Self guides tour books of Scandinavia

[NKG6002]

Two questions :)

 

1. Our cruise is scheduled for May of 2009. Is it too soon to buy a guide book ? Are they updated annually ?

 

2. Even though Rick Steves books are highly recommended on this board, I have found some neutral to negative reviews on Amazon.com with some people more highly recommending Lonely Planet guide books. Any comments from users of Lonely Planet ?

 

Thanks in advance !!

[TLCOhio]

Two questions :) 1. Our cruise is scheduled for May of 2009. Is it too soon to buy a guide book ? Are they updated annually ?

2. Even though Rick Steves books are highly recommended on this board, I have found some neutral to negative reviews on Amazon.com with some people more highly recommending Lonely Planet guide books. Any comments from users of Lonely Planet ? Thanks in advance !!

 

All of the books have their pluses and limitations. We really like the Eyewitness books from the DK publisher. They have that great combination of copy, history, pictures, maps and great diagrams. Seeing is believing! Those visuals make a huge difference. You can read lots of "copy", but the words all start running together. When you see it and think "WOW!", that says something. Check your library! YES, now is a good time to start your reading and research. For many of the books in this area, their updates are more limited compared to places such as France, England that gain the higher tourist numbers and demand for newer info. From year to year with Fodors, Frommers, etc., their number of changes are somewhat limited. On most of the key attractions, there are not that many changes. The palaces, churches, museums, etc., are not being changed that much year-to-year, nor moved to a different location every couple of years.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[ab0si]

I find Lonely Planet to be the ones I use (I do lots of land travel to non-normal places). My wife loves the DK series. We both find R. Stevens over-rated (despite his great "backdoor" marketing, his books cover the obvious and not much else).

 

Frommer's has a problem with their maps (due to the process they use to make them -- very old fashioned -- they are subject to misalignment of the layers and hence to errors. Not all the time, but once is more than enough).

 

Fodor's: quite good but I find them seriously boring (the facts, nothing but the facts).

 

Actually, for off the ship at 9, back on at 5 type stops, any of the guidebooks will serve your needs well enough.

 

Paul

[MightyQuinn]

We’ve used LP guidebooks on many land trips to developing countries & they were superb. In my view, LP is targeted towards the independent traveler who needs info on local customs, accommodation, modes of travel and such basics. It wouldn’t be the first guidebook I’d select for a Baltic cruise. We’ve only used Rick Steeves once & we were disappointed. It was a poor match of guidebook to destination. We’ve used DK Eyewitness guides for touring several European cities & they were outstanding. DK would get my vote for a Baltic cruise, although we traveled there without any guidebook. You can also check out Frommers on-line, which offers a number of self-guided itineraries for major urban centres, including the Baltics. But I think you have the best guidebook right here on the CC boards. Happy reading!

[TLCOhio]

Great summary points by both MightyQuinn and abOsi. For the limited time in each port, you don't need to worry and prepare as much as if you were in Paris for a week. You're not needing to pick a hotel, or have many meals on land, etc. In preparing for our cruise, it's that mix that you want or seek that seems more important. With what we'll see in St. Petersburg, we're not as interested in seeing the Royal Palace in Oslo or an art museum in Helsinki.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[kaisatsu]

We love the DK Eyewitness books when we're touring historical cities that are full of culture. We learn a lot more from them and find the illustrations, museum maps, and 3-D neighborhood drawings very helpful. The drawings easily point out little pieces of interest we might not notice otherwise, and it's much easier to understand than text-based explanations. Plus, the books make beautiful souvenirs!

 

But to extend this topic a little, I wouldn't recommend the Eyewitness books in places where the sights aren't grouped closely together or where they don't lend themselves to the Eyewitness style. For this reason, I do not recommend the Eyewitness book for Norway (aside from Oslo and Bergen). We traveled the Norwegian coast with both the LP and the Eyewitness book, but we found that we rarely used the Eyewitness book in this case (compared to Italy, where we always used the Eyewitness and left LP in the suitcase). In Norway, the big draw is the scenery, and with so many little towns each housing a few attractions, the maps, details, and travel info (i.e. which buses to take and where to catch them) in the LP is much more helpful.

 

For a traditional Baltic itinerary, I would go with DK, since I assume you'll be hitting mostly the capitals and other culture centers. But for anyone venturing farther up to the fjords, be warned that Eyewitness falls a little short once you're out of the cities.

[7SeasLover]

I bought Rick Steves' Scandinavia 2007 for the walking tours and was highly disappointed. Unless you knew how to get from the pier to the town, you were lost! We gave up on his maps and used the ship's maps.

 

I do not recommend Rick Steves' books.