Rick Steves' Spain and Portugul

i'm thrilled with the purchase of our first rick steves travel book. his website and tv shows are VERY informative and practical and this 2008 book on Spain does not disappoint. it's not too clunky to take with us on our travels - yet, for day trips, we're photocopying a few "walking tour" pages so we don't have to take the book with us when we're travelling lighter. ... while he doesn't highlight EVERY inch of spain, he surely hits all the highlights! NO complaints and we look forward to experiencing more of the world through his expertise!

As indicated in his book, the author does not try to pack anything and everything into his travel guide. Rather, he tries to winnow things out and focus on the important highlights of a particular country. That is why this book was so appealing to me. Other books are like heavy tomes that contain more facts and information than you need and are not likely to remember. I think Rick Steve's cuts to the chase. My only criticism of his book is that I found the restaurants he recommended to be uneven. Some of the restaurants were good and others were simply average at best. I felt that his other recommendations as to sights, entertainment and accomodations were very good.If you have never been to Spain or Portugal before, I would highly recommend this book. If, however, you have been to Spain before or plan to spend several days in just a few cities, you should consider another travel guide that contains more detail.

This is a great book that really highlights the important information about a trip to Spain and Portugal. Rick has selected some great places in the big cities and fantastic little places on the verge of being discovered. His section on Portugal's Algarve is especially great, leading you to hide-away places that will some day be overcrowded because of their beauty. [...]

Rick Steves' book keep you away from the overtouristed areas and encourage you to not just see the famous sites, but taste the lifestyle of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. We adored the places Rick recommended to us much more than the places we went based upon other guides.

My friends and I bought this book for our 10 day romp through southern Spain as a way to just familiarize ourselves with the area. Well, as Spain turned out to be more challenging than we expected, we'd sooner leave our passports behind than Rick's guidebook! His opinions on attractions were right on the money (when we didn't listen to him, we wished we did!!) and we saw things we never would have seen trusting another guidebook.If you're headed for Spain, forget the other books and just pack this one as an essential for your trip..Oh, and do as Rick says and go to Morocco. You'll never forget it!!