Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68301 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 504 pages

About the Author
Rick Steves is on a mission: to help make European travel accessible and meaningful for Americans. Rick has spent 100 days every year since 1973 exploring Europe. He's researched and written 24 travel guidebooks and hosts the public television series Rick Steves' Europe, now in its seventh season. He also organizes and leads tours of Europe and offers an information-packed website (www.ricksteves.com). Rick lives in Edmonds, WA, just north of Seattle, with his family.

Customer Reviews

best in print on Croatia and Slovenia - pity about the maps
I grew up with "Lonely Planet," taking an adventure trip almost every summer, but for my most recent vacation around ex-Yugoslavia, I decided to carefully compare what was on the market. I chose Rick Steves not only because it covered the most ground with the smallest amount of pages and weight, but also because it had the best balance of historical background, dining and lodging recommendations, and comparative evaluations of tourist sites that helped me to prioritize what to see in the few days I had available. Note that this book also has a good 70-80 pages on Bosnia and Montenegro, which are very easy to access from Southern Croatia (especially by rental car). I especially appreciated the book's comprehensive digression on how the present republics evolved out of the old Yugoslavia; Rick Steves is not only informative but remarkably balanced in his description of the Tito years and of the recent conflict between Serbia and Croatia. These issues are still on the mind of everyone you will meet out there.
Couple of quibbles: Rick Steves seems to appeal to middle-age travelers, and his nightlife suggestions should rarely be trusted! The language section is tiny and inadequate. And the maps are approximate, carelessly drawn, and missing from some major towns. On the other hand, the Tourist Information in each town will give you detailed maps for free. So, over all, I am happy I made this choice.

Wonderful Introduction
In preparing for a trip to Eastern Europe I picked up this book out of curiosity, although I was not planning to visit either of these two countries. Now I am! Rick Steves' enthusiasm for historical and natural sights, as well as for the people here, has opened a whole new world of interest for me. I only hope the countries are as fascinating as the book.

As in all of his books, Steves states his approach to travel clearly: he doesn't cover everything in both countries, just the "best" places, the best according to him, of course. If your tastes and orientation align with his (interesting, moderately priced travel, including as much local immersion as is reasonable), then you can rely on his books to provide the wonderful backbone of a great trip. For visiting places other than his "best" you will want a more comprehensive guide book, like Lonely Planet, in addition to (rather than instead of) his.

-Lynn Michelsohn, author of Roswell, Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!

Best book for this region hands down
I just returned from a 15 day trip in the former Yugoslavia. My friend and I had Lonely Planet, Eyewitness, Rick Steves and Bradt guides with us for the various countries we were visiting. Hands down the Rick Steves guide became our travel bible as it was helpful, informative, easy to understand and perfectly portable. Not a day went by when we did not utilize it multiple times and others on our tour began using it as well. It covered every single place we went in detail (the other guides did not) and by the end of the trip we had visitied almost every place covered in the book, including Bosnia and Montenegro. The restaurant suggestions were all spot on as well and really helped since in many places there are so many places that it was hard to determine which one to choose. The other guides were good, provided more detailed maps and glossier pictures, but none of them even came close to the quality of information provided by the Steves book. If you are going to visit this part of the world then this book is a must have to take with you.