London (Eyewitness Travel Guides) by Roger Williams, Michael Leapman
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Book Reviews of London (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
Book Review: Reliable guidebook!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always been very satisfied with Eyewitness Travel Guides! And this was not an exeption!Book Review: Smart, User-Friendly Guidebook Has Legs After Your Trip to London
Summary: 4 Stars
From Lonely Planet to the Rough Guides, location-specific guidebooks generally seem so transient since a purchase generally depends upon an upcoming trip and soon afterward ends up in a storage box collecting dust or on craigslist for sale. That's not to say they don't have valuable information when you need them, but there is no incentive to return to the book once the trip has ended. The one exception to the rule is the series of Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Travel Guides. The London guide is as good as any in the series as it presents a graphically pleasing, intuitively organized guidebook with detailed pictorials that show animated aerial shots of neighborhoods like Covent Garden or cut-away floor plans of heavily visited buildings like Westminster Abbey or the Tate. It also helps make geographic sense of neighborhoods that allow you to navigate easily through them by pointing out recommended sights.
The first part of the book presents a timeline history of London that is both interesting and useful, as events are cross-referenced to sights you would want to see there. There is a well-presented survival guide toward the end of the book that highlights important travel information as well as recommendations on where to stay, shop and eat. Moreover, there is a comprehensive street finder of central London which helps you navigate without the inconvenience of fold-out maps. All the information is contained within a user-friendly, laminated paperback format that slips easily into backpacks and holds up well against inclement weather (a particular plus in rainy London). For all its obvious benefits, the one that has the most resonance to me is the fact that the book makes a fine keepsake of the trip afterward given its colorfully glossy quality. Even though the price is on the higher end of such guides, it is well worth it for its lasting value after your trip.
Book Review: Informative and easy-to-use resource
Summary: 4 Stars
After looking through many other travel guides, mostly copy-dense volumes with only a section or two of color photos, I admit to having been skeptical of the utility of this large, colorful, profusely-illustrated book. Would it really have the in-depth info I wanted? I shouldn't have worried. When my wife and I took a vacation to London this spring, this (along with one or two more specialized guides) was the book we ended up taking with us.
This guide handily divides London up into several sections, and covers each in generous depth. The suggested walks and tourist highlights in each chapter came in handy, even if we never chose to follow them verbatim. The collection of maps in the back, as well as the more narrowly-focused illustrated maps in each section, was easy to read and pretty comprehensive. And because the illustrations are large and lavish, it was no problem finding the information we needed quickly (keeping us from having to stand on street corners thumbing frantically through guidebooks like, well, like tourists).
The general travel information at the back of the book also came in handy, although we found it odd that according to the authors, "travelers checks are the safest alternative to carrying large amounts of cash." In fact, we had absolutely no problem accessing our American bank accounts via British ATMs, which struck us as a far safer and more convenient process.
Many travel guides become obsolete very quickly. But the many illustrations in an "Eyewitness Travel Guide" make it a best-of photo album as much as a guidebook. I think this volume is one of the very few that may be worth hanging on to now that we're back home.
Book Review: Excellent travel guide with fantastic maps
Summary: 4 Stars
Sometimes the Eyewitness guides can be short on details because the emphasis is often on the pictures, but this is a very thorough, well-organized, and informative guide. One of its best features is the absolutely outstanding maps it has, which I found to be better than any other London guide (and I looked at a lot of them). The only reason I did not give it five stars is that it is not quite as thorough and informative as the Rough Guide (but that book lacks the excellent maps that this one has). I'm torn between this book and the Rough Guide, but I think the excellent maps in this book may give it a slight advantage.Book Review: Overwhelming amount of information
Summary: 4 Stars
Once we figured our way around this book it bacame quite valuable as it shows what places are in which areas of London. If you are only going to be there a few days that helps you figure out which attractions to schedule seeing on the same day. Although the book is loaded with imformation, it does give you the impression that the City is loaded with things to do and places to go. It made us more comfortable with our planning especially as we knew our children wouldn't sit quitely once we were there while we figured out what to see.