Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides) | Sarah Johnstone, Aaron Anderson, ... |...

Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides) | Sarah Johnstone, Aaron Anderson, ... | Encyclopedic

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Europe on a Shoest...

	Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides) Sarah Johnstone, Aaron Anderson, ... Lonely Planet, 2007 - 1284 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Bible

Well for starters ive traveled for years now breaking the 40 country mark and this book may be the best ive ever used. i do carry others that are area specific(i.e. cities etc. NK Top 10) but over all when doing multi country trips. This book is a must, it will assist you in transportation from locations to the next. And from my experience rather up todate on places to stay, currency hot spots, food vendures. The book is a backpackers bible.

Encyclopedic

I have lived in Europe and traveled just about everywhere over there. Even though I know it well I always carry guidebooks and maps when I travel. Normally I carry Michelin. I used this book for my 2006 EurailPass and Eurolines bus tour of 17 countries. "Europe on a Shoestring" is amazing. It covers more and in greater detail than any other "Europe" book. I have all of the well-known books from the well-known authors and publishers and none of them comes close.

Highlights:
Hostel DJH recommendation in Dresden.
Hotel G9 recommendation in Tallinn.
Excellent country and city maps.

The other big "Europe" books selectively cover some or most of western Europe but none do eastern Europe like this one.

If there is one book to pack this is the one.

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Bundle with Party Europe

LP is a great book and had lots of awesome ideas. If you really want to have the best time of your life, buy a copy of Party Europe as well. LP tells you where to stay and eat, Party Europe will tell you how to have fun. Great combination. Can't wait to head back to the old country.

2007 Edition: More Complete, Great for Planning

So the latest edition of Lonely Planet's Europe guide is out.
Note that most of the earlier reviews posted here refer to the previous edition(s), and there have been improvements in this new one!
Most importantly, this book now covers ALL European countries, including little-visited Belarus and Ukraine. It has basic coverage of European Russia, too.

The prices and other practical details really seem to have been updated specifically for this book - unlike in certain earlier shoestring guides, which simply seem to have been compiled by picking info from the already published (few years old) individual country guides.
So the info in this one is pretty correct as of 2006 state of affairs - that's when it was researched. Be prepared for some changes, of course, especially in some of the still rapidly-changing Eastern European countries.

The contents include the usual practical details all LP guides provide: not just an overview of sights and history, but practical matters like accomodation and transport details, all with actual prices (remember, these do change!), as well as useful info on things like getting visas and crossing borders.
Coverage of individual countries definitely varies though.
You will still find that the most popular Western European countries are covered in pretty good detail, certainly enough for an "All-Europe-Trip", while coverage of Eastern European countries is much more brief, in case of less visited ones really sketchy - hence the 4 stars only.
For more obscure countries like Belarus or Ukraine, this guide only provides detailed info on the capital and at best one or two other towns/cities, or perhaps just a brief overview of the rest of the country.

So this book is great value if you are still in the planning stages of your trip, and simply want to have an overview of the entire continent, prices, visa matters and all, to help you decide where to go.
It will also be an adequate guide to take along if you are planning a whirlwind tour of the continent, concentrating on the more established tourist destinations, with only brief forays to less visited countries.
However if you are planning to spend any length of time in Eastern Europe, I definitely recommend getting LP's separate Eastern Europe guide - it covers it in maybe three times as much detail as this book.
If you have a specific interest in a few countries rather than the whole continent, get the individual country guides to those ones.
But if you have only a summer holiday to tour our continent, you will probably find this book has enough information for you.

Have a good trip!

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An impossible task

I have used LP all over the world, and have also used some of their comprehensive guides such as South America and SE Asia, but attempting to write a guide book about as many countries as Europe has is impossible. South America has 13 countries, SE Asia 11 and Europe comes in at over 50. There isn't a big enough book for all that info.

I bought this book thinking that I was only going to hit major cities this fall while living in Europe for four months. Even so, the book just does not cover what you want to know. It is frustrating to open the book and not learn what you are after.

I do give LP 3 stars for trying. There are maps which are great as always and the best thing that I found in this book were the blurbs about how to get into the city from the airports. If you are traveling in Europe, you can't buy every country guide, but honestly, this book is not that much help and I rarely carried it. Better to book your hostel online, check with them, and wing it when you get there. Skip the book this time and just go for it.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

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