1 comments about Let's Go Barcelona 3rd Edition (Let's Go Barcelona).

1. We used this book as our main guide for a recent trip to Barcelona and were very happy with it. The descriptions of sites are very comprehensive, and the details (opening hours, costs, etc.) are accurate and complete. We also appreciated the sidebars about things you might run across, such as cava or the sardana.

   The most useful feature is that every site, resturant, hotel, etc. listed in the book is also pinpointed on one of the maps in the back, making things extremely easy to find.

   Also helpful is a listing of restaurants by type. I'm a vegetarian and we used the list of vegetarian restaurants constantly. Unfortunately, some of the restaurants we looked for no longer exist.

   The other book we had was Time Out Barcelona. We found the site descriptions to be inferior, but it has a very good restaurant section and also a street index which was quite helpful.

   We mostly used the Sights and Food sections, so I can't comment on the other sections in the book.

5 comments about Eyewitness Travel Guide to Barcelona and Catalonia.

1. This is a great book for any newcomer to the beautiful city of Barcelona. The images pull you in, and the background history on the Barcelona area is well done. My only gripe is that the "rest of Catalonia" section is quite small for all that's out there! If you're spending a few days in Barcelona, this is the book to buy. If you plan to spend most of your time in the surrounding region, or in the Balearic islands, I'd skip it.



2. This guide is not up to the usual D-K standard. I like to take pictures for photo.net when I travel and it is very helpful to have the little sample photos of destinations so that one can decide whether or not to invest the time.

   But D-K Barcelona is very skimpy on details and also on tourist attractions and facilities as soon as you venture out of the Old City.

   For authoritative restaurant and hotel recommendations, go with Michelin Red. For architecture and art history, get the Blue Guide. For nightlife, try the TimeOut guide. Overall, people say that the Rough Guide is very good.

   Whatever guidebook you choose, watch your belongings in Barcelona. Pickpocketing is an industry there, esp. in the Old City and on La Rambla. Women should not carry purses. Men should keep money in a money belt or zippered inner jacket pocket. Limit yourself to one camera that you can keep in your hands at all times.




3. .
   Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!

   Summary:
   Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

   The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

   The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
   ............Very complete
   ............Easy to read
   ............Beautifully and artistically completed
   ............Good shopping, safety and other tips
   ............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

   Specifics:
   The guides are organized as follows:

   How to use this guide
   Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
   Geographical Regions
   ............Introduction Barcelona and Catalonia
   ........................Intro to Barcelona / Catalonia
   ........................Portrait of Catalonia
   ........................Catalonia Through the Year (events, holidays)
   ........................History of Catalonia

   ............Barcelona Area by Area, each section includes:
   ........................Introduction to street by street area

   ........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
   ........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
   ........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.

   ........................Barcelona At a Glance
   ........................Old Town
   ........................Eixample
   ........................Monjuic
   ........................Further Afield

   ............Catalonia Area by Area
   ........................Llieda, Andorra, Girona, Barcelona Province, Tarragona

   Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
   ............Hotels
   ............Restaurants, cafes, bars
   ............Shopping
   ............Entertainment
   ............Outdoor activities

   Survival Information
   ............Practical
   ........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
   ........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
   ............Travel Information (Getting to Barcelona )

   ............Street Maps (Getting Around Barcelona )

   ............General Index
   ............Catalan Phrase Book
   ............Barcelona Metro and Train Routes (Maps)

   Discussion:
   The book begins with "Introducing Barcelona", including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Barcelona thought the Year - including events, etc.

   Areas with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

   Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

   The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I have used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, in most European cities, and Dorling has yet to disappoint me. I have found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions.

   The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

   Traveling to Barcelona Specifically:
   Do it! I have never been disappointed with Barcelona, its people, its food, or anything at all. It is definitely one of the better European cities to visit, or spend time in. Also, just south of Barcelona is a little town called "Sitges" which is an absolute Mediterranean gem! Gorgeous, friendly, beautiful beaches, and very comfortable to simple visit and relax in!

   Conclusion:
   Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.




4. Usually the Eyewitness series guide for whatever city is an unbeatable guidebook, however this one comes up a little short. It has all the great photos, as always the maps are excellent, the pictures/descriptions of the foods & architecture are very good. It is the same successful formula they use in their series of guidebooks but here they could have expanded some where they condensed. There is nothing in the book about bullfighting, or flamenco; there are 2 pages on Romanesque architecture, 2 pages on Modernism architecture, nothing on Gothic even though Barcelona has one of the most complete Gothic neighborhoods in all of Europe. The first 40 pages are history and introduction, food, flora, art etc.: Only 49 pages on the city sights, 20 pages on the rest of Catalonia. It is as if they rushed to compact everything as they might with somewhere much larger, like New York City. The book could have relaxed and breathed a bit more. The town of Tarragona with its great cathedral and fantastic Roman ruins only gets two columns of ink. There are only 6 pages of detailed maps in the back, Parc Guell is not even on the map.
   If you are going to BCN you should get this book, match it up with National Geographic Traveler Barcelona and the Time Out Guide



5. I've been born in Barcelona and I am an enthusiastic traveller all around the world and a travel guide collector. It is true that the visual standard of the Eyewitness travel Guides is topnotch (oh, that beautiful DK design...), but the lack of really useful information is certainly a problem of these guides. And here, with the Barcelona guide, that problem is even more evident than in others. Yes, it is good for the top visits you need to do during a week-end, but it lacks the necessary info for a long-term stay (that Barcelona is certainly worth) or for a trip to be planned on your own. What about low-budget hotels and restaurants? Not even one. What about information about timetables, trains, buses? Where are they? The Lonely planet / Rough guides may be less lush, but certainly more useful concerning such matters (with good reviews concerning hotels/ restaurants/ services... for all budgets). Not to mention the lack of detailed information about gastronomy/ history/ culture. It is painful.
   
   So, it seems that the Eyewitness travels are aimed to customers with their trip arranged in a circuit... staying about one night or two in Barcelona and who need a minimal information for their stay.

No comments about Walking in Portugal.

1 comments about Cartagena (Ulysses Due South).

1. A very complete information about Cartagena, if you read it before you travel to this city, when you are here you will know all about the city, the exploring places, restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc. It will be if you were been here before. If you will think to travel Cartagena and you want to know all about it, you will need to read this book before.

No comments about Bilbao & the Basque Lands, 3rd (Country & Regional Guides - Cadogan).

No comments about Highway into Spain,.

No comments about Drive Around Portugal, 2nd: Your guide to great drives. Top 25 Tours. (Drive Around - Thomas Cook).

3 comments about Cultural Atlas of Spain and Portugal (Cultural Atlas of).

1. This book offers an interesting, non-textbook style cultural and socio-political history of Spain and Portugal, well illustrated by plenty of excellent photographs. The special sections on cultural, architectural features and the great artists of the countries, like "paella", "The Great Mosque of Cordoba" and "Dali" are excellent. Another good thing about this book is that you can start reading from anywhere because the sections are self-contained. Unfortunately, not enough is mentioned about Portugal, at least not to the proportion it deserves. It is good book for those planning to visit the countries as well as those who have been there and just want to sppreciate more the history and culture of the Iberia.



2. Unfortunately the authors have no idea what the word ATLAS means (this seems to be the case with most recent so-called atlases that I have seen). Although there are a few maps, anyone who was hoping for an extensive series of interesting and detailed maps will be sorely disappointed.



3. This book is excellent. It is exactly what it says it is, a cultural atlas (map of culture). The book gives an refreshing survey of Iberian history. The book covers the Phonicians, Greeks thru the death of Franco. The book abounds with topographic and cultural maps. A must buy!!!!

No comments about Casa Battlo: Gaudi.

No comments about Lonely Planet Madrid Condensed.