No comments about Barron's Traveler's Language Guide -- Spanish (Barron's Traveler's Language Guides).

2 comments about Bilbao & the Basque Lands, 2nd (Country & Regional Guides - Cadogan).

1. A very interesting guidebook to Bilbao and surrounding areas including the French Basque region. Great and lengthy historical and cultural introduction, many sidenotes that have been well-researched. Probably an excellent guide if you plan to drive the region with descriptions of several routes and geographical organization. (You would still want some excellent highway maps.) However, if you plan to use public transit, specific helpful data are lacking. Reviews of lodging, restaurants, attractions are out-of-date despite 2003 copywrite. Some attractions are closed and many prices are way off.



2. This book offers an overview of the Basque lands and culture, a general travel guide for the region, followed by more detailed guides for specific towns and areas (listings of accomodation, restaurants, buses, things to do, etc).
   Contents:
   1) The Basque Lands: a photo essay
   2) Introduction
   3) History
   4) Culture
   - The Language that Defeated the Devil Himself
   - Giants, Shaggy Men and a Not-So-Virgin Mary
   - Basque Accessories
   - Music, Dance and the Basque Yodel
   - Surviving the Pilgrimage to Sanitiago
   - The Sporting Life
   5) Food and Drink
   - Traditional Basque Cuisine
   - New Basque Cuisine
   - Learning to eat like a Basque
   6) Travel
   - Getting there
   - Entry Formalities
   - Getting Around
   - Self-catering and Special Interest Holidays
   7) Practical A-Z
   - Before you go
   - Climate and When to Go
   - Crime and the Police
   - Disabled Travellers
   - Eating Out
   - Embassies and Consulates
   - Festivals
   - Health and Emergencies
   - Internet
   - Maps
   - Markets and Shopping
   - Money
   - Natural Parks
   - Opening Hours
   - Post Offices
   - Sports and Activities
   - Telephones
   - Toilets
   - Tourist Information
   - Where to Stay
   8) Bilbao
   - Getting there
   - Getting around
   - Tourist information
   - Shopping
   - Sports and Activities
   - Where to Stay
   - Eating Out
   - Tapas/Pintxos
   - Entertainment and Nightlife
   - The Casco Viejo
   - The Ensanche
   - Along the Nervion
   - The Guggenheim Museum
   - Around Bilbao
   9) Euskadi
   - Vitoria (Gasteiz)
   - Alava Province
   - Haro
   - Around Haro
   - Inland: Bilbao to San Sebastian
   - San Sebastian (Donostia)
   - Inland from San Sebastian
   - Along the Coast - San Sebastian to France
   10) Navarra
   - History
   - Pamplona (Iruna)
   - West of Pamplona: Aralar and San Miguel in Excelsis
   - West of Pamplona: The Camino de Santiago
   - Estella
   - South of Pamplona to Tudela
   - Sanguesa, Javier and Leyre
   - Routes into France: Up the Valleys of the Pyrenees
   11) The Pays Basque
   - The Cote Basque
   - St-Jean-de-Luz
   - Ciboure
   - Biarritz
   - Bayonne
   - The Labourd Interior: Around La Rhune
   - Sare
   - Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle and Ainhoa
   - The Valley of the Nive
   - St-Jean-Pied-de-Port
   - The Haute Soule
   Reference
   - Chronology
   - Language
   - Menu reader
   - Glossary
   - Further Reading
   - Index

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

No comments about Tenerife Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

No comments about Cool Restaurants Mallorca/ Ibiza (Cool Restaurants).

3 comments about Frommer's Barcelona, Madrid & Seville (1st Ed.).

1. While traveling through Europe, my husband and I decided to visit Barcelona. Since it was the only country we had not researched before we left, we decided we better pick up Frommer's guide. To our dismay, most of the information in it was inaccurate or misinforming. For example, the street the laundry was listed on was misspelled. When we finally found it (in the pouring rain) it was a laundry service, not self-serve. So there was 2 hours of "dead time" not to mention paying 3 times as much money for getting our clothes cleaned.

   The silver lining I guess was that the laundry lady was one of the 3 nice Spanish people we met during our 6 day visit. I wish that Frommer's would have given us some forewarning on Spanish culture and rudeness. Even the service people in our 4 star hotel were grumpy. Everyone seems to need either a fiesta or a siesta.

   On our final night in Barcelona, we counted our change and had just enough money to catch the metro and attend a Spanish dance. Upon our arrival (late because the directions were fuzzy) we found that both the time and the amount listed were incorrect. We then found out that the metro closes down earlier than the book states, so we got to spend our last pasettas on a cab ride back to our hotel. When I got back I was so aggravated that I could have started a bonfire with it.

   There were several other ommissions and inaccuracies that we ran across but all in all my final straw was when I contacted Frommers online for a refund and read that they do not offer refunds--I needed to contact the point of purchase. No wonder it was the only English guide book left in Germany-nobody wanted it!

   I learned a lot of things from our European excursion. One of the best I can tell you is use Lonely Planet guides! And visit the information station at the airport-they may not be friendly but at least their brochures are helpful!




2. Not wanting to lug around a tome covering all of Spain, and not wanting to purchase separate city guides for each of the places I intended to visit, I found this book to be a great compromise (since it covered three of the places I intended to visit). The book gives detailed critical reviews of hotels and restaurants, and points you to the most important sites in each area (with one walking tour of each and detailed information about various sites). This is a great book if you're planning to spend 1-3 days in one or more of these areas. It even gives travel information for places to visit surrounding each area (for example, offering a guide to Toledo, near Madrid). Overall, I was very pleased, especially considering the reasonable price. One warning, however, is that some of the maps (and the placement of items on those maps) are inaccurate.



3. Frommer's is an excellent guidebook (though I personally like Lonely Planet and DK, Frommer's is a solid 3). Some of the reviews I read have been negative, and it seems to be somewhat misplaced towards the guidebook.

   I can understand that not finding a laundry is frustrating. But if that is your only gripe with it, why not leave it at that? It seems to me that any problems you may have with rude hosts is more of a personailty clash than anything a guidebook could help with.

   Honestly, although not perfect, we found this book a more than adequate starting point for our Spanish adventure. My advice: Rate the book on it's own merits, and your vacation on your planning. The two should stay seperate.

   All in all, I believe that this book, along with DK's line of books, are a good pick for info on a trip to these beautiful cities.

No comments about Michelin In Your Pocket Southern Spain, 1e (In Your Pocket).

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

1. If you are looking for a small book to fit in your back pocket, The Rough Guide to Spain is not for you. If you are looking for a guide that lovingly describes even the smallest Spanish town in careful detail and clear format, then this IS the guide book you should be looking for.

   The Rough Guide to Spain does an excellent job in several areas where many guide books fail. For example, smaller attractions are often overlooked in favor of the larger cities, such as Barcelona or Sevilla. Rough Guide ensures that for those who want to go provincial, they won't be going in blind.

   Another merit of the guide is in it's clear, concise format. Not overburdened with irrelevant maps/illustartions (a pet peeve of mine), Rough Guide has clean, simple directions and mapping. This is a vast imporvements over Guides like Lonely Planet, where I often feel the editors publish more with an eye towards their own self-satisfaction than towards the serious traveler.

   The resturaunt/hotel features are adequate, frequently include useful maps, and will not tax anyone's checkbook too harshly.

   Perhaps the greatest strength of this guide is the seeming conviction of the editors to tell you that which you NEED to know for that trip to Spain. Michelin might the cultural ask-all, DK may have lots of lovely photographs, but Rough Guide is for when you're ready to get serious about your trip to Spain.

   Well-written, informative, with a clear and honest style that should impress both casual and budget traveler alike, The Rough Guide to Spain should be your FIRST PICK in guide books.




2. Having been to Spain 14 times, I can say that this is a useful book, although some of the information and pictures are not essential. Given its size (1152 pages) and weight, this is a book to be read before your trip; be sure to have good lighting and good eyesight as the somewhat faint and small type will prove challenging to some.



3. In the past I've been all about the Lonely Planet guides but tried out the Rough Guide for a recent trip through Spain. Though it's a great guide, it lacks personality and reads more like an encyclopedia than a real travel companion. The small print and color scheme is also hard to follow. If you want lots of details and don't mind lugging this massive volume around with you, this is a good choice, but if you want a more concise and cheeky review of a place, this book probably isn't for you.



4. this does read more like an encyclopedia than a real travel companion.it doesn't really have alot of pictures of the places it talks about....it is a little on the borring side.

4 comments about Lonely Planet Canary Islands.

1. Damien Simonis wrote the first edition of the Lonely Planet's gide to the Canaries, and an excellent companion to the islands it was; now (May, 2001) Lonely Planet has issued the second edition of this work, and I am delighted to say that it is just as good (but more up to date) than the first version. Simonis was joined by Miles Roddis to prepare the current book, which follows essentially the same plan as the first guide, and which conserves intact much of the original writing about the islands. The current version displays and entirely new set of photographs by Simonis, who seems to have improved his camera work in the intervening years since he first published the guide.

   The book is amazingly fruitful for its relative compact size and number of pages (271): it provides brief but essential information about the history of the islands, its dogs, its Canary birds, people, plants, transportation, medical services, its gay life, the island sports, and the means of getting there. It accurately describes each of the seven islands, and managest to convey the major and the subtle differences between them -- and those differences can be huge: from the dry Saharan landscapes of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, to the verdant La Palma, to the scraggly beauty of Hierro. The Pico de Teide, on the island of Tenerife, is the 3rd largest volcano on earth (after Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, in Hawaii)and rises from the sea to over 12 thousand feet. Its peak is covered with snow most of the year, but at sea level the islands have superb weather.

   For those about to visit the Canaries, a Lonely Planet guide to them is essential. I don't think it is necessary to buy the second edition if one already owns the first: there are no dramatic changes between the books, and with a little flexibility the traveler will find the first edition just as useful as the second one. The travel tips are pricesless in both books and they will surely enhance the pleasure of visiting this strange and beautiful corner of the world. Don't leave without a copy.




2. I took this book on my recent trip to Canary Islands. Most of the information contained in the book can be easily found on internet (or even more). The content is an encyclopedic compilation of facts (probably rehashed from other publications) with very little personal experience. This is another hastily written and impersonal guide book. I expected something like the Ultimate Kauai and got less than could be found on Ecanarias web site. The most irritating, in my opinion, were multiple references to another book by one of the authors about hiking trails. If you want to hike - buy another book, uh. There is no even basic walk described. I laughed pretty hard when I read about poorly marked trails in the National Park on La Gomera. The reality is quite opposite. The trail-heads have excellent markings and even area maps. You wander how many years it has been since they visited last time. (the signs start show age here and there). There is nothing outstanding about this book. No personal touch like Ultimate Kaui Guide or sumptuous visual information like in DK Eye Witness series that steers you to the best sights (too bad none on Canary Islands is available yet). Explanation for this mediocre performance dawned on me when I realized what a prolific author Damien Simonis is. He "fathered or better bastardized" guide books covering about 15 - 20 areas (depending how you count) and these include whole countries like Italy, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, southern Spain and even all of Africa. Doing simple math tells you that he could not work on updating each more than 3 weeks a year. Probably many tourists would beat him in this aspect.
   I enjoyed other Lonely Planet publication but this one is a real disappointment. There is plenty of free guides in English, even hiking maps and trails, once you get to islands. Save your money and skip it.



3. I lived in the Canary Islands for 10 years. I am returning this winter for the first time as a tourist, and purchased Lonely Planet's guide, because they are normally good. Using this guide, I cannot find a single decent place to stay, any good restaurants, and even the activities list is pathetic. I know you're probably thinking that I'm just jaded because I lived there and know the spots, but from a basics perspective, not ONE of the major hotels that I know are good are listed, the three hotels that I did recognize are dumps, and the restuarant selections are crappy tourist dives without any real authenticity. Unfortunately, I don't have a good guide to recommend yet, but whatever you do, don't get this one!



4. I got the guide, because I like the Lonely planet books. Well, that one is an exception - there is nothing interesting or useful. use some other guide or go to turist information in the airport. Canaries are pretty civilized and there are not many surprises here, so maybe that is why the book is so thin and uninteresting.

No comments about Pocket Menu Reader Spain (Langenscheidt's Pocket Menu Reader).