Germany

Is this is the first time you 're looking for a tourist guide...don't look anymore, this is the one you want. I was looking for a good guide to go around Germany, while I'm here, and this one just work perfectly me, it gives you a little map of the mayor cities with all the hot spots and an introduction to German history in general and useful travel tips, they also cover all the german states... beautifully illustrated, with a lot of pictures and very useful information. It's an awesome guide!!

I am in the US Navy and am stationed over seas. I have relied on Eyewitness Travel Guides (ETG) for travelling throughout Italy (and specific ones for Florence, Venice, Sardinia, & Naples), Germany, and France. ETG descibes the qualities in every location so that you can tailor the trip to met your agenda and desires. They describe everything from churches to ruins to castles to festhalls. I even knew where to purchase tickets for watertaxis, buses, theatres, and shows. I once was stuck unintentionally in an area due to a flight problem, but due to ETG, I had the time of my life. I would not have known what was in the area without it. Don't leave home without it. Forget Rick Steve's guides. They are too specific and assume that you don't want to know about what else is in the surrounding areas.

.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.But, 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.Summary Negative:The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Munich, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the Berlin Section is fairly good)Guide Specifics:The guides are organized as follows:How to use this guideIntroduction to Germany............Portrait of Germany............History of Germany............Germany Through the YearBerlin, Area by AreaGermany by Region............Eastern Germany........................Specific Cities / Towns............Southern Germany........................Specific Cities / Towns............Western Germany........................Specific Cities / Towns............Northern Germany........................Specific Cities / TownsTravelers Needs............Hotels............Restaurants............ShoppingSurvival Information............Practical Info.........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.............Travel Info.........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.............General Index............Phrase Book Discussion:The book begins with "A Portrait of Germany", including a complete map, a review of Germany, it's history, and Germany's History (very interesting), and Germany thought the Year - including events, etc., Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, 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 used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and 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.Negative:The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the spec

So you are looking for a travel guide to Germany!? Well you have found one of the most helpful books out there. DK Travel books, if you have never used one, are extremely well written guides to getting around almost any european country, and are organized as follows...First the book is divided into 14 sections, one for each area of the country (Bavaria, Rhine, etc), with a section on Munich and Berlin as well. Then each section has a beautiful hand drawn map with roads and mini castles drawn in, which is numbered...for example, Bavarias map will have 28 numbers on it with Rothenburg being 17. You then look a bunch of pages later for number 17 and there is a whole page on rothenburg, including 5 pictures from around town and a 3d drawing of the town with the important sites marked and a proposed walking tour of the town. That is what makes this book...the attention to detail. The drawings are very numerous and very helpful and are only outdone by the wonderful photography that allows you to see where you are going to go. Also included are sections on driving in germany, sleeping in germany (hotel prices and numbers included), eating in germany, etc. The eating section is even unique in that there are little pictures of the different dishes you will run into so, even if you can't pronounce Weinerschnitzel (sp?) you will know what it looks like. A section is devoted to the different beers you will find and one on the most beautiful castles throughtout the country. What all these benefits give you is not only an awesome tool to plan your trip but a great picture book to keep on your coffeetable!Only weakness I found with this book is that most of the accomodations listed are fairly expensive...hotels +75$ a night and restaurants +20$...this is over my budget so...One word of advise...Couple this book with 'Rick Steves Germany, austria, and switz' (For the real intimate details of each of Ricks favorite areas of Germany) and if you still need info on hotels, restaurants and tips of what to see than settle for Let's Go Germany or western Europe. This combo of books will tell you all you need to know while planning your trip and while travelling around in Germany...Enjoy and have safe travels...

Eyewitness Travel Guides continue to impress me. This is the best series of travel books available! The book's content is set up by first introducing the country or city (Germany, in this case) through history, timelines, and maps. Then, the country or city is broken into sections (German states, in this case, and also special sections on the cities of Berlin and Munich), each clearly identified on the inside of the front cover and also color coded.The content within the sections shows you all different types of activities and sights for each state. It includes maps, walking tours, and points of interest. Each point of interest gives a description as well as tells you contact information, hours, nearest U-bahn or S-bahn stop, method of payment accepted, etc. But the biggest plus of this series of travel guides is not what they tell you but how much they SHOW you! There are many, many color photographs and drawings that accompany the points of interest. This is definitely the BEST part of the book.The back section offers helpful travel information, such as currency, getting around, visas and other travel requirements, shopping, dining, and lodging. If you are looking for a travel guide that will tell you all of the best hotels/motels as well as rate restaurants, this is not the travel guide for you. This information is pretty thin and I would recommend one of the other books on the market for that. However, if you are looking for a guide that will show you what to do once you arrive, this one can't be beat!This series also has a map section in the back, and usually it is a great map of the city that the book is about. However, since this is a guide for a whole country, the map portion is an overall map of Germany, which is helpful for getting to and from a city, but not so helpful once you're there. The sections on Berlin and Munich do, however, have the city maps I have come to know and love.These are also great books to explore a destination, even if you can't physically travel there. Since it shows you so many things through photos and descriptions, you almost feel like you've been there without ever leaving home! Great series!!!