Eyewitness Travel Guide to Prague

Rating:
Summary: Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!
Review: .

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 Prague
........................Intro to Prague
........................History
........................Portrait of Prague
........................Through the Year (events, holidays)
........................A River View of Prague

............Prague 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.

Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants, cafes, pubs
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment

Survival Information
............Practical
........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health

........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
............Getting to Prague (Travel Information)
............Getting Around Prague (Street Maps)

............General Index
............Phrase Book
............Transport Map

Discussion:
The book begins with "Introducing Prague", including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Prague 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 have used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, in most European cities, and Dorling has yet to disappoint me. I have 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.

Rating:
Summary: Shouldn't Go to Prague Without It
Review: First off, the book is heavy on style and light on substance: lots of glossy pictures with scant historical/cultural background.

I bought this book 6 years ago and compared it to the more recent edition and they are almost exactly the same. As a resident of Prague I take issue with many of the book's recommendations, chiefly the restaurant and hotel offerings. Caveat emptor on many of these as they no longer exist or the management has since changed. Furthermore, many of the listed telephone numbers are no longer in operation or have changed their format due to new telephone changes.

For a more accurate and up-to-date review of Prague's service industry try Inyourpocket's website. Just do a web search for Inyourpocket and order up a copy of their quarterly guide. It's really cheap. Also, try Praguepost's website and check their cultural section for a complete listing of all cultural offerings -- museum exhibits, opera, ballet, jazz, club, indie etc...

Here are some basic questions which travellers often ask of Prague, and in many cases the answers will make a huge difference in your trip preparations:

Should I change money at exchange offices, banks, or just use an ATM? Which ATM services are in Prague? Are travellers checks accepted at most restaurants? Do restaurants accept dollars and Euro? Which hotels are closed due to the 2002 floods? etc...

Inyourpocket guide and Praguepost should answer most of these questions if not all. Eyewitness doesn't even come close.

Edward's "Praguewalks" is excellent for those who'd like to plan daily excursions and self-guided tours. It's historical scope is impressive without being overwhelming. For example, Eyewitness will tell you that Wallenstein was a wealthy noble who ran afoul of King Ferdinand, while "Praguewalks" explains just how Wallenstein amassed his fortune and the significance of his gardens and estates to Czech history. For the more scholarly inclined try Sayer's "The Coast of Bohemia." Sayer combines some historical narrative with an in-depth cultural timeline of how Czech art evolved.

I won't advise you not to buy the Eyewitness book, but only if you do, use it to supplement your other trip's resources, not as some all encompassing guide.

Rating:
Summary: A feast for the eyes and the best guide book I own!
Review: My friends and I were prepared to fall in love with Prague based entirely on this travel book. The street-by-street descriptions are right on the mark. The historical buildings are dissected to show you the interiors, a wonderful and unique way to give you the floor plans. There are also timelines throughout the quide to chart significant events of the major buildings and people of Prague. I read a large portion of the quide book before I left home, I kept it close to me the entire time I was in Prague for easy reference and I still keep it handy at home. This one is packed to bursting with all the information you could ever need. When I think of going on holiday now, the first thing I go looking for is a travel guide in this excellent series!

Rating:
Summary: Armchair travel plus
Review: The Eyewitness Travel series serves as a great visual introduction to a place. It allows you to "see" what places are like and plan your trip accordingly. The maps are usually great and the flaps of the book are constructed to serve as place markers. I bought this book after spending several months living in Prague after college. I had no money and didn't take many photos while I was there; I use this book to bring back memories. I now buy these books whenever there is one for my destination (I even have the one for my current home town).

I wouldn't recommend the book as the soul guide for a budget traveller or someone who wants more than a one-page history on things. Yes, buy the book to plan places and sites to visit, but consult another source for cheap eats/accommodations (there is a selection of these) or detailed historical information.

Rating:
Summary: The guide that SHOWS you what others only tell you!
Review: The series of Eyewitness Travel Guides (particularly one on Prague) has been highly recommended by several travel sites. With my forthcoming trip to Prague this summer, I immediately got curious & ran to the nearest specialty bookstore right after office hours. I have to agree that this is the BEST guide book I have ever seen. Not only does it have maps or the tourist highlights, but it also contains a history of the place, background of the famous sites & LOVELY photos! It also has a primer on culture, etiquette & currency, a guide on getting around via public transport, a suggestion on restaurants & a limited selection on housing (you can find more of this in the Net or other travel guides). This book is as good as a real souvenir from the trip itself with all its lovely photos & background. I will definitely bring this book (together with the other series I bought for Vienna & Budapest)with me when I leave in August.

Rating:
Summary: Packed with Information and Fun
Review: This books covers everything from history, local ways, language, money, infrastructure, hotels, restaurants, major sites, along with tons of photos and maps. Fascinating. Hard to put down. If you can't go to Prague, this is the next best thing.

I lost my first one and need to replace it for our trip to Prague coming up next week. The book is small, 1/2" thick, and will pack easily.

Rating:
Summary: A bunch of travel books all rolled up into one.
Review: To the previous reviewer- get Let's Go: Europe- it has the hotel/accomodation information you are looking for. I have it also.

For travel guides on Prague this is FAR & OUT the best- I have many many guides on Prague because it is my most beloved city in the world. This one is the best. The breakdowns of central Prague are unparalled and this guide gives you a heck of a lot more sites than just the most popular and most famous sites.

As well, it guides you through an adequate stay in Prague...transport systems are explained, table manners are explained, currency, etc...it's all here... except for great detail on housing- but that information is found easily (and cheaply) else where. Go to the library and find a recent book and write down names of places...that's all you need to do before you go. While in Prague, without this guide with you, you will miss A LOT!

Rating:
Summary: More a picturebook than a guidebook.
Review: When used with a regular guidebook, this helps you visualize the various sights of Prague, but it can overwhelm you with the sheer number of attractions. My biggestproblem with this guidebook series is the lack of opinions from the authors. One perk of Lonely Planet or similar guidebook is saying what is worth your time, this isn't worth your time. This museum has an English translation sheet.. this one doesn't. I find this helpful in selecting how to use my travel time wisely. So i wouldn't actualy recommend buying this book, but if you see in your local library or book store, its worth flipping through to see what Prague is all about.