Rick Steves’ Eastern Europe 2006
A Travel Guidebook to the Best of Eastern Europe from Avalon Publishing
Sep 28, 2006
If you're traveling independently around Eastern Europe, a guidebook is not only essential, but helps you understand and enjoy your destinations more. The Rick Steves Best of Eastern Europe guide covers the most popular destinations of central and eastern Europe.
Features of Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe
Never claiming to be an extensive guidebook for all of Eastern Europe, Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe in fact picks destinations from what is more commonly referred to as central Europe, namely Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and a city guide to Vienna. It's organized with an introductory chapter on topics including planning, money and transport and followed by chapters featuring each country. To conclude the almost 800 pages is an interesting chapter on "Understanding Yugoslavia".
Each country chapter begins with a general overview, featuring essential facts in an "Almanac", plus information on history, food and language (including a handy table of useful phrases), followed by sub-chapters for each recommended city and/or region. Detailed (and annually updated) information on attractions, accommodation, eating, nightlife and transport is included. Cultural and historical information in pullout boxes is scattered throughout.
Is Rick Steves' Guide For You?
It's a "best of" guide, and is best suited to relatively short, multi-country trips. Some of their suggested itineraries seem a bit whirlwind, for example, covering Prague, Budapest, Krakow and Auschwitz in just seven days. The information for recommended sightseeing attractions and travel tips is detailed and useful, but there's nothing beyond the well-trodden highlights of the region: for example, in the Czech Republic chapter, only the capital Prague and the tourist-magnet town of Cesky Krumlov are described. Unlike many other travel guides, each Rick Steves guidebook is updated and republished every year, so the prices and contact details are more likely to be accurate.
If you're planning a trip that takes in just these key areas of Eastern Europe - and if you have limited time, it's a wonderful area to explore - this guide probably provides most of the information you need, in an easy-to-follow format. If your itinerary goes a bit further afield, however, you'll need something more.
More information:
Rick Steves' website has information on the Eastern Europe guidebook.
Want to compare guidebooks? Check our review of the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe guidebook.
