Customer Reviews

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

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4 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

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.

We used this book during a 2+ week trip in the 4 corners area and found everything in the book that we needed to be accurate and informative. I had also picked up a AAA trip ticket with all the books and maps, and in the end we just used the Rough guide for info on the places we were visiting, towns we were stopping in or the campgrounds we stayed at. I loaned to book to a co-worker who took a similar trip in the southwest with his family, they were very pleased with the information they found in the book too.

I could write up a long review on the book, but I'll keep it simple.. if you're traveling in the Southwest, you want this book - period.

I've just started reading the book and would have to say that I like the layout of the book. The maps are Ho-Hum but accurrate. He is fixated with one budget motel chain and I can't figure out why. I also like that the author likes to call a spade a spade. If the subject is a waste of time or money he points that fact out. Would be a great buy at twice the money!!

I love this guide, very useful, concise, and easy to find information. It also gives names of books we can read before having the great adventure to visit the west of USA. I think I got to know the WEst before being there thanks to this guide.

Excellent help in planning trip to the south west USA.
We intend to take a two week auto trip in the area and it has some great ideas for the visit.