No comments about The Best Wine Bars & Shops of Paris: Fifty Charming and Notable Cavistes.

5 comments about Brussels (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. I have had great experiences with the DK Guides. I use it extensively in my trip planning and this is the guide I take on the trip.

   This guide provides execllent information about local sites throughout Beligium. It gives very clear guidance concerning what you can find and access information. It also helps you to locate the sites with indexed maps and diagrams.

   I have found that this and the other DK Guides are bit weak in providing guidance about what to see. That is, it offers little qualitative information--everything sounds equally wonderful. And we all know this is not necessarily the case.

   So I always find another guide that has more opinions and recomended tours to determine what to see. I espiecially look for guided the provide suggested walking tours. This has worked out well for the most part. I use other guides to plan the trip and the DK Guide in the country.

   It has very usable maps although sometimes too limited in scope and you may require a local map to get around beyond the central city. Also, because the book is a bit heavy and too large to fit in a jacket pocket after the first day or so I leave it in the hotel and rely on the local map when walking about.

   The one topic I find most reliable is DK's restaurant recommendations. The two places I tried in Brussels were fantastic and offered everything that the guide described. I have had equal success with DK's restaurant recommendations in other cities/countries.

   I think this is an indispensible travel guide as long as you know what you are using it for--planning or background info, etc.




2. DK guides are by far the best for any trip -- their black-by-block walking guides just can't be beat.



3. This was an indispensable tool my navigation of Belgium. I also purchased the Top 10, published by DK just so I would not miss anything. I liked the large maps and the clear directions to the venues. The pictures were GREAT. This book greatly enhanced my journey.



4. Perfect for Belgium. Brussels, Bruge, Antwerp are all well done. The quality of the DK series makes them the pick of the class, but heavy. It's the only guilde that emmanates a feel for the area's architecture. I used the hotel section comparatively with other guides. It finished slightly ahead. What is unusual is a non-tourist perspective is part of the review mix. I am an intelligent successful high tech businessman and not particularly interested in clowns staying away from people that are. To me travel is not an entertainment video. It is a mix of pleasure, leisure, and learning while keeping in reasonable cost effective contact with the world that enabled me to make the trip. This is the one area that could use improvement. "Internet access" is a meaningless description. What's the cost, how fast, what mode, where, and how often is it available? For decades the hotel telephone has been the ultimate rip off tool. Now it's morphed into the cell phone realm. Despite what you have read international calling is still very expensive. When Best Western doesn't charge for the identical serice that Hyatt, Hilton,
   Marriott, etc. do is it very clear whose happiness is primary despite what the brochure says. A lot more help on this would be most appreciated. Kudos to DK for giving local food a serious look. The inclusion of small, medium and high end places is a refreshing and useful change. For some reason no mention is made of the "ladies of the evening" displaying their virtues through sidewalk level bay windows along the street parallel to the Brussels airport-to-central station route about five minutes before it ends. After a long flight it provides a little spice that was missing in the airline food.



5. We recently took a trip to Belgium, where we intended to visit Brugge, Antwerp, and Brussels, although in the end, we dropped Antwerp in favor of spending more time in Brugge. I bought a copy of this book on the advice that it had a lot of coverage beyond Brussels.
   
   Like most EyeWitness guides, the photos, sketched 3D area maps, etc. were all brilliant for identifying points of interest and notable details. The suggested walking tours also proved to be a great resource, since these cities are best visited simply by wandering the streets rather than heading straight for key destinations.
   
   My only qualm with the book is that (as the title suggests) it is heavy on Brussels. This was a little disappointing, having heard that it included adequate coverage of the other cities in its subtitle. Nearly 75% of the book is dedicated to the capital with the other cities receiving only around a half dozen pages each. If you're planning to spend a lot of time in Brugge, Antwerp, or Ghent, I'd recommend finding a book with more focused coverage. If you plan to spend a lot of time in Brussels, with daytrips to one or more of the other cities, this book would probably be great.

No comments about Frommer's Prague & the Best of the Czech Republic (Frommer's Complete).

2 comments about Helsinki: The Bradt City Guide (Bradt Mini Guide).

1. I love the Bradt guide series and am so glad she has branched out to the more popluated cities and countries. No guide has the info that a Bradt guide does.



2. I was expecting something larger with better maps, but still this pocket-size book is filled with fascinating, up-to-date information. I had last visited Helsinki in 1974, so I was surprised to see how the country has changed. I found references to many valuable Finnish websites that expand on what's found in this book. The book is also valuable in informing how much money (Euros!) it costs to visit. Overall, the book decreased my pre-trip anxieties about visiting a foreign country.

No comments about Fodor's Paris 2009 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

4 comments about Sweden (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. I usually like Eyewitness Travel Guides, and this "Sweden" issue was also as useful as the others I have owned. I am glad Stockholm has its own chapter and in great detail. The scenery pictures are nice, and graphics explaining detailed floor plans of buildings and museums are very useful. The pictures alone are enough to make me want to go there! I also like the Traveler's Needs section, especially the accomodation divided in categories of location and price. Although accomodation nowadays is easy to find from the internet, Eyewitness has saved me a lot of precious time trying to compare each hotel between websites. I would recommend anyone who is going to Sweden to get this book. You will get all the information you need, and more!



2. No matter where you wander, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides are the best guides to introduce you to a region. Color illustrations, great maps, with a focus on really neat things to do and places to see. This one is no exception. Although we are frequent visitors to Sweden (bought this as a gift), we still found much that was new and fascinating in it.



3. This guide is the best I've found. Descriptions are very clear. Myriad photos and illustrations give a real advance tour of the country. Maps are excellent. The transportation section clarifies potentially confusing directions for trains, roads, ferries. There's an excellent word list (with pronunciation) in back of the book. Outlined by provinces, it's easy to tell the sort of towns one might want to visit. Our time will be limited, so we will need to plan our trip to Sweden carefully. This book is a big help.



4. All of the eyecandy we expect from eyewitness guides. Some once-over-lightly background (not what I'd call in-depth) - most useful, from this perspective, as a decision tool before you've decided to go. Look elsewhere for real help in planning.

1 comments about Pudlo France 2008-2009: A Hotel and Restaurant Guide (Pudlo France).

1. This is an invaluable reference for us Francophiles. I've already profited from it for my upcoming trip by finding both a "secret" place to stay in one city not found anywhere else and a special restaurant in another city--both of which were subsequently endorsed highly by people who live there that I have not yet met.

4 comments about Let's Go 2008 Western Europe (Let's Go Western Europe).

1. I am using it for my backpacking trip, it has been very usefull until now



2. Excellent resource with lots of information that you should have like embassy, restaurants, attractions, and accommodations. Fast shipping, good condition



3. This is a good book, keeping in line with the generally excellent "Let's Go" series.
   
   It offers a nice overview of the western european countries, but we found that it lacks in detail for specific countries. We could have seen it coming, of course, but we made it to some fairly major destinations in Germany and Switzerland that weren't in the guide at all.
   
   I'm also a detail buff, and even some of the major attractions which were included lacked detail: as a result, we had to pick up quite a good deal of supplementary materials (maps, historical, etc.) along the way.
   
   So, for my next multi-country trip, I'll be hitting the individual country guides.



4. This was, by far, the most useful thing I took with me on my two-month trip to Europe. I honestly don't know what I would have done without it. If you plan to backpack or work your way through Estern Europe on a shoestring budget, this is the perfect start. It's very easy to use, with sections divided by country, city, and if necessary, sections of the larger cities. It has great information on the best (and cheapest, if that's your goal) hostels, places to eat, and activites. I book almost all of my hostels using the up-to-date information. Each chapter on a country has a small section about the language, with hints on how to pronounce useful phrases like "I'm fine, thank you", or "where is the bathroom?". It also includes directions and maps to hostels and other landmarks that were detailed and, for the most part, easy to follow. Sometimes it was a little off on the pricing, but that's to be expected when prices change seasonally in touristy places. I liked this book much better than the Lonely Planet book I bought, and much, much better than the Frommer's book I had. It's a must-have for any savvy traveler.

2 comments about Dutch: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. A phrasebook to a perennial European favourite that's changing rapidly. This simple pronunciation guide offers intuitive navigation for finding the right phrase. It includes a two-way dictionary packed with 3,500 words.



2. I have several Dutch phrasebooks and this is the latest one I bought and the best. I would say if it isn't the best it is one of the best dutch phrasebooks out there. I recomend this book for people moving to the Netherlands or even if they are staying for a short stay. Yes, most all Dutch can speak a good amount of English but you get really far with them if you at least try to speak Dutch. There is a food section that I found helpful several times when the waiter or waitress doesn't know what the item is in English. It also includes and English-Dutch dictionary in the back. It has great phrases from going to the bank to hanving sex with them written out in Dutch and then again in English. Make sure to purchase for you trip to The Netherlands.

5 comments about In Tuscany.

1. This book is quite different from Mayes' first two books about Tuscany, which were more like travel memoirs. This book's focus is photographs, accompanied by some commentary, thoughts, and insights from Mayes, as well as some recipes. Frankly, I didn't read the text at all. I just enjoyed the photographs. I wish I'd had this book when I was reading Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany because all the places she talks about in those books are scattered throughout the pages of this book in beautiful photographs. We finally get to see what Mayes' charming Bramasole house looks like, as well as the town of Cortona and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. If you haven't read Mayes' first two books, read them and have this one handy so you can see for yourself just how beautiful these houses, towns, and people are.



2. This book is exactly what we wanted. We have lived in Europe for 7 of the last 9 years and LOVE Italy. We plan to purchase a house there soon and have decorated with all things Italian. This coffee table book was just the ticket. Beautiful pictures and food too!



3. Her books have probably sold millions. Good thing the buyers didn't have to listen to her! Her voice is absolutely not suited for a CD or any other recording. I could only take it for about five minutes before my ears cried out for relief and my strong forefinger punched the eject button. It's a shame because I'm sure the content would have been worthwhile.



4. I have read the other Frances Mayes books on Tuscany, "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany". This book is the perfect complement to those works as it portrays the very essence of what Mayes finds so appealing and charming about life in Tuscany. The pictures are gorgeous and recipes she includes are easy to prepare and delightful to behold. I recently gave a copy of this book to a friend who had just returned from the area and she felt it captured the essence of the place.



5. This is another of Francis Mayes books that I have thoroghly enjoyed. I am a bit prejudiced, thought, in that my daughter married and established her family in Florence, Italy, and I have been so very fortunate to have visited and traveled there often in the last eight years. Florence, Cortona and Tuscany in general are so beautiful, and the people have made my family feel so welcome.
   Ken Irons