Ralph

Hi,

    > I´m planning to travel from Turkey to Spain and I need the best guide,
    > what´s your recommendation about the following guides:

Personally, I'm not happy with Europe guides. Europe is a big place with
many different cultures, all of them worth exploring. So no guide in
this world can really cover them. That said...

    > * Let´s Go Europe
    > * Lonely Planet

... I consider the LP to be much better than Let's Go. More background
information, more travelling tips, more about the countries and
attitudes, mentalities and sensibilities you're going to find. Easy to
read, always good for a laugh (dry humor). And incredibly accurate
information. I read the LP guide to Germany and found it to be 80%
accurate (refering to the latter 4). This may not seem much at first
glance, but it's a lot more than any other guide can offer.

Let's Go usually contains more addresses & phone numbers, though.

    > I´m 29 years old going with my wife.

Enjoy. Don't miss Italy. Splendid place.

Ralph

The Wests

In article ,
Juliana L Holm wrote:

    > I'd add that Lonely Plant incorporates more background historical and
    > cultural information than the other two.
    >
    > Also that Rick Steves is good for new travellers, especially hesitant ones;
    > but not as useful for experienced travellers.
    >
    > I usually get a LP and if its a longer trip I get a Let's Go, too. Then I
    > cut
    > out the pages of the places I am going of all but one guide (usually the LP,
    > so that if I decide to go to a small town I am covered.)
    >
    > Julie
    >
    > Barbara Vaughan wrote:
    >
    >
    > > Jakkov wrote:
    > >>
    > >> I£¿ planning to travel from Turkey to Spain and I need the best guide,
    > >> what£¿ your recommendation about the following guides:
    > >>
    > >> * Let£¿ Go Europe
    > >> * Lonely Planet
    > >> * Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2003

Buy the newest guidebook - currency counts.

Also look at the rec.travel.europe FAQ which covers guidebooks:
http://isc.faqs.org/faqs/travel/europe/faq/

You haven't mentioned how you plan to use the guide (culture, hostels,
food?) nor your travel budget. That influences guidebook choice as you
can see from the previous responses.

Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door is a planning guide for new
travelers, not a guidebook.

Frances
Canada

Hatunen

On Fri, 21 Mar 2003 12:07:10 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
wrote:

    >Hatunen wrote:
    >> On Thu, 20 Mar 2003 09:28:49 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
    >> wrote:
    >> >
    >> >Hatunen wrote:
    >> >
    >> >> On Wed, 19 Mar 2003 10:55:49 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
    >> >> wrote:
    >> >> >Besides which, with all that dough don't you think the guy could at
    >least
    >> >> >get a decent haircut and a wardrobe consultant? Geez, he looks and
    >acts
    >> >> >like a socially retarded and poverty - sticken 40 year - old graduate
    >> >> >student or something....
    >> >>
    >> >> Well, now. There's a well-reasoned comment about his books.
    >> >>
    >> >
    >> >
    >> >His *books* are readable. His teevee show is *unbearable*.
    >> The OP asked about books...
    >Uh oh, Dave! I guess it's that threaded "thread drift" again....!!!

I've lost the previous posts, but I believe if you read back you will
see it was *you* that drifted it.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen

On Fri, 21 Mar 2003 02:06:41 GMT, "Viktor"
wrote:

    >> >Make sure you look at them all in a book store. All of those books
    >> >appeal to different audiences. Let's Go books appeal to a younger,
    >> >poorer crowd, especially backpackers. Lonely Planet, as well as
    >> >Rough Guides, offer lots and lots of options for those who like to
    >> >explore all options. Rick Steves' books are very opinionated and
    >> >really only explain what he thinks is worthwhile in a country. I find
    >> >his attitude amusing because he is a complete liberal, and liberals
    >> >tend to want you to do only what they tell you to do.
    >> You obviously haven't read his books very carefully. He constantly
    >> harps on doing your own thing. Unlike the other two books, which are
    >> written by teams of people so they can cover an entire country, Steves
    >> writes his stuff himself (with editorial help, I'm sure) and tends to
    >> write only abbut the places he's actually been. The Steves books are
    >> totally different animals from the others.
    >You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Yes, I have
    >read his books on the areas I visited. In the introduction to his books
    >is the line "But after more than two busy decades of travel writing,
    >lecturing, and tour guiding, I've developed a sixth sense of what tickles
    >the traveler's fancy." That is quite presumptuous.

Presumptious != untrue. Or are you claiming it's also untrue?

    >He could have more
    >accurately written that he understands the kind of people who take
    >guided tours, especially those that are Steves groupies.

Isn't that rather a truism? But I still say he also recommends one
tour on one's own, and gives a lot of advice on how to do so. this
might not be so obvious if you haven't read his larger oeuvre. His
"Europe Through the Back Door" is almost entirely devoted to the ins
and outs of independent travel.

    >Also, I've
    >never understood why you constantly defend his books, as he generally
    >dimisses Helsinki, and Finland in general, as not worth more than eight
    >hours of sightseeing.

If you had read some of my previous posts on this you would find that
I agree with him about Helsinki; much as I love the city there really
is only about eight hours of good sightseeing, or maybe a full day or
so at best. And the country doesn't have a lot to recommend itself to
the typical tourist, with few buildings of wide repute, little of
historical interest to the world at large, and not much art of the
distinction of that to be found in the Orsay or Louvre. This is a
totally different matter from whether I enjoy myself there, usually
spending a week to three weeks at a time, and I do much recommend
Helsinki as a place where one may park oneself for a week and enjoy a
fairly laid-back life partaking of the mood of the a town and
countryside .



************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Terryo

The Wests wrote in message news:...
    > In article ,

    > > Also that Rick Steves is good for new travellers, especially hesitant ones;
    > > but not as useful for experienced travellers.

Well, that's true of Europe Through the Back Door, but not true of his
books for specific cities and countries. I'm an experienced
traveller, and I found his books on Rome and Italy to be dead on.
They are were current and accurate in every respect, and are to a
large extent the result of his personal investigations, much more so
than other guidebooks.

(Though I must admit that another reason I like them is because he
spends less space than most guides on shopping and nightlife, which
I'm not interested in when I travel. If you're into those activities,
then I can see why you'd prefer other guides.)

Crazyone - Greg Pacek

In article , Ralph
wrote:

    > > * Let´s Go Europe
    > > * Lonely Planet
    >
    > ... I consider the LP to be much better than Let's Go. More background
    > information, more travelling tips, more about the countries and
    > attitudes, mentalities and sensibilities you're going to find. Easy to
    > read, always good for a laugh (dry humor). And incredibly accurate
    > information. I read the LP guide to Germany and found it to be 80%
    > accurate (refering to the latter 4). This may not seem much at first
    > glance, but it's a lot more than any other guide can offer.
    >
    > Let's Go usually contains more addresses & phone numbers, though.

I would agree here. Just came back from UK, having spent time in
England and Wales. We had a Let's Go UK/Ireland and a Lonely Planet
Wales. Actually, the LP is getting better about addresses/phone
numbers of the restaurants and lodgings, but you still can't beat Let's
Go for being updated every single year. Make sure you get the most
current version of every guidebook; even the Let's Go still might be
off on things like admission prices or times, but it'll be way closer.
Our 2003 edition was spot on on most things. (We also did extensive
research and planning on the web before going, though.) It was at
times nice having both (there was overlap as the Let's Go includes
Wales, of course), although some of the restaurant choices were
repeated. The writing style of Let's Go is kinda fun, irreverent at
times, bluntly negative when the writers/editors deem necessary. LP is
slightly less likely to do that, but the cultural backround is nice.
For instance, in the Wales book there is a bit on Welsh language, how
to pronounce it, etc., even though it's entirely unnecessary to know it
for your visit (except to pronounce a few place names, perhaps. Easy
enough to get that wrong when they're in English!)

I would suggest getting country-specific guides over a large Europe
guide unless that is made entirely impractical by the sheer number of
countries involved or something. (Of course, if that's true, I might
suggest examining the itinerary and doing only part of it but in
greater depth.) Even the country guides I often found lacking in
coverage for the large cities. If you're going to be spending any
significant time in one big city (London, Paris, etc.), it will pay to
get a city-specific guide. In 1996 I spent a week in London and
another in Paris and found the Let's Go guides for those cities packed
with pretty useful stuff (updated every year, remember). This time
while we only spent 3 days in London, I was disappointed with how
little info I had on it as far as food recommendations, etc. The Let's
Go guide did a good job on the city considering they had to cram the
rest of the country plus Ireland into the same book. But for several
days in one city, you need a city-specific book for sure.

--
CrazyOne | "I say what it occurs to me to say
aka Greg Pacek | when I think I hear people say
Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Earth | things. More I cannot say."

The Wests

In article ,
[email protected] (Terryo) wrote:

    > The Wests wrote in message
    > news:...
    > > In article ,
    >
    > > > Also that Rick Steves is good for new travellers, especially hesitant
    > > > ones;
    > > > but not as useful for experienced travellers.
    >
    > Well, that's true of Europe Through the Back Door, but not true of his
    > books for specific cities and countries. I'm an experienced
    > traveller, and I found his books on Rome and Italy to be dead on.
    > They are were current and accurate in every respect, and are to a
    > large extent the result of his personal investigations, much more so
    > than other guidebooks.
    >
    > (Though I must admit that another reason I like them is because he
    > spends less space than most guides on shopping and nightlife, which
    > I'm not interested in when I travel. If you're into those activities,
    > then I can see why you'd prefer other guides.)

Hi,

I didn't say that!
I said "Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door is a planning guide
for new travelers, not a guidebook."

I like his guidebooks; I like Mona Winks, his guide to museums and
Europe 101 and I like Europe Through the Back Door!

I too am not a shopper nor am I into nightlife.

For culture, take a look at the Blue Guides and Knopf. And as I
mentioned in my original post, take a look at the FAQ for
rec.travel.europe which covers guidebooks. There was quite a discussion
on rec.travel.europe and it is distilled in the FAQ.

Frances
Canada

azzure

Gregory Morrow wrote:
    > wrote:
    >>Hatunen wrote:
    >>>On Wed, 19 Mar 2003 10:55:49 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
    >>> wrote:
    >>>Besides which, with all that dough don't you think the guy could at least
    >>>>get a decent haircut and a wardrobe consultant? Geez, he looks and acts
    >>>>like a socially retarded and poverty - sticken 40 year - old graduate
    >>>>student or something....
    >>>Well, now. There's a well-reasoned comment about his books.
    >>Consider the source.
    >
    >
    >
    > Hey, I'm just giving my opinion. What's yours?
    >
    > --
    > Best
    > Greg

I think he looks and acts like a nice guy. Socially retarded? No, just
someone who appears to be (and is) very interested in whatever he is
involved in. My wife and I have seen him speak on several occasions and
have noticed how much more striking and "manly" he is in person. He has
very strong opinions about the war and about the ridiculous amounts of
money our country has always spent on defense and the pitifully small
amounts we spend on helping the indigent in our own nation. He does not
offer these opinions without A LOT of encouragement from what ever
audience he is speaking to. I admire him very much for the humanist
approach he has. His tours to Germany include a stop at a concentration
camp because it is important. He really seems to love meeting and
relating to people. He has a very palpable joy of life. I think people
who enjoy his tours are not the usual
take-care-of-me-because-I-paid-you-money ugly american. Some people do
not use his tours because their philosophies differ. And he is very
obvious in his talks that he wants to weed out the jaded travelers.
You've got to be in good physical shape and have an open attitude to use
his tours.

Now, if we could just afford them. ;^)