Nelles Guide Coatia Adriatic Coast (Nelles Guidebooks)

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Library Journal's review of this guide: "Combining encyclopedic coverage of destinations with loads of practical information and atlas-type maps, the series illuminates the wonders of nature but emphasizes the peculiarity of a place's people and their folklore."

Rating:
Summary: Needs a Second Edition
Review: Not great. The idea is a good one, focus on the tourists who go to the Croatian coast. Few tourists, after all, will visit any other part of Croatia aside from Zagreb. But the execution needs a lot of work. First, the ubiquitous and annoying spelling typos and awkward phrasing indicate that the book was translated into English without the benefit of an english-speaking editor. It reads like a cheesy web page. Second, it doesn't really have any information that the Lonely Planet Croatia guide doesn't have, and in many areas this one is inferior. For example the maps are awful. The map of Rijeka, for example, (Croatia's third largest city) is about four inches square and shows just a handful of sites. It is nearly useless for someone driving into the city (notoriously tricky for non-local drivers). Similarly, the map of Pula (a beautiful and historic must-see in Istria) is about two inches square and shows the names of about four streets and a few attractions. The accompanying text is no more illuminating.

There may be room for a comprehensive guide to Croatia's beautiful coast, but without an awful lot of updates, clarifications, expansion, and improved translation, this guide can never hope to overtake the Lonely Planet guide. Wait for the next edition.

Rating:
Summary: Needs a Second Edition
Review: Not great. The idea is a good one, focus on the tourists who go to the Croatian coast. Few tourists, after all, will visit any other part of Croatia aside from Zagreb. But the execution needs a lot of work. First, the ubiquitous and annoying spelling typos and awkward phrasing indicate that the book was translated into English without the benefit of an english-speaking editor. It reads like a cheesy web page. Second, it doesn't really have any information that the Lonely Planet Croatia guide doesn't have, and in many areas this one is inferior. For example the maps are awful. The map of Rijeka, for example, (Croatia's third largest city) is about four inches square and shows just a handful of sites. It is nearly useless for someone driving into the city (notoriously tricky for non-local drivers). Similarly, the map of Pula (a beautiful and historic must-see in Istria) is about two inches square and shows the names of about four streets and a few attractions. The accompanying text is no more illuminating.

There may be room for a comprehensive guide to Croatia's beautiful coast, but without an awful lot of updates, clarifications, expansion, and improved translation, this guide can never hope to overtake the Lonely Planet guide. Wait for the next edition.