Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #533073 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 688 pages

From the Back Cover

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Perfect for a cruise
This book was the perfect companion for our cruise of the Mediterranean. It had a map of all the major towns of each greek island (I looked at almost every other guide for the Greek Islands and this was the only one that had that). We wanted to explore the islands on our own instead of taking a shore excursion so this was exactly what we were looking for. The maps were detailed enough that we could get around without any problems. It also included Athens which was a huge bonus. It had sections on history and the main sights of each place.

Two possible downsides to the book. 1. The information on lodging was pretty skimpy and the book is definitely geared more towards backpackers (it has information on camp sites which might be useful if you are a backpacker). 2. There really is no section on food so if you depend on your guidebooks to point you in the right direction for this, you're out of luck.

If I was doing my own tour of the Greek Islands, this book would have gotten a 3 or 4 star rating given what it lacked in lodging and food. I would have had to buy another book like Frommer's or Fodor's for the information it was missing. For a cruise, this was exactly what I was looking for.

Definitive guide, but be aware of its limitations
Greek Island Hopping is a must-have volume for travelers to the Greek isles: the maps, island descriptions, ferry information, etc. go above and beyond its competitors. I just got back from 2+ weeks in the islands & Athens and used this as my primary companion guide during that time. Sometimes it can come off a bit as too backpacker or party-seeker oriented, but this impression can be deceptive because the guide is nicely balanced with a good deal of information on the history, mythology, and culture of the land as well. It has a wealth of helpful information on Athens, a wise inclusion given that most travelers to the islands will likely throw a few days in Athens into their itineraries as well.

That said, this guide has two significant limitations ... one which manifests itself before you leave for the islands, the other is a problem once you get there. That would be SLEEPING and EATING concerns, respectively. Personally, the lack of hotel information is less of a problem given the wealth of information on the internet from reputable sites these days, but the complete lack of dining information was a large drawback for me. It made the Lonely Planet guide to the islands--which is otherwise inferior to Island Hopping in just about every way--a similarly indispensable resource for that narrow purpose. In the islands, it's very easy to pay a lot for bad food, so having some idea of what places to seek out and which to avoid would be very helpful because the good, the bad, and the ugly are often all located on the same street. It really shouldn't be that hard to list a couple of places for each town or island.

Despite these fairly major drawbacks, I still give this guide 5 stars because the wealth of maps, information, and helpful guidance makes this guide a must-have companion in spite of its warts. I imagine the writers want to avoid making the guide too long, but they really do need to consider adding some eating & sleeping information to compete with the "big names" like Lonely Planet and Frommers.

OLD NEWS
Love the structure and layout of info, but it was costly to rely on schedules that have not been updated in over a year. I tried to contact the publisher with more recent info, but they don't seem to be interested.