Hidden Southern California

I checked out several tour books before we left for our southern California vacation, but chose the Ray Riegert book for it's unique suggestions for food, lodging, and tourist site recommendations. The book is well organized. We followed the chapters from San Diego through the beach towns all the way to Los Angeles. We were delighted with all of the "hidden" restaurants that we tried. It helped that all of the information was current too. Riegert's suggestions for interesting routes and parks led us through some of the most beautiful country imaginable - places we would never have seen if it were not for this book. Hidden Southern California is a great resource that we will use again and again.

This guide book covers all the bases, and even includes interesting historical digests of various districts in the Los Angeles area, the high desert and the low desert. The information is organized to assist tourists on short or longer visits, includes lots of "hidden" opportunities to eat, sightsee, or shop away from the beaten path, and is even helpful for a new resident to the L.A. area, who may not be sure where to start digesting this incredible city or the landscape around it. Highly recommended.

This guide gave me all of the information I needed to have a wonderful vacation. The information was candid, and thoughtfully presented. There were many tidbits of information/ sights I would never had thought to see if it wasn't for this book. My vacation consisted of renting a car at LAX touring along the coast (stopping at places recommended in the guide) Heading down to San Diego and then returning to LAX by traveling inland and seeing Temecula etc. It was a fun filled 10 days and all I used was this guide. If you just want the basic tourist jargon, buy a Frommers guide, not a hidden one... :-)