Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Spain 13 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I traveled for three weeks driving in southern and central Spain with this 2007 Rough Guide to Spain, a 2007 DK Eyewitness Travel Spain book, and a 2004 Frommer's Spain's Best Loved Driving Tours guidebook. While each had some information the others didn't, the Rough Guide was the most informative and most used...therefore the one I'd recommend taking.

Times for museums/attractions and prices (in Euros) was accurate. The cultural information helped understand their culture. The historical information helped also. I didn't depend on the specific accommodations listed...I would typically just go into an area with many listed places (typically tourist area with nice walking right outside the room) and ask around until I find someplace. [Note: This method can be a real problem during festivals (which Spain has no scarcity of...) when rooms may be in few supply....or in high season (I traveled in early/mid May...when the flowers were out in the countryside and it wasn't too hot).]

You won't find a book that has "everything" you want to know, so consider buying a couple (like I did) or just getting one and get the most out of it you can.

Whatever you do...enjoy your trip.

'Ta Luego.....

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Spain. I have used the Rough Guides in the past, and between the reviews of others as well as my personal experience, felt it was the guide book to take with us. After spending two weeks with it, it served us well and I would recommend it. We also took a slightly older (2007) Fodor's book which someone lent us, and were thus able to compare. The RG was the winner.

Older versions of their books were highly geared to backpackers and travelers with low budgets. RG has done a good job of covering a wider swath of the traveling public, and we found an excellent selection of both budget and higher end places for lodging and dining. A few times we had no idea of where to stay or dine, and their recommendations were spot on.

From the touring standpoint, I found their recommendations had a tendency towards hyperbole. For example, I found a "not-to-be-missed" sight could indeed easily be bypassed, and we could have saved the time and trouble. That happened on multiple occasions. The "best example of Mozarabic architecture" would likely enthrall an enthusiast, but my reaction was a tad more muted. The RG's orientation is for the traveler who is interested in or able to focus on an area for a longer period of time, as opposed to Fodor, who might suggest hitting one or two major sights and then hit the road. Our goal and method of travel is somewhere in between, so having the balance of the detail in RG with the opinion of Fodor in counterbalance was helpful. Having two books to carry, especially the thick RG, was viewed as an opportunity for exercise, not a burden.

One area that I must scold RG for is their choice of print font size and printing colors. My eyes are not what they were, and even in daylight we sometimes found it difficult to read. Section titles are mysteriously printed in orange, making that information fade remarkably well into the page, thus even more challenging to read. The book is detailed, very well written, and lengthy; make no mistake. To keep it compact, the pages are thin. I like to highlight passages, and the highlighter bled right through the page.

It is a worthy travel companion.

My husband and I just got back from a 2-week trip to Spain where we covered about 1000 miles by car. This was the guide that we depended on when we traveled through the Pyrenees, Rioja and Basque regions. The other guidebooks have maybe one or two sentences on the picturesque little medieval towns that we passed through, where this one had recommendations for meals and places to stay off the beaten path. I was so glad to have this book or we would have missed out on many great experiences, including our stays at some small "casas rurales" (like bed and breakfasts) where we got to really speak to the locals and take in the day to day life in Spain. It's a big book to drag around, so I ended up tearing out the pages with the maps we would need each day and carried those around with me instead of the whole book. The best travel book purchase that I have ever made!

The authors of this guidebook give lots of interesting information--along with their frank opinions!! As the book is so thick, they really can cover many, many places in Spain. We used the Galicia section for our trip, and it helped me decide in which places to stay/not stay as well as where to go on day trips. If they think the beach is ugly, they will say just that! If they like the architecture in a town, they will offer their opinion.

Because it is so thick, it is not a book that I carried around during the day.

In one word: fantastic!

This book was absolutely incredible. Everything is included from detailed maps, admission costs and hours to every attraction, restaurants and bars, even the VAT rebate for travelers is mentioned. I just returned from a trip around Madrid, Barcelona and Cordoba and found everything in this book not only accurate but a total asset to my daily activity planning. My friend from Madrid wants to buy this book for himself and my friend from Barcelona said, "they have chosen some very nice restaurants to mention".

The only thing that i could say in a negative vain is there might be too much here. Good thing the flight from North America is 8 hours; you will need this time to familiarize yourself with the book and absorb all that it contains.

Do not hesitate a second to buy this book.

If you don't have a guide book on Spain yet, this is a good one. If you have a previous edition of rough guide, though, it seems like not much has changed to warrant a new purchase.

Rough Guides, I generally find, are sound guidebooks - usually superior to Lonely Planet. The Spain one fulfils this category (I used it on a trip through North East Spain this summer) though I personally didn't agree with the authors' opinions - for example I found San Sebastian, the 'jewel of Basque resorts' to be a sunscreen slathered tacky, decaying wreck of a place, full of bummed out surfers (and the tapas no way the best in Spain - far superior in Pamplona); while Guernica 'more of a pilgrimage than a tourist destination for Basques' was a delightful small town, steeped in the ghastly history of the infamous 1937 air bombing, and the home of the quirky Assembly of the Biscay region.

Still, that is personal opinion, and every guide is entitled to its own. More concerning are a few basic errors in the guide. Maps in particular. For example my hotel was mislocated on a street map of Vittoria leading me down several spiralling alleyways around the cathedral and much anguished dialogue with local bar drinkers.

Future editions might take a look at these maps for accuracy's sake.

Rough Guides never let me down. This one from Spain is very detailed, has many accomodation reviews, good for sightseeing scheduling, and alternative sites for tourism. The only thing I miss is a way to help me to organize trips between the different cities (from "somewhere" to "other where" is best by plane or by train, and so on).

I like the Rough Guide series in general, as it is not quite a backpacker's guide, nor a staid and safe guide. It's made for adventurous folks who don't necessarily want to camp out or stay in hostels all the time. I mostly use the guide for places to eat and things to do. The guide worked great in Spain recommending neighborhoods that have slightly more character than the traditional tourist path. I feel as if we had some great finds for places that were still enjoyed by locals.

Have been using this book, along with Rick Steve's Spain book, to plan a trip to Spain. Rough Guide includes an amazing amount of information about many, many places in Spain. Rough Guide covers many more places than Steve's book, although they complement each other. Rough Guide gives a great feel for the breadth of places to explore.