The Rough Guide to Europe 2006 edition is the indispensable budget guide to the continent. There is a 24-page full-colour section containing a selective and subjective taste of the continent’’s highlights. The guide contains over 100 maps and a variety of itineraries to help you plan your trip. There are up-to-the minute accounts of all the main attractions, from London’’s legendary club scene to the best beaches in Greece. It includes comprehensive lowdowns on Europe’’s coolest festivals, finest museums and most exciting outdoor activities. There are also plenty of lively reviews of the best-value places to eat, drink and sleep. The practical focus is on budget travel, with everything students and backpackers need to know to get the most from a trip - covering everything from InterRail passes and budget airlines to cycling and organised trips.
Customer Review: A must for a European trip
What I like best about the Rough Guides is that they give critical reviews. They will point out the tourist traps and will give negative reviews. I find that Frommer’s and Fodor’s rarely point out the negatives to a particular… The rough guide is very critical and is a great balance to these other guides.
If you aren’t interested in “roughing” it and staying in lower priced hotels.. the guides are still very useful in rating attractions, and areas in which to stay… but you will need another book to look at more moderate and luxury hotels.
I would definitely read this book before going to Europe.
Customer Review: A Great Buy for the Average Traveler
The Rough Guide To Europe 2006 is a great book to pick up if you’re not the most adventurous but more-so the average traveler looking for a great time in some of the best known or little known towns and cities. The guide provides an easy to read and discover map legend that will help you decide what route to choose whether you’re using car, train, or other means of transportation to get around. However, I do enjoy the highly detailed country maps of Fodor’s Europe more for getting around country to country.
The introduction itself gives you a nice opening to Europe even if you’ve been there previously. This shows you top five catagories about some of the best places to go, where to eat, what events to check out and a host of other features. After reading through the introduction you’ll find the Europe Itineraries - this section will give you good ideas about where to go if you plan to travel from place to place in different regions. The writers even go as far as to write out a Grand Tour featuring the top 12 cities to visit in order to really take in Europe at it’s finest spots. Although, this is only for those that can afford such a trip. Each town and city is covered very well, some more detailed than others of course.
For personal opinion I like that they added Morocco even though it is not a part of Europe. This is a rather unique and wonderful country to visit. In many cities you’ll be able to see snake charmers, street performers, and a host of lovely family created items that you will desperatly want to take home with you. On a sad note, information on Iceland is not present again even though the country’s largest city Reykjavýk is rising as a popular vacationing spot for parties. The country itself is a wonder to view and is sorely missed from this guide, however this does not hold it back from receiving a 5-star rating as there is other material available that will make up for the loss. For information on Iceland I suggest buying Fodor’s Europe.
I travel a lot so these (Rough Guide to Europe and Fodor’s Europe) are the two European Guides I pick up each year to stay updated. I hope that this review has been helpful to those who took the time to read it. Good luck on all of your journeys. Buy Now