Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Great nightlife listings in a late-night city, 11 Feb 2007
I went to Barcelona recently, and in the planning of the trip I consulted four guide books:
Lonely Planet's Barcelona City Guide
Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Barcelona and Catalonia
Cadogan Guides Barcelona (Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls)
Time Out Barcelona
All of them were good. I took two with me: Lonely Planet and Eyewitness.
The reasons I chose those two:
Eyewitness unfailingly has a good quality map, which in my view is LP's downfall. Eyewitness always includes a Street Finder Index which LP does not, and LP often misses out on streets other than the major ones, which can be very frustrating, especially in a city like Barca where there are many alleyways. I never use Eyewitness for hotels - the information is scant and usually more expensive than my (more Lonely Planet) budget, but it has fantastic colour photos and cutaways of buildings, and illustrations which place buildings within their streetscapes. It's a nice book to read on the bus or train going somewhere.
LP specialises in listings, which seemed to be more up-to-date and comprehensive than either Time Out or Cadogan, It also had a good Excursions section which helped a couple of times when I travelled beyond the city. I also liked a couple of the walking routes they recommended. Information on matters such as public transport is comprehensive and detailed. I like the chapters on history, architecture and food as well.
Time Out's great strength for me was in helping to plan. It had a huge array of hotels, and if you were especially interested in nightlife, I would take Time Out. I was there primarily for a conference, and many of my evenings were organised. And I'm also night a great nightclubber, perhaps contrary to Barca lifestyle!! If you are - consider Time Out. Its maps were pretty good, but not comprehensive for the area I was staying in, beachside Barceloneta.
That is where the Cadogan guide excelled. Its maps were so good that I pulled them out of the book and took them with me. I would have taken the whole book, but for the weight in my suitcase! Its info about places and sights seemed accurate and comprehensive.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A surprising and interesting account of the city, 8 Jan 2008
This guide was a thrill to read as it encapsulated the typical guidebook style as well as giving me a new understanding of the city. The first time I went to Barcelona was on a school trip where we spent hours on a bus only to get off, stare at Gaudi's famous Parc de la Ciutadella for two hours (which, by the way is breathtaking) and then go home again. Needless to say I wanted know more about the city, so I bought several guidebooks looking for the one which would help me the most. Timeout helped me no end in planning my second trip and helped me realise there was a lot more to Barcelona than at first sight. Eyewitness and Rough Guide were helpful too but failed when it came to delivering their message promptly and concisely. In reading Timeout, I learnt a lot more about the city's history and beautiful architecture, but certainly the sections to read are Nightlife and Festivals - I was surprised to find out that there were so many festivals in Barcelona, at whatever time in the year you go, there's bound to be one on! When I eventually did go on my second trip, it was a help to know that I had such a comprehensive and up to date guide in my bag. Also the general information on hotels and restaurants was a great help, I stayed in one of their suggested hotels and it was better than expected!
The maps in the guide are very concise. You have the main street maps around central Barcelona, as well as maps for the RENFE local train service and of course the metro.
Timeout stands out as a travel guide as a lot of the information given to you is not touristy - a lot of the listings are hang outs for locals and are lesser known so are less crowded. This makes for a much better trip, and you leave feeling like you have really seen the city, and not just the architecture, at least I did! I would recommend this guide to anyone, even if you know Barcelona, read this guide and it will surprise you and make you want to go back for more - I'm planning my third trip as we speak!
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