Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide(r) to California with Kids, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Good Points: Give good descriptions of attractions, including an estimate of how long you'll want to spend, and practical issues like availablity of food/strollers/etc.
Good descriptions of natural sights (beaches, parks) as well as man-made attractions.

Bad Points: Seems to take a very narrow view of what kids are going to enjoy. Why assume that no child is capable of enjoying an art museum? Or, as the authors states flatly, that kids hate scenery, and that your teen would much rather stay home with his friends than actually travel with his family? (Author suggests spending time at the local malls if you are travelling with teens!) Or that kids won't eat anything but hamburger-based kid's menus?
Given that the book is covering a large geographic area, and given the author's abovementioned narrow view of 'kid-friendliness', many important attractions aren't mentioned at all.
Only a few accomodations recommendations are given, and most are very expensive.

(This review, incidently, applies to all the books in this series; California, Florida, and Washington DC).

I found the Unofficial Guide to California with Kids to be very helpful in planning our family vacation. It gave detailed information about everything from beaches to theme parks as well as suggestions on where to bike, camp, hike, snorkle, and whale watch. It has information on family friendly restaurants and lodging, including prices, maps, meals served, types of payments accepted, children's menu availability, as well as which restaurants accept reservations. The Unofficial Guide helped us to pick and choose which attractions to visit by giving a specific rating for each age group, as well as admission prices, average touring time, and what services and facilities are available. All in all the Unofficial Guide to California with Kids helped us to have a GREAT family vacation!

I have the first edition of this book, and when I first moved to the LA area, it was great to have...but, I find it lacking a lot now that I know more about the area. It doesn't mention the Huntington Gardens, or the Rose Bowl, or Descanso Gardens (cool tiny train that runs on weekends)or other kid friendly venues. I found the restaurant listings useless...rest's are everywhere, and I tend not to make one a special destination when I'm on a daytrip!

I recommend getting an up-to-date California guidebook (Lonely Planet or some such) and decide where to go based on your child's and your inclinations, and ignore the ubiquitous malls that you can find anywhere in country.

I live in southern California, and this book has inspired countless Saturday family outings. I had no idea what was in my own backyard! It is fabulous to have someone's advice on what is worth spending the time, with kids, in traffic for. We have loved this book-and hope to find a similar one when we move to Philadelphia!

With toddler twin boys that we love to take on many trips, this book has become a wonderful guide for us. We always wonder if a place we might like to go would be appropriate for our young sons, and with this book in our hands, we can find out. In addition, it has given us some ideas on places to take them, that we did not know about or had not considered. A must have for families that plan to spend a lot of time checking out all California has to offer.

To be honest, was expecting a lot more from this book. It is very heavy on high priced/top end accommodation (ie. San Fran, CA, $295 - $400) and light on with attractions.
Also, lots on places to eat...with kids you tend to just eat when they say "we're hungry".
I don't really use a book to look at accommodation anyway...it's 2011..it's all online.
It was helpful, but to me looks like a Lonely Planet for kids.
I was hoping for more on the what to see/do stuff.
I think this book has the market to itself, so it's this or nothing.

UPDATE:
Used this book on vacation....missed a heap of fun stuff for kids.
More than two thirds is dedicated to restaurants and accom....
Recommending $400 a night hotels etc? Just use hotwire.com or whatever.
Our combined income is in the highest 10% and we can't afford that stuff...this is for families on NO budget.

This book has been very helpful in planning a vacation with our 5yo and an infant. Within hours of buying it, we've had great ideas for our spring break trip. Before buying the book, I've spent hours searching the web getting bogged down in major attractions and large hotels.

We're looking for a low-key, old fashioned kick back vacation, with just enough basic amenities. This book has uncovered a few of these gems, now we have a blueprint of where to look for more.

This book both identified great spots for taking children throughout California, it presented the information in a way that made choices between alternatives easy to make. It was very helpful for a California roadtrip!

For one thing, you should not expect this guide to cover all of a region as a Frommer's guide would. It has a whole different approach, it does not claim to be an exhaustive coverage, but a selective pick for families with young children. As children would not enjoy wine tasting, I would not use this book to go thru Napa Valley. But if you are staying on a beachfront near San Diego, you are guaranteed to give your kids a spectacular vacation.
The thing I like most of this guide is how they rate every attraction for age range and tell you if it is too scary and if it is good for a rainy day.
It rates also hotels, altho I would strongly recommend to pair it to another guidebook for this sole purpose.
We used this guide series for Florida last year and were not at all disappointed. Actually it helps you avoid major disappointments and that's priceless. Also the Disneyworld one is great. My husband was surprised at how good restaurants were in the Florida book.
They listen to advice and feedback from customers too (and that's smart), so get an updated one.
I bought this book as soon as we decided to head for California!!!

I am just planning a trip and this has been very easy reading to get the planning started.