The Rough Guide to Europe 2006

I used this book to plan for many trips while I was working in Germany. It gives you very useful info on the key areas to visit. Covers all the major places of interest.

What I like best about the Rough Guides is that they give critical reviews. They will point out the tourist traps and will give negative reviews. I find that Frommer's and Fodor's rarely point out the negatives to a particular... The rough guide is very critical and is a great balance to these other guides. If you aren't interested in "roughing" it and staying in lower priced hotels.. the guides are still very useful in rating attractions, and areas in which to stay... but you will need another book to look at more moderate and luxury hotels. I would definitely read this book before going to Europe.

The Rough Guide To Europe 2006 is a great book to pick up if you're not the most adventurous but more-so the average traveler looking for a great time in some of the best known or little known towns and cities. The guide provides an easy to read and discover map legend that will help you decide what route to choose whether you're using car, train, or other means of transportation to get around. However, I do enjoy the highly detailed country maps of Fodor's Europe more for getting around country to country. The introduction itself gives you a nice opening to Europe even if you've been there previously. This shows you top five catagories about some of the best places to go, where to eat, what events to check out and a host of other features. After reading through the introduction you'll find the Europe Itineraries - this section will give you good ideas about where to go if you plan to travel from place to place in different regions. The writers even go as far as to write out a Grand Tour featuring the top 12 cities to visit in order to really take in Europe at it's finest spots. Although, this is only for those that can afford such a trip. Each town and city is covered very well, some more detailed than others of course. For personal opinion I like that they added Morocco even though it is not a part of Europe. This is a rather unique and wonderful country to visit. In many cities you'll be able to see snake charmers, street performers, and a host of lovely family created items that you will desperatly want to take home with you. On a sad note, information on Iceland is not present again even though the country's largest city Reykjavík is rising as a popular vacationing spot for parties. The country itself is a wonder to view and is sorely missed from this guide, however this does not hold it back from receiving a 5-star rating as there is other material available that will make up for the loss. For information on Iceland I suggest buying Fodor's Europe. I travel a lot so these (Rough Guide to Europe and Fodor's Europe) are the two European Guides I pick up each year to stay updated. I hope that this review has been helpful to those who took the time to read it. Good luck on all of your journeys.

I travel to Europe a couple times a year for business. I needed a guide book that would help me find the main sites to see in various European countries during my trips. (I rarely go to the same city twice.) The Rough Guides are GREAT guide books. They are not for the backpacker crowd like Lonely Planet tends to be, nor the rich. Rough Guides cater to that middle crowd - me. Their single country or city guides go into great detail on each location. Don't miss these guidebooks if you are traveling extensively in one country. However, that's too much for my 2-3 day visits. That's where the "Rough Guide to Europe" comes in. The Guide covers 30 countries. It gives a brief history, tips on culture, hotel and dining recommendations. It lists details on the top sightseeing sites. The photos and maps are better than many other publishers' single-country guide books. On my 2005 trips I found I was just as informed as my colleagues who invested (weight being a larger consideration than cost) in a single country guidebook. "The Rough Guide to Europe" has plenty of information for the business or limited time traveler. If you are going to spend a week in a country sightseeing upgrade to a single country guidebook. Happy travels!