The Rough Guide to Los Angeles 4

The fourth edition of the Rough Guide to Los Angeles lives up to the outstanding reputation of the travel publishing company. One of the best features of the Rough Guide is its crystal-clear yet fine type, printed on durable and thin pages, so that a ton of information get packed into a compact format. This is all accompanied by a glossy front section providing an overview of the highlights of the City of Angels. The Rough Guide sticks to a tried-and-true format, starting with the basics, then providing detailed coverage of ten sections of the city (including Orange County, which probably doesn't want to be considered a part of LA). Inland coverage extends only to Pasadena, so this is a better bet for coastal travel than it is for going into the eastern portions of the Los Angeles area. The last third of the book contains listing for accommodations, restaurants, bars, shopping, and activities. The selection of budget motels is a bit limited (beyond Motel 6), so anyone looking for a good deal on accommodations should head towards the Internet for a search. The restaurant and bar listings (organized by region and also indexed by type) are comprehensive and provide a good starting place to finding the spot to fit a traveler's mood. The book concludes with contextual information about Los Angeles, including history essays, references to LA in film, and books set in LA. As a reader, I appreciate that the basic must-have facts are in the front, with the optional history section relegated to the back of the book. The maps are second to none, with exquisite detail and major areas of interest well-identified. The Rough Guide to Los Angeles is a worthwhile investment for any pleasure-seeker, business traveler, weekend tourist, and even the hardened local who would like to know a bit more about the multitudes of activities LA has to offer.

LA can be a daunting city to visit, but this book makes travelling around so much easier. If you are not planning to hire a car when you are there, this book really is essential. It has good maps of Downtown and Hollywood, and very useful maps of the main bus routes. The commentaries are really helpful and quite entertaining, although they can sometimes sound slightly pretentious. Nonetheless, I used the book every single day and would have been lost without it. A must have.P.S. Make sure you take in a Dodgers game when you're there - you won't be disappointed!

I found this guide to be pretty good. It's a no-frills, easy-to-follow book. It summarizes the neighborhoods briefly, but I don't know how much has changed since it was published a year and half ago. For someone like me, who knew nothing about LA before reading this, this book is a good introduction to the area.