5 comments about The Rough Guide to Sweden 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. Sweden is a wonderful travel destination. It is beautiful country that manages to be both very tranquil and very dynamic. However, like most Americans, I was totally ignorant about Sweden. In fact, I don't think I would ever have gone there if I hadn't found this book in the public library. It got me interested enough to spend a few weeks in Sweden, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will definitely go back!

   The book was very detailed and accurate, and went well beyond the average travel guide in the level of interesting detail about almost everything you could possibly encounter in Sweden. Although the book was published in 1997 and I went in 1999, most of the hotel and restaurant information was still accurate. The book also provides a good introduction to the history and culture of Sweden.




2. I have always wanted to go to Sweden. I started learning Swedish when I was 14, and I started a pen-pal friendship with a Sweden at the same time. When I was 21 I finally made a trip to Sweden (March 2002) for 2 weeks and I used the May 2002 edition of this book.

   I spent my time in three cities: Stockholm, Umeå, and Skellefteå. Most guidebooks that I looked at covered the south of Sweden quite well at the expense of the North. This guidebook used 25% of its space to write about the two largest cities and 60% to write about the rest of Sweden. (The remaining 15% of the book deals with formalities of getting to/into Sweden, language, food, etc.)

   The section on Stockholm was fantastic, and since the chapter was organized based on each island or section of the city, it was very easy to read. You could plot out which part of the city you wanted to visit each day with ease. The book specifies open/close times very well (although you always double check). As someone traveling in the winter, I appreciated that fact! Some guidebooks don't list the months that something is open!

   Whereas some guidebooks have 2 paragraphs on Umeå and Skellefteå, this one had 6 and 3, respectively. The cities are described well and the information is as much as you'll probably need.

   Another nice feature is that the guide features fairly detailed information about getting to/from each city, even the small ones.

   The third section of the book, about history, food, money, language, etc was well laid out, and the history section was as complete as most general tourists would want it.

   The book caters to a variety of tourists as it lists a wide (very wide) variety of accomodations, restaurants, activities, and methods of travel. Other guidebooks aimed at "poor college students" seem to cover mostly pubs and nightclubs at the expense of museums. Guidebooks aimed at the "one trip to Europe in a lifetime let's use all of our stock earnings" books seem to cover hotels at the expense of hostels. This book covers both.

   Overall, a very good buy.




3. I lived in Sweden for a year, and this book was hands-down the best guide to the place I found. In fact, when I traveled around the country I left the other guides behind and took this one with me. Not only is the Rough Guide small enough to cart around conveniently, it has consistently accurate information. I also admire the attention the guide gives to areas outside of the big cities. Sweden is a country of small towns, really, and the guide pays a lot of attention to their attractions. Rough guides have never been afraid to be candid, either. I walked into a coffeehouse in Lund one day, took a look around, and felt instantly at home. I looked in the Rough Guide, and read that this was the place to be if you were a pretentious intellectual and wanted to be among similar effette poseurs. Yep, that was me, and that was the place. I had a great time. Tak sa miket, Rough Guide.



4. I am sorry for being contrarian, but I feel I need to set the record straight. Being from Norrland (North Sweden) I appreciate that the authors give Norrland and the country side more attention than some other books. However, the book contains some grave omissions, inaccuracies, and is replete with highly subjective opinions that are presented as facts. You don't want any of this in a guide book.
   
   Three years ago we visited the Ice Hotel in Northern Sweden. It was a mixed American-Swedish group of ten people, including five kids age three to ten. We had a blast, it was a lot of fun, and all of us, except my wife, slept really well. For example, my five year old daughter slept like a princess on the Ice bed. The furniture was made of Ice, the lamps, the chandeliers, the art was made from ice and we drank from cups made of ice.
   
   The kids played with spark sleds and in the snow, and we went on a long dog sled ride. There were some truly breath taking ice art in the hotel, including statues of moose, dogsleds, people, motorcycles, and monsters. There were laughter and smiles 36 hours straight, and still we did not have time to do many of the other exciting things you can do here like, reindeer sled rides, moose safari, ice theater shows, snow mobile rides, ice fishing, etc. In my (and many others) opinion this is one of the best tourist attractions in Sweden.
   
   Unlike us, the authors of this book could not sleep, and they also claimed that no one else could either. They also did a strange sort of (mandatory) run in their undergarments to their room. We did nothing of the sort. I disagree with their less positive description of the ice hotel experience, but what I object to is that their negative experience colored their description of the ice hotel.
   
   A few examples of irritating errors in the book are;
   (1) The authors claim that the word "älg" means "Elk" (through out the book and in the dictionary). However, if you lookup the word "Elk" in wikipedia you will see a photo of an animal that has never been seen in Sweden. The truth is that "älg" means "Moose". However, it should be noted that in Europe Moose is sometimes referred to as "Elk", but this is not explained, instead the reader is misled (there are 300,000 Moose in northern Sweden).
   (2) The city of Jönköping is pronounced "Yunn-Chupping" not "Yurn-Churping" as the authors claim.
   
   However, their biggest mistake, in fact a giant whopper (a lie), is in regard to the way they treat the Ice Hockey capital of the world.
   
   Örnsköldsvik was once named the Ice Hockey capital of the world because of the many Ice Hockey legends that have come out of this town (for example Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund). There are also eleven NHL players from this town, even though it is a fairly small town. Because of this strange fact it has received a lot of attention world wide and hockey enthusiasts often come to visit Örnsköldsvik, as if it was a sort of Mekka.
   
   Örnsköldsvik is located at the northern tip of what is called the "High Coast" a coastal area of mountains, mountainous Islands and beautiful fjords, and it also has a lot of interesting attractions. One of them is a reconstructed Iron Age village (with actors and the whole bit) that was erected close to a real Iron Age archeological find. Örnsköldsvik also have an indoor water park that people from all over Northern Sweden come to visit, several good ski slopes, as well as the most modern and prominent ice hockey arena in Northern Sweden. In addition Örnsköldsvik is an important port (especially for all the Islands in the Archipelago around the High Coast). It is the education and media and entertainment center of the region in which it is located.
   
   The book "Lonely Planet Sweden" only has one page on Örnsköldsvik out of 36 for the entire North Sweden. The book "The Rough Guide to Sweden" only has zero pages out of 130 for the entire North Sweden. In fact many lesser towns and villages surrounding Örnsköldsvik are described in detail and with enthusiasm while the only thing ever mentioned on Örnsköldsvik in this book is the following sentence on page 330:
   
   "..from the High coast bridge at the mouth of the Ångerman River to varvsberget, the hill overlooking the Center of Örnsköldsvik, a dreadfully dull place where you'd do well not to get stuck"
   
   This is, of course, not an oversight or a misunderstanding, it is a load of horse @#& done with the intent of offending somebody. The question is who and why? One of the authors is British and they are not happy that Ice Hockey is more popular than soccer in North and East Europe. My guess is that this was their attempt to unload on the entire Ice Hockey community. The British are also not happy about Americans playing football instead of soccer, so if these authors would ever write about Wisconsin; it would be Green Bay who gets it next time. Personal vendettas or irresponsible expression of opinions have no place in a Guide book. Since it was also done in a dishonest fashion I renamed the book to "The Bluff Guide to Sweden"



5. Easy to use, practical, detailed, extremely helpful, with an eye toward saving money while you travel. This guide is organized by different regions of the country in case you don't have time to see the entire country while there. Has all the things you'll need to do and know before you go.

2 comments about British Language & Culture (Lonely Planet Language & Culture) (Language Reference).

1. I bought this book, because i'm interested in English. I'm not a native speaker, and i'm not brought up in an English speaking country. After learning for English in school for almost twenty years, i'm more interested in culture now. I can find out how British language is different from other English, and how it is related to other language. It's just a wonderfully amazing experience reading this book.



2. Es el pasaporte para entrar al Reino Unido.
   Me sirvió extraordinariamente para conocer:
   a. frases clave
   b. comunicación diaria
   c. curiosidades en costumbres
   d. particularidades del Reino
   Cómprelo con total confianza.

5 comments about MapEasy's Guidemap to Rome.

1. I have 8 of these maps, for cities from Rome to NY. They helped us around in Wash, DC, find the monuments, eating, and points of interest. They are well planned and informative. We just got back from NY and it was just perfect, once again. Having used the "traditional" ones in the past and being a constant traveller, I look forward to our next trips using MapEasy.They are also small enough to fit anywhere.



2. My wife and I bought 2 maps for our trip to Rome this one, and the Streetwise Rome map. This one is helpful if you are trying to find places to eat that are inexpensive, but the locations aren't in the same location that it shows you. This happened to us a couple of times, also, some of the stores are closed that it has listed. It is very helpful because it has the Pantheon, Coliseum, and Piazza Navona blown up on the back side which proved to be helpful.
   
   Overall the Streetwise is a better map because it has the names of all the blocks whereas this one misses some of the alleys (which there are a lot of). The Streetwise does have a smaller font but not terribly small like one of the other reviews states.
   
   Also, this map would be much more helpful if it had an index of the streets and piazza's/largos which the Streetwise map does have.
   
   Overall this map is worth the 6 bucks that I paid for it, but the 9 that I paid for the streetwise was better (more flipping the map over because it's two-sided, but better).



3. After four trips to Rome and being folded & folded & abused, there are still no rips in this map. I get a MapEasy's Guide anytime I can. Easy to read. And, no matter how long between visits, these places never move. Restaurants & hotels may change, but I mark where our favorite places to stay & eat were for future reference.
   But mostly I just want to know where an attraction is and the shortest way to get there!!!!



4. This map is waterproof, wind resistant, easy to fold and easy to read. It probably has more tourist highlights on it than you'll be able to visit in one trip.



5. I navigated my way through Rome for three months using this map. Worked splendidly! The waterproofing and heavy, foldable (and light-weight) construction is brilliant, as I was caught in more than a fair share of rain storms while using the map. Ideal for pedestrians.

1 comments about Best of Belgrade (Best Of).

1. Using this guide really heightened my visit to Belgrade and the rest of Serbia! Used in conjunction with the Bradt's guide to Serbia, the two made for a great visit! If you've considered a visit to Belgrade, then go! If you haven't considered a visit (why are you reading this?) then GO anyway!

4 comments about Pocket Map and Guide Venice (EYEWITNESS POCKET MAP & GUIDE).

1. I love to plan trips. I'll use 2 or 3 travel guides to get excited and think of the things I want to see. But I don't want to carry them around. This gives me a map and small descriptions to jog my memory all in a small, easy to carry book. The map is very clearly printed. What more could I want?



2. Lots of pictures. Great concise descriptions. Maps. Small glossary of Italian. Organizes everything in a clear way. Perfect! Thought I was going to get another larger version of a travel guide for Venice but not anymore. It's all I need. If I do find something that it's missing I can look it up on the internet. The only thing that might be hard for some people is the small type. I have 20/20 vision and can read it perfectly. No problem whatsoever. But if you have vision problems you might find it somewhat hard to read. Its about the size of a Hershey Bar and jammed packed with information if that gives you an idea. I love it though!



3. We'll be cruising out of Venice in the fall. This guide is the perfect size for what we need - info on all the main sites, maps, travel information. It even has a small phrasebook in the back. I have the larger Italy Eyewitness Guidebook as well. This seems to give the same basic information, without all the historical background. When you are out and about, you really just need to know the sites and how to get to them. Many reviews say the text is small, but it's not that much smaller than the regular guides. It might be harder to read if your eyesight is poor...but it is fine for me. It's smaller than I expected, which is a good thing. They've really packed a lot of information into a totally portable guide.



4. Definitely small - about 8"x4" and 80 pages. And, as mentioned by the earlier reviewers, the print is very small. A map for each district and a couple for the entire city. Thumbnail sketches. Something I want to read - unlike the big books where I never have time to read it all. I keep perusinig this book. It includes a few (after all, how many can we try) restaurants in each district of varying price ranges. There are also details on traveling from the airport. It's clean and crisp which probably makes it easier to read than it otherwise might be. I'll be going to Venice in 10 days and it will fit right in my outside purse pocket. Finally, its price is undercut by no travel guide of which I'm aware.

1 comments about Fodor's Great Britain, 36th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. A good sourcebook that lives up to Fodor's standards. The major sites are listed as well as a few off the beaten path type places. In depth and useful information peppers the book, as well as the section near the front where the things you absolutely need to know about traveling in Great Britain are listed. A user friendly guidebook that's worth buying, reading, and carrying as reference.

3 comments about The Most Beautiful Villages of Burgundy (Most Beautiful Villages).

1. France is a magical place and Burgundy is one of its most magical regions. The premier wine-growing region of France, Burgundy is also the center of fine cuisine, Romanesque architecture and lazy canals bordered by meadows of wildflowers. This book, with its more than 260 color illustrations, shows Burgundy at its finest. A region dominated by water, the book begins in the north and travels through all of Burgundy's four departments. From the Yonne, a land of peaceful river valleys and almost 1000 canals, we travel southward with the author to visit little Romanesque churches and learn how the Benedictine and Cistercian monks spread the Romanesque style. We finally arrive in the southernmost department of Soane-et-Loire and the city of Macon, the border to the Midi and the South, where we sample some of the finest wines in the world, such as Montrachet and Pommard. Burgundy is one of the most beautiful places on earth--unspoiled, unhurried and faithful to its past. Whether you plan to actually visit the area or are just dreaming of a visit, this is the perfect book to accompny you and your dreams and perhaps even make make them come true.



2. My sister and I recently toured Burgundy and even though we were born and bred in France, we saw the region anew. The photos in this book are lovely and for once, do a place justice. If you plan to travel to Burgundy, and may I suggest that you do, you certainly can't go wrong with this book as a traveling companion and tour guide.



3. I have to agree with the two previous reviewers, Burgundy is a very special part of France, and a very special part of the world. It is worth seeing just for the vineyards alone, but there is so much more to Burgundy than just wine. If you're lucky enough to go there, take this book along. It will be an invaluable guide to the restaurants and hotels in the area as well as to the festivals, concerts, etc. And if you must stay at home, then this book is the next best thing to actually being there. The photos are gorgeous and the text informative. Five stars is not enough!

5 comments about Barcelona (City Guide).

1. My boyfriend and I had three days to spend in Barcelona and I'm so glad we had this book. It was super up-to-date (i.e., warning us ahead of time that the cable cars at Montjuic were under construction and non-operational) and the views on the suggested walking tours -- especially the Modernisme walking tour -- were gorgeous.
   
   Most importantly, the eating guide within was very helpful.



2. This is a nice, detailed map of the main part of Barcelona's city. It has all of the major sites labeled right on the map, and it includes all streets, even the very small ones. It also has a subway map, which is a necessity. It doesn't include much of the outskirts, but that is fine for a map of this size. The plastic covering on the map has come in handy, but it isn't completely sealed, so it did leak in a little water when I used it in the rain. Glad I bought it - I would buy it again!



3. I've always found LP guidebooks helpful - they fit our budget, have an interesting range of suggestions for sights to see, and are usually dead-on with descriptions. This was the first one that let us down on our travels. It is very frustrating for two people new to a city to make their way, starving at 3 pm, to a "highly recommended" restaurant and find it no longer in business. And this happened to us thrice! Two restaurants had closed down, and one had changed name and ownership. We had also taken DK's Real City Barcelona guide, and this was much more useful. Its choices were affordable (look for the check mark next to the listing that indicates a good deal), diverse and filled with locals - always a positive sign.
   I did still use Lonely Planet for planning itineraries for our days in Barcelona, but feel the book has lost some of the go-to quality that I once associated with LP guides. Time for a new edition, and one that thoroughly investigates what goes between the covers!



4. This book definitely needs to be updated. I was able to use it for general information, but when it came to actually getting around and practical advice for restaurants, hotels, etc., I found the Top Ten guide much more helpful. In retrospect, I would not have purchased this book.



5. This book is filled with helpful information about hotels, transportation and sights. I have found that I like Rick Steve's books even better. Both are helpful for travel planning.

1 comments about Village Walks: Ireland: 50 Adventures on Foot (City Walks).

1. I got these today in preparation for leading a group to Ireland soon. I've spent quite a lot of time there, so I recognize most of the places shown on these cards, and know the history of many of them. The maps are very clear and the information about the notated places seems to be accurate, if not terribly detailed. The walks are short, not hours treking overland, but quick tours of the cities and principal towns of Ireland. These will be fun for anyone taking a self-directed tour around Ireland.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Tuscany Region Map (Rough Guide Country/Region Map).