Travel to Great Britain

Rick Steves' London 2007 (Rick Steves)

Format: Paperback
Author: Rick Steves
ReleaseDate: 11 December, 2006
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Rating:

Not nearly as good as other London travel books
If found it severely lacking for a number of reasons: First, it has very few maps, the ones it does have are terrible, and there is no coordination between descriptions of things and their location on the maps. I'm amazed at the positive reviews this book has received. Second, it lacks the kind of detail that you'll find in some other books. Finally, the section dealing with accommodations is almost completely useless. Overall, I was extremely disappointed with this book.

If you want really good London tavel guides, the Rough Gude to London and the Eyewitness London guide are far, far better.

Great resource
This book was one of the major resources we used to help plan our trip, as well as guide us once we were there. My husband and I just got back from a week in London (my second visit there, his first).

This book gives lots of good advice. I especially liked the walks, as well as the guided tours of several major sites. Another plus was that this book, unlike many, tells you plainly which spots are not worth a visit. We also found the maps very helpful, and we carried this book around with us every day to help us find our way around.

Much as I like this book, it does have a few shortcomings:
1. I didn't find it very helpful regrading specific places to stay. It mentions only a few hotels, and we didn't end up staying at any mentioned in the book (instead, we rented a 1bd flat in S. Kensington for a week, which turned out great).
2. Similarly, there aren't many suggestions on where to eat. This was okay, though, as we mostly chose restaurants that looked good and were convenient.
3. Like many books, this one assumes the visit will happen during warm months. We visited during February, so all the tips about picnics were pretty useless.
4. I like to shop, and the book has only a small section on that topic.
5. Although the major sites are well-covered, some of the more obscure ones (e. g. , the Freud Museum) aren't mentioned at all.

Having said all that, however, I can still recommend this book. The commentary is helpful and honest, and, perhaps in conjunction with other resources, it will serve most visitors well.

London for dummies.
This is the only travel guide first-time visitors will need to explore the city's attractions along the Thames including the British Museum, the Tate museums, Westminster Abbey, St. London is one of Europe's top travel destinations, and Rick Steves knows London. Paul's, and the Tower of London. I took two travel guides with me on my recent New Year's visit to London, and this proved to be the much better of the two.

Steves' guide not only offers a helpful map of London, guided walks through historic London, and through the Westminster, Thames bankside, and West End areas of the city, and insightful commentary on touring the British, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, and National Gallery museums, but it also leads readers to numerous opportunities to experience British culture on their own, beyond the pages of this book. For first-time travelers to London, this guide is essential.

G. Merritt.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Great Britain travel books.

	The London Mapguide, 4th Edition
	Rick Steves' Paris 2007 (Rick Steves)
	London (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
	Streetwise London (Streetwise)