The Rough Guide to Berlin (Berlin (Rough Guides))

Rating:
Summary: a must have in berlin...
Review: Berlin is a huge city which can, at many times, be very intimidating. The Rough Guide Series takes some of that alienation and fear away as it gives you a very thorough and concise view of the city of berlin.

Aside from giving almost 100% accurate advice on where to eat, sleep, and party, this guide also keys readers in on some of Berlin's very vivid history. Taking Berlin, district to district, it is very detailed in letting the reader know where's what and how to get there.

Without my Rough Guide, I would have been lost in Berlin. I wouldn't even have known where to mail my postcards from. The detailed maps and subway layout are excellent as well. All in all, this guide is great for a first time visitor (like me) or someone who is already familiar with all the Berlin has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of outdated info
Review: The Rough Guide to Berlin sure is a convenient size, it fits in my jacket pocket. It also has one or two useful maps. That postive comment out of the way...

My wife and I bought this before we moved to Berlin in Sept. 2001. I think this was only a couple of months after the 2001 edition had been published. We've been let down numerous times by it since: four restaurants reccommended are out of business, prices for museums and other places are about 20% too low, and other small facts are frequently just inaccurate enough to make planning hard.

Sure, budget priced places in Berlin come and go daily, but we've figured out that much of this edition wasn't updated since 2000, including the info about standard tourist attractions and well-known restaurants. Visitors budgeting activities based on prices in this book might be dissapointed.

Finally, an information design complaint. Restaurant maps are numbered with the restaurants in alphabetical order, not according to location. So, if you're standing in Kathe Kollwitz Platz, and you really want Chinese, you have to look at a map, find the numbers on the map in the neigborhood, then look through the whole alphabetical list at each one to see if you want to eat there. Believe me, that's frustrating in the dark on the street.

Better would be to forgo alphabetical listing at all, and list places by proximity. Who says, well, Akbar Pizza is closed, but lets try Amrit for indian since it's next on the list? No, you say, Akbar Pizza is closed, so what else is in the area? You can't easily answer that with the Rough Guide.