Budapest (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

by DK Publishing (Author) "It can be difficult to plan a visit to this historic, sprawling city, particularly if time is short..." (more)
Key Phrases: main portal, Margaret Island, Royal Palace, Hungarian National Gallery (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

Easily the best city guides available today. -- PLAYBOY

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 -Delta In flight 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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Includes: The Castle District, Gellert Hill and Taban, areas North of the Castle, Parliament, Central Pest, and around Varosliget.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; Revised edition (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789497247
• ISBN-13: 978-0789497246
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #581,224 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great street finder index; lots of illustrations, June 5, 2001

By	Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Budapest (Paperback)

In preparing for a trip to Hungary, I examined thoroughly the choices for Budapest.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide on Budapest by Tadeusz Olszanski is the most eye-catching and the least helpful. It contains lots of graphics and diagrams and maps, and not too much information. Still, the most helpful section was the street index--something I hadn't seen in other books. The multitude of pictures are helpful in describing architecture, geography and art. On the other hand, its information on accomodations is very limited. Don't get me wrong; it's a beautiful and interesting book; it just is not as helpful as the other three. And it is two years old. I'm not necessarily saying that this book is bad, merely that it may not help you very much on the excursion.

The Frommer's Budapest book (3rd edition) gave the best information about finding and choosing accomodations, but the book has no pictures and aside from a nice subway cover on the inside cover, the maps are hard to find and not very easy to use. Frommer's gives excellent information about prices and shops and restaurants; it's almost a guide to buying things rather than a tour book. I didn't find it particularly thorough about travel information, customs, or those sorts of details. That is not entirely fair. They have a nice section in the front a kind of "best of" list for things in budapest. The nice thing about the book is that it recommends things to do if you have only one day, three days or a week. They also suggested some itineraries for walking tours.

The Fodor's Budapest pocket reference is drab and not full of much information. Don't get it.

My favorite guidebook series has been Lonely Planet, and the Budapest Lonely Planet is fairly helpful. Although it doesn't give as thorough a treatment on accomodations, the book gives a lot of hints and secret. I found its facts for the visitors to be the most helpful, and the maps (placed at the very back of the book) to be the easiest to use. The frommer book, on the other hand, put the maps close to the section of the book referring to it. The organization of LP makes it easiest to use in the field; they tend to have the best background, history and cultural information. It was particularly good about including rules, regulations and things like closing times. ON the other hand, there are not many photos, and they don't plan as many walking tours as the frommer book does.

The Budapest: A Critical Guide by Andras Torok, 4th edition is a less complete and more personal account of things to do in Budapest. The other books were like encyclopedias, but this book was just a few personal recommendations about things to do and places to stay. Also, the writing for this book seems to be better than the other books. If you already are a little familiar with Budapest, but just want to learn about new and undiscovered places, this might be an excellent book. It certainly covers most of the bases, but it just doesn't try to list a huge number of accomodations or restaurants.

I ended up buying the Frommer's and a used copy of the Eyewitness travel guide.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT GUIDE!, August 28, 2000

By	gellio "gellio" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Budapest (Paperback)

After visiting Budapest with this guide, I can assure you- it's the best guide out there on this city. In response to the previous reviewer who said "Vaci Street" was listed incorrectly. Actually, you are incorrect. There are "TWO" Vaci Streets in Budapest- an upper (open to traffic) and a lower (pedestrians only)- which is the famous shopping strip. This guide has them on the correct pages- you just missed the correct street because it is much smaller than the huge traffic ridden street to the north. This all was mentioned in the guide. It is wise to understand something before attacking it.

Furthermore- it is really highly unwise to rely soley on a travel guide when traveling...you completely lose the adventure.. For that reason- using a guide for resturants is perhaps foolish. I didn't even look at that section and I found several little "non tourist" resturants to eat. Budapest is packed to the hilt with eateries...they are not hard to find. Finding ones that aren't listed in travel guides- then you are getting real Hungarian food.

Part of traveling is discovering and relying entirely on a travel guide takes that away.

I recommend these guides for sites (because they have more than any other guides listed) and lodging (unless you want to stay in hostels).

This is a great guide- the best out there for Budapest- when used properly.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love The Eyewitness Books, November 4, 2004

By	Stephanie Ray (Fillmore, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All of the major travel guide series are good, but Eyewitness books are something else. They are so full of maps and wonderful pictures that after you read them, you really feel as though you have already been to the place in question. All of the books have a similar structure: the inside front cover has a map containing the various color-coded neighborhoods, the back inside cover has a map of the metro system, Introducing Budapest, Budapest Area by Area (with more color-coded maps and detailed info on the attraction in each area), Traveler's Needs (including Getting Around Budapest), and Survival Guide. Trust me, this is money well-spent!