culture. The list of interesting sights to see at each place is great as it saves you time trying to ask around locally or find such information on your own when you are pressed for time and exhausted.

Overall, this book is a terrific resource and very comprehensive. I do not think you can be too disappointed with this book, especially if you have never been to Greece before or are a novice traveler. I would recommend buying a set of detailed maps of Athens, Nafplion, or cities you intend to explore before you leave. Call the numbers or visit the websites in the book regarding metro and bus information before you go too. Most people in major cities in Greece speak enough English and/or French to help you over the phone, or at least, that was my experience.

Watch out, even though the edition date is 2006, many of the references in the guide point to pre-OLympic (2004) information. Not very useful. All in all, one is better off using Google for information,rather than travel guides.

This is a great book. Very comprehensive and generally accurate. One thing to watch out for though: double check with the tourist office the opening hours of sites before you go. Many sites seem to have shortened their opening hours dramatically. For example, Acropolis in Athens closes at 5 instead of 7 in April. Also in April, Nafplio's Paramidhi castle closes at 2:45 pm instead of 6:30 according to the book. I got there at 3 and was turned away!

Other than that and a few minor spelling issues (the book uses Syndagma square even though all English signs in Athens spell it Syntagma), this book is almost perfect. I brought it on a guided tour to Corinth, Mycenae, and Epidauros. It's more helpful than the guide. Especially in Mycenae, the book pointed me to the two tholos outside the wall that most people missed.

Not bad, but there are 2 changes the editors must make for it to be far more helpful:

1) The index must be improved. For example, of the dozens of museums described (very well!) in the book, not a single one of them is listed in the index! I found it frustrating trying to find information for a museum that I remembered was described SOMEWHERE in the book.

2) The Athens "Main Tourist Office" is incorrectly located on the map (p. 128). It is not too far away, but a miss is as good as a mile when you are using the map to try to find it.

This book is so extensive it is actually kind of hard to use.

I wish they would break these books into smaller volumes. Maybe one for Athens, one for islands, one for southern Greece, one for Northern Greece. Something like that.

Also, for American readers: with this series, I think many or all the writers are from Britain. So when you read of a good restaurant, you have to take it with a grain of salt. It may actually be good or, kind of average.

I bought this updated version of the Rough Guide to Greece. It is the 11th edition. I last used the 10th edition on a recent trip to Greece (June 2006) and found the guide to excellent. I left it behind to lighten the luggage somewhat. I wanted to replace it with the new edition and hope to return to Greece.