Blue Guide Prague

Rating:
Summary: Pity the Prague tour guide!
Review: Having just returned, I can confirm that almost all one needs to appreciate Prague is this Blue Guide. Everything is covered in an accessible but intelligent way: the practicalities of transportation (warning: the Metro fare system is confusing!), food, money, and language basics, along with the historical and architectural information you will need to enhance your trip. Make this your airplane or train reading--you won't be bored!--and, despite any fatigue or jet lag, you will arrive anxious to wander. Logical walking tours of areas of interest are clearly set out in the Guide, with clear walking instuctions and local maps. You will especially appreciate this detail while touring the Castle. Like all the Blue Guides, there is little you would want to know about anything you see which is not covered. Since you will be walking on cobblestones, and spending a lot less on food that you would ever expect in a tourist area, I urge you to spend the anticipated savings on a good pair of walking shoes. This book and those shoes will greatly enhance your trip.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to use
Review: In theory, this would be a great travel guide -- it goes into far greater detail than other guides about the sights and their historic importance. However, in pratice, this guide is very difficult to use. The entire guide is written in narrative form, as if you were following a walk. Unfortunately, the walks are irritatingly not indicated on a map, so they're difficult to follow or visualize. Moreover, the guide constantly uses compass directions in its descriptions -- difficult enough to follow outdoors when the guide directs you down meandering paths, and downright useless when it describes building interiors in the same way. Who can tell from the darkness inside of a building which is the northwest archway?

The guide also suffers from poor design. Maps are haphazardly scattered throughout the book (instead of logically collected at the beginning or end). The list of phrases is painfully set flush, with the Czech first (instead of as two easily scannable columns), making it difficult to search by English expression.

The guide also assumes that art and architecture are your main focus, and even then, the walks often lead you to fairly mundane buildings. The lack of editorial opinion makes it difficult to determine which sights are worth seeing and which aren't. Note that entertainment (not even music, theater, or opera) is not covered at all.

This guide is for you only if other guides do not provide enough art and architecture background to you, and you are able to read a travel guide in its entirety before your visit, or you are willing to carry this book with you at all times and follow its walks to a T. Otherwise, you'll be much happier with the always reliable Lonely Planet or Rough Guides, or if you must, Fodor's or Frommer's.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to use
Review: In theory, this would be a great travel guide -- it goes into far greater detail than other guides about the sights and their historic importance. However, in pratice, this guide is very difficult to use. The entire guide is written in narrative form, as if you were following a walk. Unfortunately, the walks are irritatingly not indicated on a map, so they're difficult to follow or visualize. Moreover, the guide constantly uses compass directions in its descriptions -- difficult enough to follow outdoors when the guide directs you down meandering paths, and downright useless when it describes building interiors in the same way. Who can tell from the darkness inside of a building which is the northwest archway?

The guide also suffers from poor design. Maps are haphazardly scattered throughout the book (instead of logically collected at the beginning or end). The list of phrases is painfully set flush, with the Czech first (instead of as two easily scannable columns), making it difficult to search by English expression.

The guide also assumes that art and architecture are your main focus, and even then, the walks often lead you to fairly mundane buildings. The lack of editorial opinion makes it difficult to determine which sights are worth seeing and which aren't. Note that entertainment (not even music, theater, or opera) is not covered at all.

This guide is for you only if other guides do not provide enough art and architecture background to you, and you are able to read a travel guide in its entirety before your visit, or you are willing to carry this book with you at all times and follow its walks to a T. Otherwise, you'll be much happier with the always reliable Lonely Planet or Rough Guides, or if you must, Fodor's or Frommer's.