Michael Leapman
1 Perfect for running around.
You'll learn more from a Lonely Planet guide, but damn, those things get heavy. The Eyewitness guide looks like USA Today---bright colors, lots of pictures and charts---but contains a surprising density of information. All the tourist highlights, and enough back-alley weirdness to keep all but the most world-wise traveler interested and involved.
2 This book made me a DK convert
Before moving to London for three months (summer of 2001) to finish up my graduate degree, I went to the Rand McNally store in Boston to find a good guidebook to take with me. I figured I would go there, because it specializes in travel and maps, unlike a regular bookstore. The clerk, when I told him how long I would be living in London, suggested this book, and since then I have been a huge advocate for the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides.
When I travel, I am either staying with friends or already have my accommodations arranged, so there's no need for the Fodor's or Frommer's hotel section that their guides offer, and for restaurants I prefer Zagat's, or, better yet, asking the locals or friends and family for suggestions. And, for plays, musicals, concerts, the club scene, movies and shopping, get the Time Out London weekly magazine.
If all you have for your trip to London is the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide and the most recent Time Out London weekly magazine (and I highly recommend its sister magazine, Time Out New York for trips to the Big Apple), you will have everything you need.
Every tourist attraction has listed the nearest Tube station(s), the most popular sites have schematics labeling what's in what room and the most interesting things to see, and the layout by neighborhood makes it easy to make the best use of your time. I know I would not have visited half the places I did had I not found out about them in this guidebook.
While over there, I bought the DK Great Britain, since I was taking some trips outside London. In the past few years I have gotten the DK Washington, DC (where I now live) and the DK New York, gave the DK Greek Islands and DK Istanbul as gifts, and every time someone asks about guidebooks, the first recommendation I give is DK. So far, I have been equally impressed with each DK Eyewitness Guide, and I plan to purchase one for every trip I take.
3 Best buy!
Brilliant book. Accurate, easy to use and very concise. A pleasure to carry around with good quality maps, street name lookup and lots and lots of information regarding places to eat (very good recommendations) and places to go to.
A must have if you are planning a trip to London.
4 Very good and very visual, but lacks more detail
I am going to be travelling to Europe soon and I was looking for new books. I got the eyewitness london guide because of all the images it has. It is a really nice book and really entertaining and the suggested tours are good.
My only complain with the book is that it is not so informative about prices like other guides. I would recommend getting this guide just for the visual aspect, but maybe consider buying like the Let's Go London Or Lonely Planet London guide books for budget travellers because they give you ALL the prices informations on everything from transport, restaurants, entrances to sights, etc. For example in London's case, the eywitness guide just mentioons the travel cards to get around but doesn't give information on prices which do come in the Let's Go and LP series.
5 An index of London, not really a guidebook
I took this book and Frommers to London. This book lists everything,and yet at the same time can be vague when it comes to directions, prices and if something is worthwhile or not. It's an index rather than a guide book. The Frommer's book was as if someone went to London before you did and came back with the good places and sites that you should go to, including restaurant recommendations that I find to be on the money. I'm going to Italy next month and will be taking a Frommer's guide since it gives me prices, times, and what's worth seeing. And...while the individual graphics in this book are good, overall the book is too cluttered.
6 You Cannot Go Wrong - These are Great Books for Travel
I first discovered these books by accident on Stockholm. The book I bought by accident was in Swedish but it still useful because of all the photos, cut away views, museum pictures, and maps and historical details. When I got home I bought one in English. I own more than a dozen of different cities and countries in this series.
What differentiates these books from the competition is the photos. On a cold day back here in the USA (or Canada) or elsewhere, have a glass of wine and sit in a nice chair or in the garden on a warm day and read this book. For a moment you will be back in London. You are back in a small restaurant overlooking a busy street in the theatre district. Thats how good the photos are! I am still impressed every time I pick up the book.
The photos and desicriptions and cutaway drawings are excellent. They cover art galleries, museums, churches, special architecture, history, an a lot more. A solid 430 page effort - lots of stuff to see and absorb. Where does one to begin and describe the things to see and do in London such as the Westminster area, the galleries such as the Tate, Buckingham Palace, Soho, The City, Mayfair, Southwark, on and on. The book includes subway maps, restaurants and more. In other words you get all the travel information as found in other books plus great visuals.
The history section is impressive. They have a timeline showing developments cross referenced to photos, people, and things to see all in a detailed section.
Great city, the visit made better.
Jack in Toronto
7 Nice graphically, but in terms of utility...
I think the title of my review wraps it all up: the eyewitness guides are a work of graphic art. Their highlight is probably the great work on the maps, both small and large scale, which are of great help as you navigate around the city looking for sights. As a tool for reaching all of the sights you want to see, I would say that the Eyewitness Guide is among the best, with its street map, neighborhood maps and Metro/subway guide. In addition to this, as another positive comment I would say that it is a great guide to take on a trip if you don't have much time and you need information presented in an easy-to-read, simple manner. The drawings and photos, and the way they are laid out, is very appealing. In fact, this guidebook is almost better just for getting an idea of what London looks like than as an actual guidebook to be used in the city itself.
The advantages stop there, however. If you really want to get to know a city, you simply need more in-depth historical and cultural information on the sights you are seeing. Most of the locations described in the Eyewitness Guide do not stretch beyond a paragraph or two, which is quite superficial in my opinion. If you really want to know about the history behind the church, monument, museum or park you have traveled so far to see, you will definitely need another guidebook to give you any kind of detail. This flaw becomes far worse when you read the sections on sights outside of the city or in the suburbs (which are many!). The descriptions become utterly superficial.
Harsh critique also for the hotel and restaurant information, which is limited to places designed for the rich and famous, or at least the very upper of the upper-middle class. The best guides give you a little info. on all styles of lodging and food, from low budget to luxury, but these guides make little effort to do so, and even the information on the laps of luxury is limited to little symbols, instead of providing descriptions like other guides do.
With this combination of characteristics, I think Eyewitness is good to take along for a short trip in which you have little time to spend seeing the city and you don't really care about getting any deep information on what you're seeing. Otherwise, keep looking for another guidebook.
8 Bringing London to You Before You Go To London
I was an innocent abroad when I first moved to London, and I wouldn't be without this book. Not only did it help me to start to feel at home here, it brought it to life for me. This book is essential if you are visiting for the first time, and is so pleasing to look at that you'll think of it as your travel journal when you return. Whether you're a first timer to London, or you've lived here for years, this book will help you to feel 'at home'.
9 Eywitness Travel Guide to London
We've used this guide while taking a Boy Scout Troop to London, twice. Each boy had his own copy, and they not only read it, but they used it frequently. They enjoyed using the building 'cut away' pictures to find all sorts of details. It was like a scavenger hunt. Finding the buildings, locations and other things they had read about 'back home' was a thrill. One item they enjoyed was the Hyde Park Speakers' Corner. Not something we would have thought of, but it intrigued the boys when they read about it and they enjoyed it when they got there. This book is a great help to people of all ages who are discovering London for the first time.
10 Helped me see London in a day!
I had a 23 hour layover in London, and decided to do some sight seeing while I was there. So I went to the book store and I picked this book from several to help me get the most out of my time in London. It helped me understand the subway system, gave the best advice to get from Heathrow to 'downtown' in the quickest manner possible (the Heathrow Express), and was broken down into sectional maps of the major regions of London so that you can navigate to your destination. This book's made of thick paper that will not tear easily, and it's small enough that you can carry in around with you, to reference as you go. It also explains things like the mail, the money (study the coins from the pictures), the telephones, the buses and the taxis. So it has practical information in additon to places of historical or cultural significance. It's very well organized, easy to use, and the pictures are outstanding. In additon to this book, I'd also advise the popout map of London, because it's so compact, it's self folding and it's made of thick paper that will not tear very easily (unlike most maps). Both the book and the map a printed on glossy paper, so you don't have to worry about the damp weather ruining them.
11 One of the Best
Brought this to London with me and fully enjoyed it. Yes, there are some dated items, restaurants changing hands, but that cannot be helped. And it is heavy, but that is because of the high quality of the paper. If you want a guide to London, get this. Once you learn to use this book, you will want Eyewitness Guides for all your travel destinations. I've even considered buying a couple just for my library.
12 A Handy Guide For Yanks
I love these DK Travel Guides. They are great for learning about a vacation destination, or for a down-and-dirty lesson on a particular city. I use my DK France/Paris Guides for research purposes constantly. The photos are lovely and make you want to visit each site. The maps aren't the most detailed but the travel tips and walking routes are fantastic.
13 Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!
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Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!
The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.
The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.
Specifics:
The guides are organized as follows:
How to use this guide
Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
Geographical Regions
............Introduction London
........................Intro.
........................History
........................At a Glance
........................Through the Year
........................Riverview of London
............London Area by Area, each section includes:
........................Introduction to street by street area
........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.
........................Four Guided Walks
Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants, pubs
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment
............Children's London
Survival Information
............Practical
........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
............Getting to London
............Getting Around London
............Street Maps
............General Index
............Phrase Book
Discussion:
The book begins with "Introducing London", including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and London thought the Year - including events, etc.
Areas with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.
Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.
The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions.
The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.
Conclusion:
Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.
14 One of the best for London
It's not only the sharp photos, but the comprehensive coverage of travel information for London. After visiting, keep it for your memory book - you would be hard-pressed to make such photos. Buy the latest edition.
15 Excellent and essential
This guidebook is essential for someone traveling to London, particularly for the first time. Of the books I bought, this was the one I took along on the trip. It will enable you to quickly determine which things you want to visit in each focus area before you travel as well as providing just enough background info on the attractions to enhance your experience once you are approaching each location and to save you time while you are there. Highlights include its detailed visual summary of all the major attractions, along with the practical info needed (hours/months of operation, etc) and detailed section on practical travel related topics (money, phones, modes of transport), contact info, and great area maps and overhead angled views of particularly interesting locations and buildings. The accomodation and restaurant sections are also useful but need to be supplemented with the appropriate focused guides on those subjects. Color coded sections make it even easier to find what you're looking for fast. The only drawback is that it is heavy for its size due to the glossy, full color pages, but it isn't all that thick. If you are in London only for a day or two, while in the UK longer, then the Great Britain Eyewitness guide is more appropriate and will provide enough detail to hit the major London attractions. But if you will be in London for more than a couple of days, this guidebook will provide a lot more to choose from.
16 Buy this only if you can read very fine print
I've read the other reviews of this map, and my impression is that most of the reviews pertain to the London Eyewitness Travel Guide, which is a 432-page book that is indeed an outstanding guide to London. (I would give it 5 stars.) HOWEVER, the Eyewitness Travel City Map for London is totally different. It is a sturdy 12-page laminated map that folds out into a single sheet. It has very good detail on the central London area that is frequented by most tourists. However, the print is so tiny that I find its usefulness very limited. It is good for getting a general idea of how central London is laid out, but unless you have the ability to read very small print, it is not helpful in navigating the streets of London.
17 Pleasantly Surprised
This was my intial order and although I read a number of reviews, I was still pessimistic. However, as the title says, I was Pleasantly Surprised. The condition of the book was as described. In fact, it appeared to be it unused. I will consider Sisters in the future.
18 High and dry
If this is your first time to London and you feel like you just have to catch all the tourist attractions, then no guide will serve you better.
However, if it is atmosphere that you are looking for, or if you already know London, then the books far too serious attitude and its focus on anything physical and nothing in the way of atmosphere will chill you out.
So you can refer to this guide as the ultimate London guide for those who lack spirit. Still, if you do value the book's indispensable visuals, like I do, you can solve the atmosphere problem by buying the latest edition of Time Out magazine at the nearest newsstand.
19 Best Travel Guide I found
The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to London was a wonderful resource on my just-completed trip. It's a delight to look at with its wealth of photographs but it also contains solid travel information. For instance: 1) Neighborhood walks through areas such as Chelsea, Whitehall and Westminster 2) A self-guided tour of Westminster Abby. 3) Where to find the most interesting exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museaum. 4) A great series of street finder maps. Though not quite as comprehensize as the London A to Z series the maps in this book are very good. Much better than other guidebooks I've seen. 5) A great tube map. You need this map to get around the London tube system. I carried my book all over London last week and saw many other people with the same book in their hands in not only the English version but also French, Hebrew, and Japanese. It is an excellent book and I recommend it highly.
20 Mixed results
The Eyewitness Guide is superb if you're a first-time visitor to London or a novice tourist interested in seeing the true "guts" of the city's major tourist attractions. However, as an experienced traveler with an interest in seeing stuff well beyond the standard tourist realm, I found this guide extremely disappointing. Particularly in terms of (the minimal selection of) restaurants and nightlife, most of the places recommended are extremely touristy and filled basically with guide-toting Americans. (Putting aside the irony of me *being* a guide-toting American, of course.) There's also not a whole lot of detail about some interesting areas of the city off the beaten path, such as Brixton and the East End.
21 Eyewitness vs. Frommer's
The verdict - Eyewitness is more useful and user-friendly than Frommer's, most of the time.
On a recent 2-week excursion to London, I brought Eyewitness and Frommer's along for comparison purposes and to be sure not to miss anything. I ended up using Eyewitness every day throughout the day and referring to Frommer's only for occasional reference. Mapwise, Frommer's is virtually unusuable with its pull-out map being too clunky while covering too little. Eyewitness' many maps at the back of the book were a life-saver, and the mini neighborhood maps in each section were a nice touch as well.
Visually, Eyewitness is more appealing with its colorful photographs and better paper. Initially I thought all those photos, drawings and captions would be too distracting and superfluous but they turned out to be quite nifty.
The restaurants featured are a select few (perhaps too few?) and the couple we tried based on recommendation from Eyewitness (Sofra and L'Odeon) did not disappoint.
I must acknowledge that Frommer's tends to be more in-depth when it comes to historical info and off-the-beaten-track/quirky stuff. At the same time, there seems to be almost too much text in Frommer's which can be difficult to weed through when hunting for a hint or two in a rush. Frommer's also includes admission/ticket prices missing in Eyewitness, while neither guidebook bothers to provide info on free admission times offered by many museums.
And, since I have your attention, here's a sample of the places I grew to love in London during the trip -
The National Gallery (be sure to check out the audio tour - it's an immense resource)
The Courtauld Gallery (a small but mighty collection)
The Theatre Museum (do ask about a complimentary - on Wednesdays, at least - tour of the nearby Drury Lane Royal Theatre - it's the most underappreciated tourist attraction in London!)
A walk in Kensington gardens - as close to urban heaven on earth as it gets.
Have fun!
22 On the Money
I used this book extensively on a recent visit to London. The maps were easy to use and very helpful. The guide and floorplans to various sites and museums helped to zero in on those sections that most interested me before I arrived and then to easily locate and explore them once I was there. The restaurent reviews were helpful in narrowing down the choices and when I did eat in a place that was reviewed found the reviews to be quite accurate. Overall I would rate this guide very highly because of it's usefulness both in planning a visit and it's practical use once in London. A good investment for the first time visitor.
23 difficult to follow
I found this guide difficult to follow; I thought the breakdown by areas were a bit disjointed and I continually had to figure out what area I was in and then search for the section in the book. Then once I found that section, restaurants and lodging were located elsewhere. Also, the harder cover stock makes it heavy and cumbersome to take with you while travelling.
24 Virtual London
Get this, the book has 3-D maps of major city areas (Kensington, Greenwich, Chelsea), such attractions as the Tower and Hampton Court, and even the museums. If you spend time studying this book, you will arrive in London feeling like you've got a very good idea of what you want to see and where to find it. It even has an Underground map! I would have liked to see more description about what the various areas of the city offered when it came to lodging (why should I stay in Picadilly or South Kensington instead of Chelsea or Greenwich, etc.), but other than that, the book was fun to read and informative.
25 THE BEST
I have used the previous edition of this outstanding guide on several trips to London. It is the BEST travel guide I have ever used! Highly recommended.
26 Best London guide to date.
I've visited London about a dozen times in the last few years and have acquired a drawer full of decent travel guides on London. In a word, this is the best. The guide breaks the capital down by area (most do) but it also has shaded 3D street-by-street maps that depict the buildings so you know what you are looking for. The book is also up to date. The photos are extremely high quality. The leather cover is smart and doesn't immediately brand you a tourist (if that matters), but it partially obscures the tube map inside the back. A laminated card of the underground is also included, which is very handy. Downsides? It won't fit into your pocket, and is a bit on the heavy side.
Mind the Gap and buy this book!
27 An excellent guide!
I had to go on a college trip and i had been in London almost a decade ago from 2000,tis guide helped me a lot,it has a lot of info on tourist spots,restaurants,shopping,it has details such as which metro station is near,the address the phone the special features,it has a metro guide a ittle tricky but as soon as you do your first metro try you will use it like a native.It has also general infos on taxi cabs,money,and i strongly advise you to buy it as a fantastic guide not only for London but as a series part.
28 One of the Best Travel Guides
I travel often and have bought many different travel guides, but this was hands-down the best guide I've ever bought. The book is conveniently organized by neighborhood so that you can plan your activities or find a good place to eat even if you've wandered into an expected area. I especially like the fact that for every attraction the nearest Underground station is noted so that it's always easy to get to your destination and then get back to your hotel. The guide has many pictures, and detailed descriptions of the attractions, which includes admittance prices and hours, in addition to an appendix of many detailed city maps. It is not only very useful, but is laid out very well.
29 This sucker is HEAVY!
The most important point of my review: this sucker is heavy! The book weighs a pound and a half!
Now, a pound and a half might not seem like much, but compare this to some other guidebooks. My Lonely Planet Iceland book has 600 pages and weighs a pound. This guidebook has 400 pages and weighs a pound and a half -- 50% more weight, and only two-thirds the size. It's heavy.
What do you get for the heaviness? Nice, glossy pages and tons of color pictures. It's a very nice-looking book. The attraction sections seemed well done, though it was missing some attractions I was interested in (which I suppose is bound to happen with a city the size of London). The index -- one of my measures of a good guidebook -- was adequate for pointing me to everything I wanted to look up quickly.
I haven't looked into it too much, so my 4 stars might actually drop. I can say that the hotel section has a few offerings in the 'under 70 pounds' category, but it definitely seems geared toward the more upscale tourist. I suspect the restaurants might be the same way. It's not a backpacker's guide to London, which is more what I was looking for.
But the pictures are nice, and if you're looking for something not geared to a backpacker it's probably pretty good.
30 DK GUIDE TO LONDON
I WENT TO LONDON IN APRIL 2000 WITH HOUSE OF LLOYD. I TOOK LOTS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF STATUES, FOUNTAINS AND OTHER TOURIST ATTRACTIONS. ONCE THE PHOTOS WERE DEVELOPED I HAD NO CLUE OF WHAT THEY WERE! I FOUND A COPY OF THE DK GUIDE TO LONDON AND WAS AMAZED! EVERY PHOTO I TOOK WAS IN THIS GUIDE! IT WAS WORTH... TO ME! FROM NOW ON WHEN I TRAVEL I WILL MAKE SURE I HAVE A DK GUIDE WITH ME. I MISSED SO MUCH IN LONDON, AND IT WAS SO CLOSE TO ME. IF I WOULD HAVE THIS GUIDE WITH ME, I WOULD HAVE SEEN LOTS MORE AND SAVED LOTS OF MONEY! I WOULD HAVE ALSO BEEN ABLE TO PLAN A BETTER SCHEDULE AND SAVE TIME AND MONEY. I THOUGHT FODOR'S GUIDES WERE THE BEST. NO WAY! DK BEATS THEMS 1000% PERCENT! YOU ARE MY FAVORITE FROM NOW ON!
31 Excellent travel companion
This is an extraordinary book! As much as I am skeptical of books with glossy pictures, this book proved to be an invaluable guide. The walks recommended are tremendous and a "must do" while in London. This book is self sufficient and is all you need to make your trip a memorable one.
32 The Best Guidebook
I am very impressed by the DK Eyewitness guide to London. I used this book to plan my trip to London and was amazed at the depth of material presented in the book (not to mention all of the great pictures). It is well organized and has great suggestions in order to make the most of your stay. I had a great time in London and I will make sure to take this book with me on my next trip.
33 The best travel guide you could buy
When my wife and I take a trip to Europe, we always buy more guidebooks than any sensible person would want. The one that always gets used - over and over - is the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide. The one for London is excellent but we have also used the guidebooks for Rome and Paris with equally satisfactory results. What is great about these books is the careful combination of text and pictures. The traveller can get a "feel" for the city in advance, so that once on site there is a comfortable familiarity with the terrain. The maps are excellent and the 3-D breakout views of museums and other sites of interest are quite helpful. And the book doesn't skimp on that information that all traveller's need when visiting a foreign country - practical information about currency, custom, emergency help, precautions, transportation, entertainment options, plus lists of recommended hotels, restaurants and sites of interest.
And even after the trip, this book stays on the bookshelf to be taken down whenever we need a reminder of what we saw and did. Printed on high quality stock and beautifully illustrated, these guidebooks are a pleasure to browse at any time. If you plan to visit London, and don't know the town well, get this book. You'll be glad to have it before, during and after the trip.
34 absolutely indispensable
The tube map was expecially great in helping me plan my sightseeing- I knew before I got there which stations to go to and how far from the attractions they were. The street maps were also very helpful. I intend to get an eyewitness guide every time I travel.
35 AWESOME!
Do not go to London without this book! I read this book before going and was able to get an idea of what London was about, but when I arrived, this book did not leave my hands! This guide divides London into sections and we were able to go out and explore by using those areas. The street-by-street and Tube maps were invaluable and we were never lost. I am the worst with directions, but I knew extactly where I was during each day. With the maps, I navigated instead of my husband! The cut aways and guides to the various museums and attractions were also invaluable. We were able to walk into any attraction and know what the star features were and not have to miss a thing. The resturant guide took us to the best place for fish and chips and the history section gave us an idea of what the city is all about. I was able to give two fellow U.S. tourists directions to the theatre district and to their specific theatre becaus I had my Eyewitness Guide and they did not.
You can forget the credit cards, but DO NOT LEAVE HOME WITH THIS ONE!
36 Another Eyewitness fan
The shelves of bookshops groan under the weight of guides to London.
This one is a winner for me. It doesn't pretend to be hip, it doesn't attempt to herd you in certain directions by ascribing "stars" to the attractions. It contains some of the lesser gems, and all the big attractions. What I like best is that it is arranged according to areas of London that are explorable on foot. When you travel under London on the 'Monopoly Board' tube, you could be amnywhere. there is not necessarily one logical place to start in explorations of this most fascinating of cities. With this book, it doesn't really matter! Just come up from below ground, and start. Some other guide books try to list the Top Ten Sights - which could take you from one end of this sprawling metropolis to the other. This book allows logical (and delightful) discoveries, no matter where you fetch up on any particular day. let's face it, if you're out at Greenwich, you;re not going to race off to kew gardens, you're more likely to want to poke around the environs you are in. A real winner!
37 Dorling Kindersley - Hats off!!
If you are planning to tour central London, this is THE guide you should buy. There is nothing better. DK is amazing. I have used it to visit each and every attraction listed, and it works really well. Each attraction is explained in detail with colour photographs for most. You can actually read the book and plan your trip to the hour!
The added bonus are the maps. Wow! Forget A-Z. Forget Collins. The maps are SO EASILY READABLE!
Finally, a few shortcomings are: (1) the pictorial sketch-maps are not very accurate, but that is not so bad. (2) the outside boundaries of the pictorial maps do not mention the street names, so you have to look up the map pages and plan (3) web site addresses should have been listed with each attraction (4) the approximate cost of admission per adult is not listed where applicable. But, in most cases, I could find these on the web (5) the opening timings for attractions are not correct in a few cases (eg Royal Naval College, Greenwich) (6) the book weighs quite a lot! But the guide has good glossy paper and is bound very well.
Besides these not very significant shortcomings, this is the greatest guide I have used. It made my touring really enjoyable.
Finally, if you look through the pages, you will realize what kind of effort and research must have gone into preparing this guide. No wonder it is so good! Hats off to editors/researchers/artists at DK. (DK's other books are really great, too)
38 a wonderful resource
Visually sublime, this book made my stay in London wonderful. I am 19 and living on a student's budget, and this book contains a plethora of activities in all price ranges. This guide ranges from the touristy things to the obscure. There are even reviews of clubs and restaurants and a lifesaving map. Also helpful is the shopping, market, and specialty stores section. And despite other comments I have read, I never left home without it. It's not too heavy unless you're not carrying a bag.. You can't stick it in your pocket, but who would want a guide book that you could? Its only faults were some inaccurate museum hours and a limited review of restaurants. Otherwise, I loved it. It's a cool souvenir, too, since it's packed with beautiful photos of some things that you can't photograph like the interior of Westminister Abbey.
39 Don't leave home without this book!
I purchased this guide well before my trip to London and read it cover to cover. I was able to plan many of my activities and budget the trip without ever leaving my livingroom.
Even though this was my first trip abroad, the information contained in the guide made me feel as if I was a seasoned travel veteran..from how to use The Tube for transportation (get a London Visitor's Pass) to opearting hours and admission prices for all of the places I wanted to see to a translation of the "English" language (a "subway" is not a train that runs underground).
If you are in need of a very useful travel companion for your trip to London, this guide is well worth the price.
40 A guide that gives you pictures rather than just words!
My family and I recently vacationed in London this past summer, and found this guide to be a wonderful resource. It is clear, easy to understand, and covers every aspect of your visit to this lovely city on the Thames. Many travel guides have wordy narratives and microscopic maps, but not this one. Once you open it's cover you will be treated to wonderful full color photos, detailed color drawings, maps, and illustrations. You will be inspired by this book because it literally shows you what you'll see in London, even before you leave home. You will be able to identify sites like St.Paul's, Westminister Abby, Trafalgar Sq, and will actually recognize them when you arrive in London (this is no small feat)! In addition to a liberal amount of practical travel information, many historical facts are provided to whet your interest, and prepare you to absorb more from guided tours or plaques you may read. Finally, even after you return home, you will find yourself looking at this guide to refresh your memory, and to explain some of the finer points when telling friends "what you did on your summer vacation". It is a beautiful book, a great travel guide, and a wonderful keepsake.
41 Comprehensive, beautifully constructed - a sound reference.
Even as a seasoned traveler to London, I found things I'd never before had the pleasure to enjoy. I bought this book for a friend planning a first time trip and liked it so much that I had to buy another copy for myself.
This is series is now my first choice when seeking travel guides.
42 Most popular travel guide with tourists
Enjoyable tour guide with so many pictures, and narrative. Tourists on the streets were usually referring to this travel guide. Would have liked more walking tours in the book.
43 best travel guide I've ever used
I bought this book to prepare for a recent business trip to London (the trip included extra time for sightseeing). I had previously purchased other London guides and this exceeded all other guides -- it included comprehensive information both as to tourist sights and as to more mundane details such as currency exchange information. This book contains all you need to know for a first visit to London.
44 Don't Leave Home Without It!
As a first-time visitor to London, I was glad to have this guide on hand. Even my friends who had been to London before were using my maps instead of their own. The introduction, including the history of the city, along with the detailed descriptions of events, markets, and landmarks helped me to have a working knowledge of this vast city. I have never felt so at home in a foreign place. The "Where To Stay" section enabled us to find a better hotel at a much lower rate after our first two nights, and we had a nice dinner at one of the restaurants suggested. I even got a snapshot of the very same orator at the Speaker's Corner that is pictured in the book. I saw this guide being used by other tourists in other languages, as well. I feel that this book was a major factor in the overall success of my vacation and will use the Eyewitness Guides for any future trips.
45 One of a series of superb guide books
This book, and its sister volumes, are perhaps the best guide books currently available. Read it before you go, read it while you're there, and read it once you get home again. Its maps, tips, illustrations, and how-to's eliminate much of the hassle and headache in traveling.
46 Outstanding book
I went to London for vacation for the first time and I had no idea where to start since I had only three days. Somenone recommended that I purchase the Eyewitness London guide.
This book not only made my vacation wonderful but also helped me to look at almost all the places that I have wanted to look at in three short days. There was no way I could have been able to plan my vacation with out this book.
47 Excellent but no attitude
This is the tour book equivalent of the one volume encylopedia. Covers the topic well, but not much in the way of attitude. However, if you have limited time to see the tourist attractions, this is probably the best on the market. If you want to see the "real" London, get a Rough Guide or the Time Out Guide to London. You'll find out not only what to see, but what's not worth the bother.
48 The most comprehensively helpul London travel book ever!
This book and the others in the series (e.g. for Paris and Rome) provide photos, drawings and diagrams of what other books only tell about in print. Beautifully designed and easy to use, this is the one superb resource to read before your trip; you'll know London before you arrive. And during your visit you'll refer to it continually. You'll get a satisfying balance of information about the city's history, culture, arts, neighborhoods, customs, traditions, shopping, events, transporation and more...plus an excellent "survival guide" section...and detailed street and subway maps and recommendations about carefully screened lodging, restaurants and shopping. We don't travel without the Eyewitness Travel Guide. While this book is similar in style and layout to the equally excellent Knopf guides, I find a better balance of information in the Eyewitness Guides.
49 Absolutely fabulous travel guide-best on the market
This series of books is the most informative, well-organized, insightful set of travel guides ever published. For the seasoned traveler and the first-time visitor alike, these books offer information other guides haven't even thought of. The illustrations are fantastic and the pages give everything from the right "tube" stop to telephone number to hours of operation. Exhaustive info is available on neighborhoods, food, museums, walking tours, connections, seasonal hours, etc. Color illustrations of local currency, street signs, police uniforms, emergency vehicles, museum floor plans, and more! Stuff you have never seen before in any travel guide! This is the one book you need. The series does not yet cover many destinations, especially the smaller European countries, but those regions that are available (mainly the British Isles, France, Italy) are done in an outstanding fashion.
50 Excelent blend of information in easy to read format
I know routinely recommend this book to friends of mine visiting London. D&K publish all sorts of books, but predominantly children books. However this is definitely for all ages
51 You must have this book before traveling to London.
This is the best book for travel to London that I have found. Don't bother buying any of the other books, this one has it all! It has convient maps of London, maps of all of the museums, and it even makes sure you won't look like a tourist using the Tube.
