Customer Reviews

Vermont: An Explorer's Guide

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

 

 

About six months prior to my husband's and my trip to Vermont, I purchased Tree & Jennison's book and poured over its contents, intrigued by all that the New England state could offer these Texans. Because the authors had taken the time to visit the various locations noted in the book, I had no worries about the trip. Once in Vermont, I used the book as a bible, knowing what to expect in each village. I met many of the people that they had mentioned, and each had glowing remarks about them. Without this book, my vacation would not have been as organized or enjoyable, and we even went during Mud Season! I recommend this book wholeheartedly because the information is well researched.

This book captures, for me, something close to the heart of Vermont--it's clean, simple, direct, truthful, and deeply entertaining. I have done a lot of travelling in the state over the last 18 months, and found the Explorer's Guide reflects with accuracy and cultural compassion the experience of living and wandering here. Some people will buy it for the inn and the restaurant listings, but its real strength is in its quiet delineation of the regions and their differences. If I were allowed another star, I would use it.

We did not know much about Vermont but the book got us on our way quickly. The different sections are clear and get straight to the point.Wide variety of things to do, places to stay, eat and shop. A very satisfying purchase.

Following a recent very successful long weekend to Vermont I thought I'd share a few views on this guidebook.

This book is well-written and is near comprehensive for restaurants and places to stay. There are interesting facts scattered throughout and clearly the authors have a love of Vermont and the places therein. But there are a few buts, and with regards to the maps is a deal breaker for me.

The maps are frankly abysmal. They are the worst city and town maps anywhere without helpful things like restaurants, museums etc marked! It is annoying to have to use a second guide or additional maps because the large Vermont guide is not up to the job.

I did not like the lack of a clear section on the history of Vermont, its geography, politics etc. When history is mentioned it is in a very edited format with large jumps in the timeline. I like to know the history of something when I visit it to put all into context.

There is a slightly odd, slightly arbitary division of restaurants/cafes into 'dining out' and 'eating out'. It would have been more helpful to just divide places by cost of meal like every other guide in the known universe.

Ultimately I cannot say that there is a better Vermont guide out there as I did not use any other. However I would be amazed if there is not a guide with better maps. Suffice to say I will be wary before using an Explorer guide again.

While packed with lots of information, this guidebook gave little detailed information about places to visit, side attractions, etc. In all honesty, my wife and I rarely used this book, relying instead on local maps available at businesses in many different Vermont communities. In the end, we didn't even bring this book home with us--we left it at the motel we stayed in on our final night in Vermont.

We used this book this summer to travel throughout Vermont. We found the guide very helpful. This book helped us see places of wonder, taste fantastic food, and meet wonderful, friendly people! The info was very helpful. Before our trip I studied the guide, and marked all possible interests, then research each of those points online before we left, both tools helped create a fantastic wonderful adventure!

I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with this book after reading The Countryman Press' superb guide to the state of Maine.

That book (the Maine guide) is the best I've ever seen for that state, yet the publishers let down their standards for their home state of Vermont. This is a good book, and an up-to-date guide. It's a good "where to sleep, where to eat, where to shop" book, but the historic and cultural contexts that make the Maine guide so good are largely lacking here. You'll need a companion volume of Vermont history to get the most out of your trip. This book won't be enough.

The maps are totally inadequate. A travel guide needs to give its users GPS quality or BETTER to meet the requirements of a modern traveler.

Don't let the flaws in this book put you off Vermont. It's a magnificent state, worth a journey to explore. But try to supplement your traveling literature with some heftier material. The history of Vermont is interesting and important to the United States. Stick with your GPS until the maps get better (in a future edition).

My husband and I chose this book for our honeymoon to Vermont, after pouring over several others. Great for planning your trip to Vermont: hits all the key "must see" places to visit, excellent guide to lodging and just enough background information to make the locations interesting without it turning into a history book. We did use the state highway map to reinforce our travel details, locate covered bridges, and plan our daily routes. Otherwise, this book was our one-stop shop for everything else. Well-categorized, simple to follow, and made our planning fun!

I bought this for my trip to Vermont and read it for the most part. It provided useful information for the most part. However, I did find that a few things were hyped up somewhat. Apart from that, this guide was useful to plan my visit to Vermont. I did find that the authors recommendation of restaurants were in the high end price ranges and were not really useful for me since I was looking for something more in the medium range. And some local favorites such as "Pie in the sky" in Stowe were not provided the coverage they deserved. This restaurant was moderately priced and had the best homemade italian food that I have ever had in the U.S. Apart from this, I would definitely recommend this as a worthwhile purchase since it clearly identifies scenic routes, local attractions, side roads etc.

Having lived in Vermont for 17 years, we are still learning about all the nooks and cranies worth exploring. This book has a lot of great suggestions for places to see and things to do. Some are right on the main roads and typical "tourist" fare, and some are unique places that are less often found but worth exploring. This is a good guide not just for tourists, but also for residents.