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Books : Vienna Prague Budapest, 2nd (Country & Regional Guides - Cadogan)
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Rating: 
- Does the job, not great. Others are better
It is nice to have the same book cover three major cities, often on the same trip. The book is good, both for lodging and restaurants and sightseeing. Others (Lonely Planet) are a little better, however, but only deal with one city.
Rating:
- Poor Maps, Poor Information, No Photos
Maps are an important part of any guidebook, and the maps in this book are lacking. They do not include hotel locations on city maps nor Metro/bus stops. They have no key and are in a pink/white ink (like Rough Guide), making them difficult to read. In addition, it includes no information for budget travelers; no hostel information nor cheap eats (this book lists anything less than 25 Euros as a "Cheap Eat"). In addition, it does not include a list of bulleted "Must Sees;" it prefers to list sights by location, not importance. As a result, smaller, regional museums take precedence over more important sights, which may be listed in a different neighborhood. In addition, it does not list entrance fees to musuems, it simply says "Admission Charged." After two days, I stop using this book and started asking Tourist Information Offices for maps and suggested sights. This book would be good supplemental information for a tourist on a tour with a guide, but very poor for independent travelers.
Rating:
- No Photographs
One of the reasons I chose to order this book was Amazon's mention of "color photographs." There are NONE, other than the cover. In fact there are no photographs at all. The very few illustrations are maps, no better than I've seen in the other books.
Where this book seems superior to others is in the depth of its descriptions. For example, over two full pages on the Charles Bridge. Each country/city also has an introduction with several pages of history and art history.
The font is of nice quality but just a little too small. I don't want to be whipping out the reading glasses while I'm sightseeing. Also, the book is nicely divided into the three cities, so could perhaps be cut into three parts to carry around -- but the publisher chose to put the Language section (3 languages) in the back. Why not put the Czech language section at the end of the Prague section? That would also put it closer to the restaurant listing, where a language reference would be handy.
I'm going to read this thoroughly so I can better appreciate the sights, but a different book is going with me.
Rating: - Covers all the Basics
This book covers the must sees in each city. Easy to navigate. Good photographs. I always hope that a guide book will cover some of the unusual spots to visit and I'm always looking for gardens or arboreta. This was very light on these things.
Rating: - A nicely succinct guide.
We used this guide for just Budapest and Prague, not Vienna. It was usefully succinct in its description of the importance of the sights it reviewed. Also, it helped those having a limited amount of time to identify the "must see" sights and gave a quick introduction to the money, culture, etc., of the country involved. The only reason it's not 5 stars is that it failed to lay out walking routes to hit the sights it mentions, something that would have been even more useful.
- Does the job, not great. Others are betterIt is nice to have the same book cover three major cities, often on the same trip. The book is good, both for lodging and restaurants and sightseeing. Others (Lonely Planet) are a little better, however, but only deal with one city.
Rating:
- Poor Maps, Poor Information, No PhotosMaps are an important part of any guidebook, and the maps in this book are lacking. They do not include hotel locations on city maps nor Metro/bus stops. They have no key and are in a pink/white ink (like Rough Guide), making them difficult to read. In addition, it includes no information for budget travelers; no hostel information nor cheap eats (this book lists anything less than 25 Euros as a "Cheap Eat"). In addition, it does not include a list of bulleted "Must Sees;" it prefers to list sights by location, not importance. As a result, smaller, regional museums take precedence over more important sights, which may be listed in a different neighborhood. In addition, it does not list entrance fees to musuems, it simply says "Admission Charged." After two days, I stop using this book and started asking Tourist Information Offices for maps and suggested sights. This book would be good supplemental information for a tourist on a tour with a guide, but very poor for independent travelers.
Rating:
- No PhotographsOne of the reasons I chose to order this book was Amazon's mention of "color photographs." There are NONE, other than the cover. In fact there are no photographs at all. The very few illustrations are maps, no better than I've seen in the other books.
Where this book seems superior to others is in the depth of its descriptions. For example, over two full pages on the Charles Bridge. Each country/city also has an introduction with several pages of history and art history.
The font is of nice quality but just a little too small. I don't want to be whipping out the reading glasses while I'm sightseeing. Also, the book is nicely divided into the three cities, so could perhaps be cut into three parts to carry around -- but the publisher chose to put the Language section (3 languages) in the back. Why not put the Czech language section at the end of the Prague section? That would also put it closer to the restaurant listing, where a language reference would be handy.
I'm going to read this thoroughly so I can better appreciate the sights, but a different book is going with me.
Rating:
- Covers all the BasicsThis book covers the must sees in each city. Easy to navigate. Good photographs. I always hope that a guide book will cover some of the unusual spots to visit and I'm always looking for gardens or arboreta. This was very light on these things.
Rating:
- A nicely succinct guide.We used this guide for just Budapest and Prague, not Vienna. It was usefully succinct in its description of the importance of the sights it reviewed. Also, it helped those having a limited amount of time to identify the "must see" sights and gave a quick introduction to the money, culture, etc., of the country involved. The only reason it's not 5 stars is that it failed to lay out walking routes to hit the sights it mentions, something that would have been even more useful.