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VINE VOICEon July 5, 2016
I always look forward to these books **see pics**. The Lonely Planet books are always high quality with sometimes even too much information. Even as a frequent traveler to London (at least once a year) I still found tips and things to do and see to make each trip feel just as new. Ok once you leave Heathrow. That never seems to change.
The four sections in the book, with color coded page edges, are:
1 - Plan Your Trip (Red)
2 - Explore (Blue)
3 - Understand (Green)
4- Survival Guide (Grey)
Planning is straight forward with quite a bit of information that could be considered Explore as well. Explore is broken into sub sections (the tabs are in groups down the page edges) for different areas of London. You have to understand how dense London is with things to do. Each part feels like a different experience. Neighborhood walks are even outlined and mapped to save you the effort of trying to map it all out.
The Survival Guide section is the quick go to for major information. Airports, tours and a general listing of things like hospitals, money, etc are broken down quickly. I think they could cross link the Planning with the Survival to make it even more useful.
Lastly there is a fold out map as updated as the release of the book. I took a picture of that for you as well so you can see how large it is. If I could add a tip for you, download the Tube app to your device and update regularly (daily) to get all the Tube closures and changes while there. It is a huge help and timesaver. The map is great with the markers and side information.
Note that you can get this book in digital format to make it easy to search and carry around with the Kindle app. I happened to get the hard copy for the review. Overall Lonely Planet rocked it again with the new London version.
The four sections in the book, with color coded page edges, are:
1 - Plan Your Trip (Red)
2 - Explore (Blue)
3 - Understand (Green)
4- Survival Guide (Grey)
Planning is straight forward with quite a bit of information that could be considered Explore as well. Explore is broken into sub sections (the tabs are in groups down the page edges) for different areas of London. You have to understand how dense London is with things to do. Each part feels like a different experience. Neighborhood walks are even outlined and mapped to save you the effort of trying to map it all out.
The Survival Guide section is the quick go to for major information. Airports, tours and a general listing of things like hospitals, money, etc are broken down quickly. I think they could cross link the Planning with the Survival to make it even more useful.
Lastly there is a fold out map as updated as the release of the book. I took a picture of that for you as well so you can see how large it is. If I could add a tip for you, download the Tube app to your device and update regularly (daily) to get all the Tube closures and changes while there. It is a huge help and timesaver. The map is great with the markers and side information.
Note that you can get this book in digital format to make it easy to search and carry around with the Kindle app. I happened to get the hard copy for the review. Overall Lonely Planet rocked it again with the new London version.
on April 2, 2017
This was the perfect travel guide for our recent trip to London! It is easy to use, pretty compact in size, and includes useful maps. We actually were able to easily remove the map from the binding.
What I especially loved about this guide:
-it lists their top 16 attractions, which includes museums, sights, etc. Basically the "best of" London if you don't have a lot of time and need to choose carefully what to focus on
-each London neighborhood receives its own chapter with top sights, restaurants, shopping, a walking tour etc. This made it easy to plan our days around certain areas to optimize the available time.
-opening hours for sights, closest public transportation stops, and ticket prices are listed at a glance for each sight
-useful basic information and guides such as:
Getting into the city from the airports,
Best way to navigate the public transportation system,
How to blend in better as a tourist/social norms such as tipping, which side of the escalator to stand on etc.
Also included are "day trips" from London, for example Oxford or Bath, with a helpful couple of pages overview for each location. We ended up seeing Oxford, Warwick Castle and Stratford upon Avon.
We also enjoyed looking through the sections of "what to see in London if you" (e.g. are interested in royalty, the Beatles, ...)
I highly recommend this guidebook for anyone going on a trip to London, whether it be for a couple of days or a week. We had six full days and could have stayed four times as long!
What I especially loved about this guide:
-it lists their top 16 attractions, which includes museums, sights, etc. Basically the "best of" London if you don't have a lot of time and need to choose carefully what to focus on
-each London neighborhood receives its own chapter with top sights, restaurants, shopping, a walking tour etc. This made it easy to plan our days around certain areas to optimize the available time.
-opening hours for sights, closest public transportation stops, and ticket prices are listed at a glance for each sight
-useful basic information and guides such as:
Getting into the city from the airports,
Best way to navigate the public transportation system,
How to blend in better as a tourist/social norms such as tipping, which side of the escalator to stand on etc.
Also included are "day trips" from London, for example Oxford or Bath, with a helpful couple of pages overview for each location. We ended up seeing Oxford, Warwick Castle and Stratford upon Avon.
We also enjoyed looking through the sections of "what to see in London if you" (e.g. are interested in royalty, the Beatles, ...)
I highly recommend this guidebook for anyone going on a trip to London, whether it be for a couple of days or a week. We had six full days and could have stayed four times as long!
on February 28, 2016
Excellent walking tours, with a few deviations to fit in some other highlights, made for a wonderful 5 days in London! It would great if the digital version of the book could send the walking tour to the map apps, rather than having to flip between the two to ensure you are on the correct street!
on March 11, 2016
I love the Lonely Planet guides and use them everywhere I go. I am planning a trip to the UK for this summer and will be in London for a few days before I leave (thankfully I have been to London twice in the past so I've already seen most of the Must-Sees). This guide to the capital city is unsurpassed - it covers almost every conceivable place you might want to go with admission info, tube station info, hours of operation, etc. as well as great maps and, in some cases, 3-D "images" of such places like the Tower of London. There are also floor plans of sites like St. Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum. I will not be leaving home without this book as well as Lonely Planet England and Lonely Planet Scotland's Highlands and Islands. Invaluable and the best guides there are!!
on May 23, 2017
Love this book and all the suggestions. The index could be a little more accessible and robust (it's located near the back, not at the back and seems to leave out a lot of things featured in the book) but otherwise, great travel guide.
on April 30, 2017
I'm sure the book is very good (I'm a big Lonely Planet fan) but the formatting on both my phone and the cloud reader was so awful that it's hard to read, and to find stuff. I returned the eBook and ordered the paperback version instead.
on October 16, 2016
Enjoyed the brief review of history for some of the larger sites. This book has helped me finalize my list of things to see very nicely.
on November 4, 2016
We just went to London in October 2016 and all the recommendations were spot on!
on May 20, 2016
Decent overview of London attractions, but the layout leaves a lot to be desired. The index is horrible/useless, making it a chore at times to find specific attractions. Also, the "chapters" are laid out by neighborhoods, so if you aren't familiar with the London neighborhoods you will find this frustrating. It did contain good information about key attractions like cost, hours, etc.
on June 21, 2016
I know travel books are old fashioned. But I love Lonely Planet, always have and I read this page to page on the long trans-Atlantic flight.
