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Lonely Planet Discover Europe
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other'. New York
Times
Interactive and inspiring, Discover Europe highlights all the must-see
sights and must-do experiences through stunning images, insider tips, tailored
itineraries and easy-to-navigate content. Discover Europe is the ideal tool for
planning and experiencing your perfect trip.
This guide is the result of
months of research by 14 dedicated authors and local experts who immersed
themselves in Europe, finding unique experiences, and sharing practical and
honest advice, so you come away informed and amazed.
Inside Lonely Planet
Discover
Times
Interactive and inspiring, Discover Europe highlights all the must-see
sights and must-do experiences through stunning images, insider tips, tailored
itineraries and easy-to-navigate content. Discover Europe is the ideal tool for
planning and experiencing your perfect trip.
This guide is the result of
months of research by 14 dedicated authors and local experts who immersed
themselves in Europe, finding unique experiences, and sharing practical and
honest advice, so you come away informed and amazed.
Inside Lonely Planet
Discover
- GenresTravel
816 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2011
12 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Lonely Planet
3,679 books885 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 12, 2016
I decided to get this book because it includes places I’m going in a few months and places I’ve been over the past few years. By examining how they treat the places I’ve been, I can likely assess the quality of their coverage. I use Rick Steves guide books for detailed info, but the pics in other travel books (like this one) tend to pop. This is a heavy doorstopper book, for starters, with very condensed information. I wouldn’t want to walk around the cities with it. So, I would likely leave it at home and use it for making decisions beforehand, and possibly tear out some relevant pages to bring with me.
The contents are color-coded and easy to find, with the following countries in separate sections: Britain and Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, and Greece. The maps are quite detailed and informational—I’d give those 5 stars. There’s a lot of different scaled scaled maps, e.g., close-ups of a section of town, such as Greater London, Central Rome, Berlin, etc., or a city, or a globe look of a country. The maps make this a worthy book.
Some of the maps, like the Tower of London, are unnecessary, as you’ll get an even better map at the actual site. But I did like the river map of the Thames, with Tube stops clearly marked. The Greater Vienna street map was my least favorite. We must have walked around the Ringstrasse 30 times, and I am familiar with the area, but the map here, although busy with text, isn’t user-friendly or clearly delineated, as far as the Ring.
Some of the thumbnail sketches are better than others. The Reichstag in Berlin tells you all you need to know to visit. It lists the contact website to request mandatory (free, but advanced rez required) reservations. And the thumbnails also give you the address, days and hours that it is opened, and public transport stops. But the “Checkpoint Charlie” site, although listed as a tacky tourist trap, fails to mention that it isn’t even the REAL Checkpoint Charlie! It was informative, though, about Hitler’s Bunker now being a paved over parking area (to some apts).
The Venice section impressed me with gorgeous pictures. But, what happened to Burano, the city of lace and pastel houses? It was easily my favorite stop in the Venice area, a long two-hour or more water taxi ride, but I enjoyed it more than Murano (which is highlighted), the city of the famous blown glass. I definitely take points off for no Burano mention.
There is a lot of helpful info, sometimes in sidebars on the pages, or colored in, or given a feature on a page. For example, “If you like German castles;” museums; a piece on Dachau Concentration camp and the times open for tours; my favorite areas in the Rhine area and Bavarian region; and even the thermal baths in Baden-Baden, where we are going this Xmas. There’s transportation info; an A-Z thumbnail directory on everything from Internet access, Gay and Lesbian Travellers, Money (and ATMs), Safe Travel, Traveling with Disabilities, and even some basic phrases (and pronunciation) in various languages.
I don’t use any guide book, really, for dining (we like to be spontaneous about that), so I can’t comment on its usefulness or accuracy. Food quality is so subjective, anyway. I may use a book just to find unusual settings for dining. As far as sleeping accommodations, I didn’t find this too useful, either. Very few are listed, and most are the more pricey ones.
There’s a lengthy section on Paris, as to be expected, but nothing pops that I haven’t already seen or read elsewhere. We will be going to Amsterdam, Bruges, and Ghent in December, and I plan to tear out the map pages, and use them as an adjunct to the more detailed info on the cities in my Rick Steves book.
In conclusion, I would advise this book as a more superficial guide, or an adjunct to a more detailed guide like RS. The info here is more like quickie Internet guidance, but, as I mentioned, I really like a lot of the maps. The RS guides are much lighter weight due to thinner pages, but this could make a decent coffee table book. It isn’t practical to bring it whole, but parceling out pages would be useful. The maps are what shines!
The contents are color-coded and easy to find, with the following countries in separate sections: Britain and Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, and Greece. The maps are quite detailed and informational—I’d give those 5 stars. There’s a lot of different scaled scaled maps, e.g., close-ups of a section of town, such as Greater London, Central Rome, Berlin, etc., or a city, or a globe look of a country. The maps make this a worthy book.
Some of the maps, like the Tower of London, are unnecessary, as you’ll get an even better map at the actual site. But I did like the river map of the Thames, with Tube stops clearly marked. The Greater Vienna street map was my least favorite. We must have walked around the Ringstrasse 30 times, and I am familiar with the area, but the map here, although busy with text, isn’t user-friendly or clearly delineated, as far as the Ring.
Some of the thumbnail sketches are better than others. The Reichstag in Berlin tells you all you need to know to visit. It lists the contact website to request mandatory (free, but advanced rez required) reservations. And the thumbnails also give you the address, days and hours that it is opened, and public transport stops. But the “Checkpoint Charlie” site, although listed as a tacky tourist trap, fails to mention that it isn’t even the REAL Checkpoint Charlie! It was informative, though, about Hitler’s Bunker now being a paved over parking area (to some apts).
The Venice section impressed me with gorgeous pictures. But, what happened to Burano, the city of lace and pastel houses? It was easily my favorite stop in the Venice area, a long two-hour or more water taxi ride, but I enjoyed it more than Murano (which is highlighted), the city of the famous blown glass. I definitely take points off for no Burano mention.
There is a lot of helpful info, sometimes in sidebars on the pages, or colored in, or given a feature on a page. For example, “If you like German castles;” museums; a piece on Dachau Concentration camp and the times open for tours; my favorite areas in the Rhine area and Bavarian region; and even the thermal baths in Baden-Baden, where we are going this Xmas. There’s transportation info; an A-Z thumbnail directory on everything from Internet access, Gay and Lesbian Travellers, Money (and ATMs), Safe Travel, Traveling with Disabilities, and even some basic phrases (and pronunciation) in various languages.
I don’t use any guide book, really, for dining (we like to be spontaneous about that), so I can’t comment on its usefulness or accuracy. Food quality is so subjective, anyway. I may use a book just to find unusual settings for dining. As far as sleeping accommodations, I didn’t find this too useful, either. Very few are listed, and most are the more pricey ones.
There’s a lengthy section on Paris, as to be expected, but nothing pops that I haven’t already seen or read elsewhere. We will be going to Amsterdam, Bruges, and Ghent in December, and I plan to tear out the map pages, and use them as an adjunct to the more detailed info on the cities in my Rick Steves book.
In conclusion, I would advise this book as a more superficial guide, or an adjunct to a more detailed guide like RS. The info here is more like quickie Internet guidance, but, as I mentioned, I really like a lot of the maps. The RS guides are much lighter weight due to thinner pages, but this could make a decent coffee table book. It isn’t practical to bring it whole, but parceling out pages would be useful. The maps are what shines!
June 26, 2016
Good for seeing little things that don't come up on the web.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews