Customer Reviews

Ski Europe (Ski Snowboard Europe)

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

 

 

I live in Munich and use this book often as a reference. It contains very accurate information on lodging, prices, and qualities of the resorts. Very accurately summarizes the differences in the ski experience between the different countries.

Needs more detailed maps of the resorts and slopes with hotels, restaurants, etc. clearly marked. Needs to be more critical of some resorts so the reader can make a better decision about which one to visit.

Author has included some email and web site information for ski area accomodations, tourist offices, etc, but it just touches the tip of the iceberg.

Verbier, Switzerland, one of the top ski areas in Europe, only gets 5 pages in the book. Does not provide any commentary on accommodations in Verbier other than number of stars in rating and prices. Some other large ski areas get better treatment. The Arlberg region gets 9 pages of coverage.

Book lacks maps of Europe and of ski areas.

Overall the book is a good starting place for researching a trip, but descriptive information is brief and basic. Still this book is the most recently published on the topic as of 10/98, so the currency of the information should be decent.

This is the third edition of Leocha's ski guide that I've bought. It tells me everything I might think of to ask about each resort. My wife and I rely upon this guide to help make our decisions on where to ski in the Alps before each trip. His mountain and skiing descriptions are right on for all classes of skiers. We've used his recommendations in choosing accomodations and restaurants and haven't been disappointed even once. The very best feature is that it is written so well that we've tried resorts (Arosa, Wengen) that we never considered before and found them to be wonderful.

Germany-bound skiers should not waste their time on this book. Although Germany has more than 300 winter resorts located in the German Alps, the wooded hills of the Hartz Mountains, the Black Forest, and the Bavarian Forest, Ski Europe, 11th Edition devotes only 5 pages to the entire country. Only two of these pages directly comment on skiing (rather than accomodations, dining, etc.) and they focus only on Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the surrounding area. Even skiing in Spain gets more coverage than Germany in this book!

Ski Europe was a great book for my winter stay in europe. The thing i liked most about it was that it was the only book i needed. It offered all the skiing info i needed for each resort (even a scection in each resort on snowboarding!), but it didn't stop there. Its an all around guide with info on the night life, hotels, and restaurants. it gave concice information about all the aspects of a skiing vacation, which made my off the slope hours much more productive. i strongly recomend this book for any skier or snowboarder, any level.
=Z