DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10: Malta & Gozo

Nice little guide for a short trip, well organized, but the "10" theme got a little forced at times. The Map is good, although a bit tiny. The hotels and seasonal info is a bit dated as well, but all in all for a relaxed short trip of four days or so, this is a great value guide as it hits the highlights and doesn't bog you down with detail. If you are staying longer and want more detail, then other guides are your better choice. The pictures are excellent.

I love DK Eyewitness Guides -- in fact, after the travel, they're the books I keep so I can show everyone really great photos where I've been. This particular guide is the first Top 10 Guide I've used and I found the format excellent for choosing what to see, which hotel to stay in, and where to go. This is not a comprehensive guide, but it isn't meant to be. DK Eyewitness books are full of wonderful photographs/diagrams and so, occasionally, they lack a bit in the discription or required travel information. For an experienced traveler this is not a problem. For the nervous traveler or the new traveler who wants/needs a lot of extraneous general travel information this book is best used in conjuction with a more detailed volume.

In my planning to make a holiday trip to Malta, I bought this book along with the LP book for 2007, which gives me the opportunity to evaluate the two books. On the plus side, this one is loaded with high quality pictures. And the maps are also of high quality and easy to navigate. It gives very useful suggestions, tips and plans about the destination. One gets a quick overview of all attractions and can easily design a trip tailoring to one's interest. On the minus side, this book can never be used alone, and must be used together with another guidebook with lots of facts. It is not intended to be one all-included guidebook anyway. What can be absolutely added is hotel information, especially for a matured destination like Malta, there are definitely more hotels at all ranges to evaluate. What can be also included is information on links to other regional destinations, such as Sicilly and Tunisia. In general, it is a good handy book with nice pictures to look at. But you won't survive on this book alone.