The Czech Republic and Slovakia : The Complete Guide with Great City Walks and Country Drives

Rating:
Summary: Excellent current facts - including prices - on everything!
Review: I found this book to be an excellent source of factual information for such things as admission prices, hotel and dining prices, contact names and numbers for embassies, travel information bureaus, etc. It was the only guidebook which I found that had the proper visa information for Canadians in it.

If you're interested in doing some reading before you go, there is also a "recommended books" section at the back.

This book also has a wonderful English-Czech common-phrase section at the back with a great pronunciation guide. Many other travel books for this area seem to have phrase books but few (none that I've seen so far) have pronunciation guides.

I also appreciated the maps and the walking tours. I suppose that doesn't really make me one of those off-the-beaten-track kind of travellers, but if you only have a limited amount of time in which to see the Czech and Slovak Republics, chances are you don't want to miss all of the major sites.

The guidebook appears to be written primarily for North Americans and this shows in some of the descriptions of things (I'm a Canadian so I found this very helpful but if you're from outside of North America you may not appreciate this like I did), especially when restaurants and hotels are discussed - lodging that is typically recommended is that which is up to "North American standards" with all of the North American "comforts of home".

I only had a few criticisms of this book:

1) It's not really meant for budget/student travellers. The International Hostelling Association is mentioned at the beginning and a contact name and number is provided, but otherwise, there is no mention made of hostels, and not a lot made about other budget accommodation.

2) This book is also lacking in pictures - although I guess most content-rich guidebooks are. However, the maps are quite good.

3) There is not a lot of rich historial detail - although there is probably plenty to satisfy most visitors. Anyone taking an extended trip to the Czech and Slovak Republics (as I am) may want more historical and cultural details than what is provided by this guide.