The Rough Guide to the Baltic States 1

Any author of a travel guide to the Baltic States is left with a formidable task: Words and still photographs don't do justice to these truly exceptional destinations. Add to that the daunting task of trying to keep listings current for three of the most dynamic and popular tourist destinations on earth. In particular, the capital cities are booming with prosperity, largely based on the tourist trade, and institutional details change constantly. Faced with these difficulties, this guide is still the best of the bunch. Bradt does a nice guide to the capital cities, but that doesn't help much for people interested in such lovely places as Kaunas and Tartu, or the idyllic rural settings outside the cities. This book crams an enormous amount of material into a dense, compact package. Despite one reviewer's claim to the contrary, Rough Guides are smaller and lighter than the Bradt guides. You'll need to buy three of those to gather the equivalent content offered in this book. Tallinn, Riga and (especially) Vilnius are so startling upon first sight, no amount of historic or cultural context is going to give you the blast of adrenaline you'll feel as your taxi scoots you through the town square on the way to your hotel. You simply have to see and feel these places directly. That said, Rough Guide has made (in this updated edition) a dedicated effort to improve the quality of the pragmatic material in the book. You're still not going to find the details of bus routes and timetables, but the hotel and restaurant listings are up-to-date and accurate. True to Rough Guide form, however, the author reveals his love of all things historic and cultural, which fits nicely with the book's standard format. A few words of caution: Remember, these three small countries are shaking off the communist experiment, and that takes some time. While the old town centers are generally restored, there's still a palpable grit to the Baltic States. Don't expect Vilnius to look like Vienna, or Tallinn to look like Prague, or Riga to look like Stockholm. These towns are far smaller than their central European and Scandinavian sisters, and they're ringed by nasty industrial suburbs that can (but shouldn't) put you off. I mention this because the guide doesn't make this observation. Also, don't buy this book if you're looking for a photo essay. Rough Guides are all about words and simple maps. Go to Flickr if you want a nice preview in pictures. From the medieval Protestant alleys of Tallinn to the baroque splendor of Catholic Vilnius, this guide's got your back. But as another reviewer noted, these destinations are among the most popular in the world (the wonderful combination of beauty and affordability), so sit down with this book and do your homework BEFORE you get on the plane.

The product was in excellent shape when I received it. The book looked as if it were new and bought right off the book store shelf.

The Rough Guides are usually written in a colorful, well-researched manner that makes them a joy to have along in order to learn about the places you are visiting while exploring the area, and this book delivers along those lines. Also true to Rough Guide form, however, the book lacks important details regarding transportation: how many buses, how often, where to buy tickets, best routes, etc.The Baltic countries have experienced a major boom in tourism since EU membership in May 2004, and hotel rooms are booked far in advance. As such, Rough needs to expand their listings to include a larger percentage of hotels. In August 2004 we found all the hotels listed in the Rough Guide fully booked in all 3 Baltic capitals! Admittedly, we did not plan very far ahead, and to be fair to this book, we did not find a major guide with more complete hotel listings.The Listings section in each chapter also provides a handy reference. In general, however, Rough should expand this section to make it really useful, as listings are a bit limited. They should also start adding sections such as: Cyber cafes with digital photo downloads, Where to buy a GSM SIM chip, and similar sections for the digital traveler, to really make the listings complete.In each major destination, this book includes walking tours with some interesting information on buildings, churches and monuments, intertwined with history and cultural observations that makes for enjoyable reading and walks. We were glad to have this book along.