Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have on your Vacation to Germany & Austria
Review: We took this book along with us on trip to Germany and Austria and found it indispensable. Steve's hotel and sight-seeing information is well researched and accurate. Steve's books cater to the rail traveler, but traveling by car is just as easy and more economical if you have a family - not to mention that it allows you much more freedoom to explore. Make sure you have good detailed maps of the places you will be traveling to, as the maps Steve provides are hand drawn and not extremely detailed. We found that many American's use Steve's book to travel, so making friends by talking about Steve's book is a great conversation starter. Make sure you also ask about the discounts that hotels and services offer through Steve's book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't go to Germany without it.
Review: While this book is a little deficient on maps, and doesn't contain information on every city, it is THE BEST book to take on vacation. Steves' goal in writing this book is to describe the best places to see in Germany on a limited time budget, so it doesn't list every city on the map, just the best places to go. He even suggests purchasing other books in addition to his to get the most information possible before your trip. The information in this book is invaluable and makes your time there much more efficient, because he tells you exactly how to get to places (directions, which buses/trains to take, exactly where the tourist information booth). He also includes descriptive tours of places, especially those that don't regularly offer English tours or English descriptions. Don't go to Germany without it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Guide
Review: You can really tell that Steves loves Germany and Austria because this is one of the best guidebooks in his series. First things first--this is not a regular guidebook in that it doesn't show an endless list of cities that you will probably never visit. Instead, he figures that you'll have less than two weeks for your vacation, so he picks out the places that he thinks you will enjoy the most. If you are looking for a more complete listing, then another guidebook would be better. Getting back to the guide, he has a particular flair for finding the scenic beauty of this region of Europe, and he gives lots of advice for finding those picture perfect spots that you're looking for. Also, Steves is good at tapping into the beer hall scene, so if you're thinking of checking out Bavaria, you'll be able to get some good tips. Of course, you can get better recommendations from a local though. Just think of this as a starter kit, and once you make a few contacts and start talking to the locals, you'll be able to find the places that aren't list in any guidebook. Another good thing about this guidebook is that the maps are fairly easy to follow. The downtown maps for cities are especially good. However, this book is for train travelers. If you are going to be driving, you'll need to pick up a seperate road map because there aren't any good road maps in this guidebook.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid Guide
Review: You can really tell that Steves loves Germany and Austria because this is one of the best guidebooks in his series. First things first--this is not a regular guidebook in that it doesn't show an endless list of cities that you will probably never visit. Instead, he figures that you'll have less than two weeks for your vacation, so he picks out the places that he thinks you will enjoy the most. If you are looking for a more complete listing, then another guidebook would be better. Getting back to the guide, he has a particular flair for finding the scenic beauty of this region of Europe, and he gives lots of advice for finding those picture perfect spots that you're looking for. Also, Steves is good at tapping into the beer hall scene, so if you're thinking of checking out Bavaria, you'll be able to get some good tips. Of course, you can get better recommendations from a local though. Just think of this as a starter kit, and once you make a few contacts and start talking to the locals, you'll be able to find the places that aren't list in any guidebook. Another good thing about this guidebook is that the maps are fairly easy to follow. The downtown maps for cities are especially good. However, this book is for train travelers. If you are going to be driving, you'll need to pick up a seperate road map because there aren't any good road maps in this guidebook.
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