Michelin Must Sees Hawaiian Islands

I like Michelin travel publications, and this one is no exception. The book is very basic, but nicely done. The illustrations are excellent, the book is printed on durable glossy paper, the formatting makes it easy to use, and the information is generally useful. The book is probably best used as a initial trip idea guide, as the information provided is not detailed enough to make this a sole source guidebook; fortunately there are many excellent comprehensive guides available for Hawaii. I have a couple of reservations about the book. Even though it is focused on only the "must sees" it is a very short tome for such a large undertaking. I was also unclear about the star system used. Most of the entries have from one to three stars by a location, but some of them have no stars; I found that to be a distraction to weighing options and alternatives. Furthering the confusion were some inconsistencies: on page 111 the north shore beaches receive a single star, yet surfing as a spectator sport receives two on page 129, with the north shore specifically recommended. I was aghast that Pearl Harbor received a two star endorsement: it is not only one of the most historically important spots in the world, it is as beautiful as it is moving. In sum, this is a good, basic book about Hawaii. While it isn't perfect it is worth a look, especially if you are a first time visitor to the islands or are just starting to plan your trip. Aloha!

Lots of good basic info on all the major attractions. Used on a cruise that hit all of the islands and was very helpful in deciding what to do for a day or two on each island.

The pros: *This book is user-friendly, with its easy-to-read type, nice color photos and segmented format, so that you don't get giant blocks of copy that are hard to wade through. *Must See For Kids sections. *Color-coded bars at the tops of all the pages, so you can see clearly where the sections for various islands start and end. *The general-info section at the beginning is simple and easy to read and find what you're looking for. *On the maps, the sights are labeled with the star ratings next to them, so you can get a good overview of where the good stuff is. The cons: *It's pretty small for a book that has to encompass every island. It won't be your single-source, comprehensive guidebook. It'll work very well as a supplement to additional research; you'll need to go online, since they list several companies' websites. (For some people this may be preferable; it depends on how you like to receive your information.) *The sights they list generally have 1-3 stars; however, some have no stars, so we're left wondering if these didn't get reviewed, or if they didn't even rate any stars at all. Which also leaves you wondering why they bothered to list it in the book if it's not very good. *The stars ratings system isn't detailed as to why they chose certain amounts of stars for the sights listed. I'd be interested to learn what makes a destination or company 3 stars, and why its counterpart may only have 1-2, but they never say. Their definition of a great time may be different from mine; I may look for different features than they do. So I can't tell if my expectations match up with their reviews. Overall, it's a pretty good little book, but as I said, you'll need other resources to get the whole picture.