DK Eyewitness Great Britain

My work has provided me with the opportunity to travel a good bit. I am the type of person who wants to get a working background for my destinations, both in terms of history and geographic layout. Because I work, I don't have a great deal of time to spend reading and studying different, often lengthy, travel guides before or during my trips. Because these guides are concise, beautifully illustrated, relatively compact, and impeccably organized, I cannot recommend highly enough the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides! The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide is THE guide I buy for every destination. Not only do I get a quick history and background of the destination, but I also will be provided with a visual guide to everything. The visual detail is really what sets the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides apart. The street maps of common destination points are drawn in dimensional detail so you will visually recognize when you "get there." The regional maps are colorful and concise. And the drawings associated with attractions like museums allow the traveler who is short on time to quickly see the best of the museum within the time the traveler has to spend. Each DK Eyewitness Travel Guide has a good summary section in the back with practical information about where to eat, where to sleep, what to do, and how to get around. While I may supplement the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide with others for a more detailed travel guide, the other guide is only more to read, not more to see. Buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide first for any destination.

I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.[...] <br /> <br />Eyewitness Travel Guides <br />Eyewitness is appropriately named as each book provides spectacular 3d aerial angled views of the primary tourists sections. The accompanying information has the full color photos everyone seems to want but what is great about these guides is that they do a fairly good job of providing details about sites, odd stories to perk your interest, and little known things to give you a decent background. The history timelines are visually interesting and do a lot for American perspectives as it helps us a lot to see the full spread of the centuries in order to understand where the sites we are seeing fit into the multi-millenneal scope of things. These are justifiably the best selling travel books for Americans. <br /> <br />[...]

I'm only 13, but collecting travel books is one of my passions. I've got 35 right now. The Great Britain book is one of the best! I was just there actually last month as an 8th-grade graduation present. This book is just GREAT! Cool history info, stuff about the country, cutaways and floor plans just bring Britain into my life. The LONDON section is the best, with "tube" stations marked and many cutaways and floor plans! GREAT BOOK, INDEED!

.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 Wessex, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the London Section is fairly good)Guide Specifics:The guides are organized as follows:How to use this guideIntroduction to Great Britain............Portrait of Great Britain............History of Great Britain............Great Britain Through the YearLondon, Area by AreaGreat Britain by Region............Southeast England........................Specific Cities / Towns............West Country........................Specific Cities / Towns............Midlands........................Specific Cities / Towns............North Country........................Specific Cities / Towns............Wales........................Specific Cities / Towns............Scotland........................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 Great Britain", including a complete map, a review of Great Britain, it's history, and Great Britain's History (very interesting), and Great Britain though 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

Covering every imaginable spot of interest in Great Britain and packed with maps and color pictures, this is a travel guide you could enjoy just reading like a novel. The attractive layout and photos of locations and attractions really help you decide what to include in your itinerary. Color diagrams of museums, castles and sightseeing districts makes you feel more in control and less lost. With this guide and a car, we traveled for a month and were never disappointed.