Lonely Planet Central Europe (Paperback)

by Susie Ashworth (Author), Chris Baty (Author), Neal Bedford (Author), Andrew Bender (Author), Yvonne Byron (Author) "There is so much to see in central Europe that compiling a list of the top 10 highlights is next to impossible..." (more)
Key Phrases: main train station building, university mensa, telephone centre, Czech Republic, American Express, Karlovy Vary (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Note from Publisher: This is the old edition of Lonely Planet's guide to Central Europe.

Lonely Planet's new edition of Central Europe may be found by typing the ISBN number, 174059763X, into the search box.

The fantastic new 6th edition has insider tips and tried-and-true itineraries to make trip planning easy, discerning coverage of the region's fascinating history, and essential, in-depth coverage for hitting all the major sites.

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 5th edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740592859
• ISBN-13: 978-1740592857
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,146,034 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Countries, Little Information, December 18, 2001

By	Thomas D. Newman (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Lonely Planet Central Europe (Central Europe, 4th ed) (Paperback)

I have been a faithful consumer of Lonely Planet products for the last five years. However, this collection does little more than offer superficial information on every country in Central Europe. If you want to go anywhere besides the capitals and most well-known tourist "traps", forget it. I was particularly dissapointed with the book's treatment of Germany and Switzerland. Very vague, very minimal. If you want to visit any of the countries in Central Europe, buy the Lonely Planet Guide to that country or look for a different publisher. Sorry guys, this one doesn't go in my travel bag.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre Guide, but there really isn't anything else, December 6, 2004

By	K. Conner (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There aren't too many guides out there specific to Central Europe. The book was helpful for general reference but, lacked any good detail for traveling. The maps were somewhat helpful, but always seemed to be just limited enough so it didn't show where you wanted to go. The book is great for the tourist that doesn't want to get away from touristy places. If you want to go local this book is not helpful. And what is it about travel books? When are they going to make a travel book that you can seperate out the sections you want? If you don't want to carry around some 10 lb brick of a book and only the sections you need. I know the technology is out there.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lonely Planet Central Europe: Stretched Too Thin, September 20, 2006

By	Craig S. Harwood (Medfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Lonely Planet Central Europe (Paperback)

Naturally, because of the number of countries this book covers, it is far less detailed about any one country than Lonely Planet guides covering single countries or a smaller number of countries. Still, for my purposes--a 15-day motorcoach tour including Frankfurt, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, with just a day and a half or so in each city--it proved adequate. Few people will have room enough in their carry-on or checked luggage to carry a book for each country visited during such a tour, so one is stuck with a single multi-country guidebook.

I don't understand why Lonely Planet included Switzerland and Slovenia in this book. If one is traveling to Krakow or Prague, one usually doesn't travel to Switzerland during the same trip.

My basis for comparison was the Lonely Planet guide to Belgium. Belgium's a small country and the guidebook covered just Belgium, so the editors had room for all kinds of fascinating descriptions and inset articles providing detail, such as several articles about beer styles, breweries, and top pubs, battlegrounds, and the scatalogical nicknames Belgians have for people of other cities. That was the best guidebook I've ever used.