California (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

by Esther Labi (Editor) "CALIFORNIA IS THE THIRD largest state in the US (after Texas and Alaska) and, with over 30 million people, the most populous..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Eyewitness Travel Guides are the original illustrated travel guidebooks-and they're still the best. Since 1993, the Eyewitness brand has established itself as one of the industry leaders, with sales of more than 6.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Featuring more than 70 worldwide destinations, new titles are being added to the best-selling Eyewitness Travel Guides series each year. In 2003, to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK is re-launching the entire series, fully updated, and with a brand-new look.

Product Details

• Paperback: 630 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; Revised edition (January 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789494299
• ISBN-13: 978-0789494290
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for lazy travellers, June 12, 2003

By	wwbabe (South Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

I am never the type of hard working traveller who would dig into lengthy travel books to find out everything. I found this book very useful for me. It's all in color (so, it's a pleasure to read, though that makes it heavy), and it has great maps which highlights all attractions in addition to detailed maps in the end of the book. That keeps me focus on what I want in a very easy way, instead of searching for where that particular attraction is.

I went to San Francisco, and places as far as 3 hours driving to north, and 4 hours driving to south. For San Francisco part, this book even included different architecture style, which greatly enhanced my experience. As for others, most of the places they describe, they include pictures also. This helps me to know what to expect.

Though I don't like it to be so heavy, it's my favorite among my collection.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good guide, February 23, 2005

By	Sabad One - See all my reviews

I like Eyewitness travel guides, even if I usually complement them with other, more "wordy" ones. This one, like all the other ones I own, is a good, relatively short (but heavy!) guide very helpful to give you good hints about what to see over an area as large as California. The nice pictures are always a big plus.

On the minus side, you will find only a few words about 95% of the locations described in this guide, so if you are looking for something deeper, of if you like historical anecdotes about the places you visit, this guide is not ideal. Another minus is the relatively scant number of hotels and restaurants listed in the guide, surely a result of the large area covered. Also, the information you are given on restaurants is almost invariably composed of 20 words or so. So, if good food is important on your trips, this guide is again not ideal. From the perspective of both real content and good food advice, I think the "Moon" handbooks are vastly superior to the Eyewitness guides. However, the few and B&W pictures in the Moon series will sometimes make even great places sound or look dull.

Again on the plus side, the maps are useful.

Overall, this a good guide to use as a starting point to plan a trip, but if you really care about what you see, you will probably have to buy other material too, and I would suggest looking for a Moon guide to have an ideal combination.

5.0 out of 5 stars California travel guide, December 24, 2008

By	Dimo Diakov "dvd buff" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a geographer, and I have to say that this is by far one of the best travel guides that I have or seen. It is well written, easy to use, and packed with nice illustrations and descriptions. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something like this.