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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Covers the big and small cities., July 2, 2003
I have always wanted to go to Sweden. I started learning Swedish when I was 14, and I started a pen-pal friendship with a Sweden at the same time. When I was 21 I finally made a trip to Sweden (March 2002) for 2 weeks and I used the May 2002 edition of this book. I spent my time in three cities: Stockholm, Umeå, and Skellefteå. Most guidebooks that I looked at covered the south of Sweden quite well at the expense of the North. This guidebook used 25% of its space to write about the two largest cities and 60% to write about the rest of Sweden. (The remaining 15% of the book deals with formalities of getting to/into Sweden, language, food, etc.) The section on Stockholm was fantastic, and since the chapter was organized based on each island or section of the city, it was very easy to read. You could plot out which part of the city you wanted to visit each day with ease. The book specifies open/close times very well (although you always double check). As someone traveling in the winter, I appreciated that fact! Some guidebooks don't list the months that something is open! Whereas some guidebooks have 2 paragraphs on Umeå and Skellefteå, this one had 6 and 3, respectively. The cities are described well and the information is as much as you'll probably need. Another nice feature is that the guide features fairly detailed information about getting to/from each city, even the small ones. The third section of the book, about history, food, money, language, etc was well laid out, and the history section was as complete as most general tourists would want it. The book caters to a variety of tourists as it lists a wide (very wide) variety of accomodations, restaurants, activities, and methods of travel. Other guidebooks aimed at "poor college students" seem to cover mostly pubs and nightclubs at the expense of museums. Guidebooks aimed at the "one trip to Europe in a lifetime let's use all of our stock earnings" books seem to cover hotels at the expense of hostels. This book covers both. Overall, a very good buy.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Accurate and with Attitude, April 26, 2005
I lived in Sweden for a year, and this book was hands-down the best guide to the place I found. In fact, when I traveled around the country I left the other guides behind and took this one with me. Not only is the Rough Guide small enough to cart around conveniently, it has consistently accurate information. I also admire the attention the guide gives to areas outside of the big cities. Sweden is a country of small towns, really, and the guide pays a lot of attention to their attractions. Rough guides have never been afraid to be candid, either. I walked into a coffeehouse in Lund one day, took a look around, and felt instantly at home. I looked in the Rough Guide, and read that this was the place to be if you were a pretentious intellectual and wanted to be among similar effette poseurs. Yep, that was me, and that was the place. I had a great time. Tak sa miket, Rough Guide.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another Rough Guide falls short., August 22, 2009
I had issues with the Rough Guide to Japan that I used 2 years ago and unfortunately this book disappointed me in similar ways. First off, the errors. I only read the sections on Stockholm, Uppsala, and Gothenburg and surroundings, in addition to the Basics, Contexts, Glossary, etc., but in these I found numerous errors, particularly in the maps. Rough Guides maps use legends with numbers for food/drink establishments and letters for lodging. But you'll see, for example, the letter J listed in the legend but missing from the map, or another letter or number has been placed in clearly the wrong spot on the map. I also found Swedish spelling errors and mislabeled photos. I am convinced that this series is poorly edited. Anyone could crosscheck the maps in 1 day and catch the errors. But this crucial step in publishing seems to have been skipped.
Additionally, something that strikes me about the Rough Guide series is that the authors tend to be older and male, and their recommendations do not always suit female travelers or younger travelers. The authors are also rarely country natives. The main author listed for this edition does seem to have experience with the country, but the coauthor does not. Just because someone has a background in journalism and likes to travel does not qualify them to write about a specific country or to provide up-to-date information that will suit a wide range of travelers. And if you can't find a country native to author the guide, at the very least you could get a native to give it a look-over and catch the errors.
Also, there is little to no information in this guide on shopping - more evidence of the lack of any female input. I do not need long narratives on shopping, just a few bullet points on the main shopping areas or popular stores.
I admit I am rarely happy with any travel guide. I feel that too much time is spent detailing the dishes available at various restaurants or explaining the sights of remote towns I will never visit, and not enough space is devoted to truly helpful information and tips for navigating an area and saving money. I wish more guides would focus on budget travel and pull in the reigns on extravagant splurges. I also request more content on the present-day reality and culture of a country and less info on their medieval history. This guide is no exception.
That being said, the things I do like about this guide are its compact size, its focus on public transportation, the colorful photo section, the Contexts section, the Useful Words and Phrases, and the Swedish Glossary. I checked other guides to Sweden and these elements were missing. For that reason I give it 3 and not 2 stars. But it is a very reluctant 3 stars.
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