Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Norway 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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

 

 

This guide covers every angle that a guide book should. It is chock full of information from where to stay, what to see, where to eat, how to get around, etc. It includes websites and phone numbers you can call (I'm not sure if the other reviewer got the same book that I did...) It gives history and and very helpful advice. It's not picture heavy, so it's good to have some idea of where you want to go in general first. So use the internet to get a basic plan together and get this book to help you decide on specifics.

It's a bit on the blunt and sarcastic side, but I appreciate that over the feel good books that won't steer you away from tourist traps.

I highly recommend this book to anyone visiting Norway. Read about the FjordPass (hotel discount program)... be sure to read the sections about History, Legends and Folklore, and brush up on your Norwegian with the very helpful Language section. You know that feeling you get in a strange city where you see buildings, monuments, storefronts, and transportation signs? That can sometimes be overwhelming. This book's text and maps helped tremendously.

My only complaint with the book is that I wish it had more maps of the areas. Granted you can get maps at tourist information, but having more maps in the book would have made things easier.

I also wish there was more focus on the smaller towns/villages where there are no tourist information areas. It's easy to find things to do in Bergen where there is a tourist office packed full of information. It's not so easy in some of the smaller towns where you'll undoubtedly end up staying at some point even if only to get to some other city. Nor does this guide or any other guide that I've seen suggest roads to take if your driving yourself to pick the more scenic route, that you'll have to figure out yourself.

I'm not sure how the rough guide 4 for norway got such high reviews, but after purchasing the new one, I had to warn people against buying it. The key to any guide book is that when you dont know much about a country, you want specific descriptions of things to do, places to stay, schedules, phone numbers and prices. This book has none of the above. It is a collection of generalities, many of the suggestions are impractical, and it only rarely lists specific prices or schedules for public transport. While lonely planet may not be the best book for all countries, at least with their format you know where to find things and that you wont be on your own when looking for hotels or ways to get around.
Consider yourself warned. A bad travel book can really hurt a trip, and you can get all the info in this one just by asking a random norwegian on the street. Really useless.