The Rough Guide to Southwest USA, 2nd Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Greg Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000 | Series: Rough Guide Travel Guides

"The Rough Guide to Southwest U.S.A." is the definitive guide to the canyons, deserts and towns of America's Wild West. Features include:

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Greg Ward has written for Rough Guides since 1985. He is author of RoughGuides to  Hawaii, The Grand Canyon, Brittany & Normandy, Las Vegas Directions and Maui Directions.

Greg Ward has written for Rough Guides since 1985. He is author of Rough Guides to  Hawaii, The Grand Canyon, Brittany & Normandy, Las Vegas Directions and Maui Directions.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PLANNING YOUR ITINERARY

The only way to explore the Southwest in any detail is to drive yourself around; the very limited public transport options are outlined on p.20. However long your vacation may be, aim to spend most of your time on the Colorado Plateau, seeing as much as possible of the Four Corners region and southern Utah.

Your exact itinerary will depend largely on which city serves as your starting point. In one week, you could fly into Las Vegas, and loop around the Colorado River to Grand Canyon, Zion and possibly Bryce Canyon national parks; into Phoenix, to reach Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon; into Albuquerque, and see Santa Fe, Taos and Ácoma Pueblo; or to Salt Lake City, and make a lightning tour of all southern Utah’s national parks.

With two weeks, you can extend any of the above itineraries to cover most of the Colorado Plateau, making sure you get to Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and Mesa Verde. Only if you have three weeks or more are you likely to manage any large-scale hiking – for example into the stunning Havasupai Indian Reservation, or down to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon – or to detour south into southern New Mexico or southern Arizona.

WHEN TO GO

Summer is the peak tourist season for most of the Southwest, though temperatures in excess of 100°F render cities such as Phoenix and Tucson all but unbearable, and make it an ordeal even to get out of your car in many of the national parks. Hikers, bikers and rafters do better to come either between mid-September and mid-October, when the crowds are gone and dazzling fall colors brighten the canyons, or in April and May, when wildflowers bloom in the desert.

If your timings aren’t flexible, however, don’t worry. It’s always possible to escape the heat – the thermometer drops by 3°F for every thousand feet above sea level, so Santa Fe, for example, is always relatively cool – and the summer is also peak period for the region’s festivals, as detailed on p.187.

Winters can be seriously cold, and snowfalls close down certain areas altogether – don’t reckon on seeing Mesa Verde, or the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, between October and April. Those parks that remain open are often at their most beautiful when frosted with snow, however, while ski resorts like Telluride and Taos are in full swing, and Tucson and Phoenix fill up with sun-seeking "snowbirds" from colder states.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2nd Updated edition (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858285569
• ISBN-13: 978-1858285566
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,265,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My latest book, the Rough Guide to the Titanic, is a definitive guide to the most famous maritime disaster in history.

Read about it on my blog, blogtanic.wordpress.com, and website, roughguidetitanic.com.

For Rough Guides, I've written fourteen travel, history and music books as sole author, and shared authorship on several more.

My photographs have been published in my own titles, and also in magazines, newspapers and other books.

As an editor, I've been responsible for many titles in the Rough Guides series, including commissioning the original guides to India and the USA, and editing the guides to Elvis, Soul and Conspiracy Theories.

I also do freelance writing and editing for other publishers, including various websites and online publications.

Please contact me if you'd like to invite me to talk about the Titanic, to commission me as a writer or editor, or to license my photos, or you have any questions about my books, apps or other work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best single guide for the American Southwest, December 22, 2001

By 

"sbgantz" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Southwest USA, 2nd Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I usually carry multiple guidebooks on my vacations, but during my recent trip to the American Southwest I relied exclusively on this book.

One of the reasons I recommend this book is that it covers the Southwest as a single region, so it includes New Mexico, Arizona, southern Colorodo, southern Utah, and Las Vegas. Most other books are State-based, so it would take multiple books to cover the entire region.

Another reason to pick this book is that it is opinionated. It lists top ten sites in various categories (national parks, museums, etc.), so that you can plan your time effectively. The auther even recommends against some things, unlike most guidebooks.

I am picky about maps, and the maps in this book were uniformly accurate and reliable. Driving tips and recommended routes were quite useful.

You will also find this book compact and light. While some other books are loaded with pictures, I find these books best enjoyed at home, before and after my trip, because they are too heavy to lug around during my trip.

Finally, I stayed in 5 hotels, all recommended by this book, and they were all safe choices. If you are looking for a splurge, I recommend Goulding's lodge at Monument Valley, especially for fans of old movies. To my surprise, I enjoyed the museum on site. Also, I used the inroom VCR to watch Stagecoach, and this was the perfect setup for my Monument Valley visit the next morning. At Canyon do Chelly NM, I would recommend not staying at the overpriced, dreary lodge. It's cheaper to stay at one of the places just outside the park. In Santa Fe, the El Rey Inn is convenient, friendly, and has a Route 66 feel.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive guide with a disdainful tone for the subject matter, April 4, 2007

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Southwest USA 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I recently made a road trip across the American Southwest and purchased both the Lonely Planet 4th Edition (December 2005) and the Rough Guide 4th Edition (October 2006) as my guides for the week-long adventure. The Rough Guide, while still far above Frommer's or a Mobile guide, just does not compare to the Lonely Planet guide. This Rough Guide is oversized (nearly twice as thick as its competitor), but doesn't offer any significant additional information for all that bulk.

The author has a clear distaste for the Southwest, referring to the desolation and hum-drum nature of many of the Southwest outpost towns. Clearly, anyone buying this book already chose to spend time in the Southwest, so the haughty attitude about what could possibly carry a visitor to certain towns, or about the availability of only chain motels, wears thin fast.

The big selling point of the Rough Guide is the additional historical and contextual information provided along the journey. For example, I learned that Smokey Bear does not, in fact, have "the" in the middle of his name, and one is best to remember that before visiting Capitan, New Mexico. The guide also has hundreds of black and white photos scattered throughout the text, some of dubious utility to the reader.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Covering the Southwest in Small Print, June 9, 2007

By 

G. Winstead - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Southwest USA 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I recently traveled through the Southwest, and picked up this guide as well as three others to prepare for the journey. I agree wholeheartedly with the previous comments about the disdain Greg Ward showers on his subject matter as well as his fixation on a certain chain of budget motels. (I actually stayed at one of his recommended motels in Benson, Arizona - it was like most other budget hotels in the USA.) The book is also bulky, with the typical small print of the Rough Guide series.

However, for all its faults, it appears to be one of the more comprehensive, current travel guides available for the Southwest region. As long as you also refer to other materials and insights, this guide book will serve as a good foundation for your trip across the Southwest.