Eyewitness Travel Guide to Great Britain (revised) (Paperback)

by Michael Leapman (Author), Hilary Bird (Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
You'd be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read guidebook than the Eyewitness Travel Guide: Great Britain. Spilling over with all sorts of useful information for the traveler, you'll find three-dimensional drawings, floor plans, and detailed neighborhood maps, as well as timelines, charts, and even popular bus routes. Broken into several sections--"Introducing Great Britain," "Region by Region" (including London and environs, Scotland, and Wales), "Traveler's Needs," and "Survival Guide"--the guide paints a complete picture of the country. Readers will especially appreciate the hundreds of color photos of everything from London's double-decker buses to the ancient formations at Stonehenge. You'll also find street-by-street illustrated city walks (Covent Garden, Westminster), as well as scenic hikes in the Scottish highlands and the Lake District, with plenty of listings for inns and fish-and-chip taverns along the way. --Jill Fergus

Review
...You feel, looking at them, as if you could close the book and step into the street. -- Contra Costa Times

...considered to be the world's best travel resource to over 30 destinations around the world, make it easier to plan a splendid vacation. -- North American Press Syndication

Both novice and experienced travelers will be captivated. -- US News & World Report

Each book is a visual as well as informational feast about a particular place. -- The New York Times

Each book is a visual as well as informational feast about a particular place. --The New York Times -- The New York Times

Encyclopedic in scope, it's meant to be used before, during, and after your stay. -- Travel & Leisure

The Best Guidebooks Ever -- SKY MAGAZINE

The best travel guides ever. -- Sky Magazine

The most graphically exciting and visually pleasing series on the market. -- Chicago Tribune

Want to know where to get a great espresso on your way to the Uffizi? Or how much to tip a hotel maid in New York City? Try these travel guides, each an intricate trove of 3-D aerial views, landmark floor plans, color photos and essential eating, shopping and entertainment info. With titles covering Paris, Prague, and London, these pocket-sized guides are like a Michelangelo fresco: deliriously rich in detail. -- People Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789401878
• ISBN-13: 978-0789401878
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #961,364 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You're going to LOVE BRITAIN!, July 6, 2005

By	Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Great Britain (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.[...]

Eyewitness Travel Guides
Eyewitness is appropriately named as each book provides spectacular 3d aerial angled views of the primary tourists sections. The accompanying information has the full color photos everyone seems to want but what is great about these guides is that they do a fairly good job of providing details about sites, odd stories to perk your interest, and little known things to give you a decent background. The history timelines are visually interesting and do a lot for American perspectives as it helps us a lot to see the full spread of the centuries in order to understand where the sites we are seeing fit into the multi-millenneal scope of things. These are justifiably the best selling travel books for Americans.

[...]

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!, May 19, 2002

By	Doulos (USA) - See all my reviews

.
Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

But, the really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

Summary Negative:

The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Wessex, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the London Section is fairly good)

Guide Specifics:

The guides are organized as follows:

How to use this guide
Introduction to Great Britain
............Portrait of Great Britain
............History of Great Britain
............Great Britain Through the Year
London, Area by Area
Great Britain by Region
............Southeast England
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............West Country
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Midlands
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............North Country
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Wales
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Scotland
........................Specific Cities / Towns
Travelers Needs
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shopping
Survival Information
............Practical Info.
........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.
............Travel Info.
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book

Discussion:
The book begins with "A Portrait of Great Britain", including a complete map, a review of Great Britain, it's history, and Great Britain's History (very interesting), and Great Britain though the Year - including events, etc.,

Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

The books are so well thought out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

Negative:
The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the specific city guides. So, if you are going to Scotland, get the specific "Scotland" guide (another great guide). If you decide to get the "Great Britain" guide for your 3, or 4 city tour of England, understand that this guide may be a little to general for all your local travel needs.

Conclusion:
As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vast, May 18, 2000

By	saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

There is enormous coverage in this book. Maybe that is its main drawback. There is just so MUCH to Great Britain, that it is impossible to go into great depth. HOWEVER, what it does it does extremely well.

The house style of the Eyewitness guides is very attractive - beautiful pictures, cutaways and good maps.

It is not the sort of guide that is very comprehensive in restaurant and hotel suggestions - but in the UK there is such a good network of tourist offices that you rarely need a huge accommodation listings book. Each tourist office will book accommodation in any price range or category.

I wrote a rave review of the London guide. I suggest if you are spending an extensive time in London, it is worthwhile buying that book instead. And if you are spending significant time in Scotland, consider that book.