Book Description
Fall under the spell of the fabled Alhambra from the terrace of an AlbayzÃn restaurant p376. Hear the contented snuffles of Iberian pigs digging up acorns in the Sierra de Aracena oak woods p171. Watch barmen chalk your bill on the bar top of a Seville tapas haunt p118. Synchronise your finger twist with your foot stamp on a passion-filled flamenco course p111. Over 900 hours of expert author research provides indepth regional knowledge and uncovers hard-to-find gems. Seven-page AndalucÃa Outdoors section covers everything from hiking through forested valleys to kitesurfing. Get insider perspectives - interviews with a host of Andalucians, including villagers, cowboys, flamenco stars and Muslim students. "Lonely Planet's readership now includes everyone from backpackers to well-heeled independent travellers."
Customer Reviews:
Very useful - personal experience.......2006-12-16
I used this book to plan my trip to Andalucia in March 2006. It helped me to budget for the trip, and to plan my iteniary effectively. I went to resturants mentioned in the book in Marbella, Malaga, Granada and Seville and they offered the service I expected. The maps were very helpful and informative.
I highly recommend.
It's very useful........2005-08-20
I'm supposed to spend more than 6months in Andalucia, so I needed more than 'Lonely planet Spain'. The book is great.
The reason I gave 4 stars because it took a little bit longer than I expected, but it wasn't bad for oversea delivery.
Not up to traditional Lonely Planet standards.......2004-04-05
Lonely Planet Andalucia is clearly inferior to Rough Guide Andalucia and below the standards I have come to expect from Lonely Planet. I found repeatedly that the author(s) appear morei interested in cutesy writing style than in incisive fieldwork and allowed their infatuation with their glib comments to gloss over their lack of good travel writing and description. The guides to eating are almost useless. For those who think otherwise, check the section Where to Eat in Seville. For those who make the mistake of buying the book, I suggest you don't even bother with the reviews of eating places.
I decided to leave my Lonely Planet Andalucia in Seville and brought my Rough Guide home with me.
The series editors need to clamp down on the writing style of the individual volumes and force them to write for the traveler,not for themselves.
Concise, organized and comprehensive.......2000-06-05
If you're traveling to Andalucia, Spain this is the book to take along. I reviewed Eyewitness Travel Guide (both Spain and Andalucia), Fodor, Frommer, Cordovon, and others. Lonely Planet has outstanding city maps and lots of them. It has built in "tabs" of the provinces, e..g. Cadiz, Sevilla, city guide maps with numbered legends on food, lodging and sights. The book is jam packed with useful information, things to buy, walking tours, practical information. The Lonely Planet guide has one two page color map, and some scattered color pictures, augmented with frequent and helpful black and white artwork. This book was recommended by a Spanish website.
Comparison to other guide books: The Eyewitness guides had much more color. Some had color photos, some not at all. Cordovon had bigger type, but much less information, and poorer artwork. Both Fodor and Frommer have full size maps with their main book on Spain. If you want an additional map, go with Michelin 446 available at Amazon.com or the more detailed EuroAtlas Spain Portugal by American Map--about 300 pages, including some cities. The Lonely Planet book, comes with a colored map and many supplements. A separate map is an option, not a necessity.
Book Description
INTRODUCTION:
Andalucía is the southernmost territory of Spain and the part of the Iberian peninsula that is most quintessentially Spanish. The popular image of Spain as a land of bullfights, flamenco, sherry and ruined castles derives from this spectacularly beautiful region. The influences that have washed over Andalucía since the first paintings were etched on cave walls here more than twenty-five thousand years ago are many - Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Vandals all came and left their mark. And the most influential invaders of all, the Moors, who ruled the region for seven centuries and named it al-Andalus, have left an enduring imprint on Andalucian culture and customs.
The sight and sound of flamenco, when the guitar laments and heels stamp the boards, or cante jondo, Andalucía's blues, as it mournfully pierces the smoke-laden gloom of a backstreet café, also tell you there's something unique about the people here. The Muslim influence on speech and vocabulary, a stoical fatalism in the face of adversity, and an obsession with the drama of death are all facets of the modern Andalucian character. Contrastingly, the andaluces also love nothing more than a party and the colour and sheer energy of the region's countless and legendary fiestas - always in traditional flamenco costume worn with pride - make them among the most exciting in the world. The romerías, wild and semi-religious pilgrimages to honour local saints at country shrines are yet another excuse for a jamboree. And in quieter moments there are few greater pleasures than to join the drinkers at a local bar winding down over a glass of traditional fino (dry sherry from Jerez), while ! nibbling tapas - Andalucía's great titbit invention. Few places in the world can boast such a wealth of natural wonders in so compact an area. The mighty Guadalquivir river which crosses and irrigates the region from its source in the Cazorla mountains of Jaén in the northeast, reaches the sea 250 miles away at the dune-fringed beaches and marismas of the Coto Doñana National Park, Europe's largest and most important wildlife sanctuary. To the east and towering above Granada, the peaks of the Sierra Nevada include the Spanish peninsula's highest mountain, snowcapped for most of the year, while twenty miles away and close to the sweltering beaches, sugar cane thrives. This crop was another contribution to Europe by the Moors, along with oranges, almonds, aubergines, saffron and most of the spices now used to flavour the region's cooking which features an astonishing variety of seafood. Nestling in the folds of the same mountains are the valleys of the Alpujarras, a wildly picturesque region dotted with dozens of mountain villages! , many of them little changed since Moorish times. Further east again come the gulch-ridden badlands and lunar landscapes of Almería's deserts, sought out by film-makers and astronomers for the clearest skies in Europe.
On the coast it's easy to despair. Extending to the west of Málaga is the Costa del Sol, Europe's most developed resort area, with its beaches hidden behind a remorseless density of concrete hotels and apartment complexes. But even here the real Andalucía is still to be found if you're prepared to seek it out: go merely a few kilometres inland and you'll encounter the timeless Spain of white villages and wholehearted country fiestas. Travel further, both east and west, along the coast and you'll find some of the best beaches in all Spain, along the Costa de la Luz, near Cádiz, or the Costa de Almería.
Andalucía's sunshine image - projected across the world in advertising campaigns - belies the fact that this is also Spain's poorest region where an economy rooted in near-feudal landownership (two per cent of the landowners possess fifty per cent of the land area) stifles investment and is the cause of desperate poverty. Rural life is bleak; you soon begin to notice the appalling economic structure of vast absentee-landlord estates, and landless peasants. The andaluz villages saw little economic aid or change during the Franco years, or indeed since, even though the former governing Socialist party has its principal power base here. Tourism in coastal areas has brought some respite to the alarmingly high levels of unemployment, and Spain's growing importance as a member of the European Union promises to speed up progress, but there is still a mighty long way to go.
Customer Reviews:
Underwhelmed.......2007-05-11
After just spending 10 days in Andalucia, I have to say that I wished I had gotten the Lonely Planet guide. This one just did not have enough truly useful information to justify its considerable weight. For example, it would say "a bus takes you from the train station into town," but did not tell you the number of the line. Or it would say "there's a lively market on thursdays on c/ borroso" in Sevilla, but it did not give you any orientation as to where "c/ borroso" was in the city or on a map...and do you know how many tiny streets there are in Sevilla? Also, while it gave numerous restaurant reviews, it did not give them relative cost ratings (e.g. $, $$, $$$). This would have been really helpful, as I often would seek out a restaurant only to find it out of my price range.
That said, if you're not planning on getting audioguides at the historical sites and have time to read the descriptions, you will undoubtedly get more out of this book than I did. And when they had the necessary details, their recommendations of things to do were spot-on.
After browsing through other travelers' Lonely Planets, I think those guides are arranged much more intuitively.
Top this........2006-12-08
This high-quality guide is 50% thicker than the Lonely Planet guide to Andalucia, yet it's not too big or heavy for a light packer. (But I wouldn't want one any heavier than this.) There's no filler; it's dense with practical information.
The "Let's Go" guides are written by undergrads and have excellent lists of accommodations and eats, but the rest of it tends to be immature and alarmist purple prose. (I'll never forget this comment on Morocco: "But be careful, camels have been known to carry syphilis." OK, how many people do you know that have caught syphilis from a camel?!) I call it "Let's Not Go" because they always try to scare you. Other travelers I've met had similar comments and once upon a train ride we had some laughs swapping ridiculous citations.
Rick Steves is just too political for me. His "guides" read like tiresome negative campaign commercials or anti-American polemics.
This guide is about Andalucia. It starts off with a section called "34 Things Not To Miss" with a nice color photo of each, includes a good index, clear and legible maps, and a section on Gibraltar. All the opening/closing times were accurate for the places I went. Those who enjoy intelligent historical and background commentary will like this.
There's no logistical info on Madrid but that's OK: those who land there can go to the prominent "i" booth in Barajas airport or Atocha (the main train station) for free maps and friendly information in English.
Accommodation prices are absent because they vary by season, but good values are pointed out. The money section should warn about the blue "EXACT Transfer" exchange booths in train stations which charge exorbitant fees (like 25%!) and refuse to cancel the transaction once they have your money. (They display different rates for three amount ranges, but charge the highest rate regardless of your amount; it would be a crime in most places.) Note that prices on everything have skyrocketed since the advent of the Euro: the Ave ("AHH-vay") fast train between Madrid and Sevilla cost 70 Euros each way (!) and taxi fares were what I would expect to pay in the U.S. (Tapas is still a deal.) I also suggest a free glance at the State Department's consular information sheet online --your tax dollars at work.
Great overall resource.......2005-11-16
I found this book extremely helpful, if a bit bulky. One shortcoming is that the book does not include prices for the accommodation it recommends. Prices are always helpful if you're traveling on a budget; even though they become outdated quickly, they at least give you an idea.
Including the frequency of bus and train routes was very helpful, but they should also include web sites to check current schedules.
I do recommend this book.
A must-have for the Andalucian-bound!!!.......2004-07-19
Keeping in the tradition of the insight, clarity, and usefulness which has made Rough Guide among the best of guide book series, the Rough Guide to Andalucia is the definitive book for any tourist interested in visitng that region.
Uncluttered, with honest facts AND opinions about where to eat, landmarks, hotels, hostels, and more, the Rough Guide is peerless in it's thorough usefulness.
This book does an excellent job of presenting more than your usual tourist traps. Special needs travelers (pets, children, handicapped) can also get a sense of what may and may not be good ideas for your Andalucian odyssey.
All in all, if you're looking for a guide book that presents what you NEED to know without a lot of editorial musings, you will find the Rough Guide to Andalucia not only at the forefront of this genre, but without competition when it comes to giving you all things the "non-touristy tourist" wants to know.
Must Have Guide.......2003-11-07
Fantastic resource for the Andalucian paradise! We travelled to Spain with other guides, purchased this one on Gibralter and weren't without it the rest of the visit! We also travelled with a 6 month old, great recommendations for sites and out of the way not- touristy spots. Roman ruins listed in here are incredible and would have been missed if using any other guide.
Book Description
This title features the best of Andalucía's Mediterranean coastline plus Gibraltar, the vibrant Moorish cities of Granada, Córdoba and Sevilla, the white villages of the interior and the mountain villages of the Sierra Nevada.
Customer Reviews:
good info, but not enough detail.......2007-09-09
We spent a week driving Andalucia and thought this would be a great book. The info included about the sites was interesting, but I had hoped for a lot more PRACTICAL information!! There was very little help about how to get from the main highways to the town center. The parking suggestions were very vague too. It wasn't nearly as helpful as I had hoped
Customer Reviews:
map for driving.......2007-09-09
Great map for long distance drives, route numbers and kilometre markers really helped. Only problem was leaving the highways and getting into the towns, there is NO information on how to get from the main road to the city center
A good highway map.......2006-03-20
We used this Michelin map during a two-week trip to Andalucia that covered Malaga, Ronda, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Cordoba, and Granada. It is a very large, detailed map, and it was quite satisfactory not only for getting us from one city to another, but also for finding a destination on a minor road (Cueva de la Pileta, near Ronda). Some highway numbers have been changed since this map edition (e.g. A376 between Marbella and Ronda is now A397.) I give the map a "4" rating for it's highway maps, which it it's main intended function, but it gets only a "1" for its city maps.
This Michelin map includes only three city maps, namely Sevilla, Granada, and Malaga, and like the maps in typical guidebooks (e.g. the Rough Guide to Andalucia), the city maps show only the old city sections that are of most interest to tourists. We experienced a lot of wasted time and frustration trying to find our hotels in Cordoba, Granada and Malaga, for one or more of these reasons: (1) Our maps did not show how to get from the main highway to the old part of town; (2) most city intersections did not have street name signs; (3) many streets were one-way only, and this was not shown on our maps; (4) some "streets" on the maps were open to pedistrian trafic only; (5) some streets or intersections were closed due to construction, and our maps were not adequate to show alternate routes. To its credit, for its three city maps Michelin does show traffic dirction arrows for some of the streets, but on the other hand, most of the streets are shown without name labels! Maybe the Michelin map-makers thought that there was no point in naming the streets, since travelers probably won't be able to find street name signs, anyway. The bottom line is, the next time I go to Spain I'll try to get detailed driving instructions to the hotels ahead of time, and I'll allow at least an extra hour of driving time to find the hotel once I get to the city, in case the instructions are not clear (which is usually the case).
Book Description
Dozens of top 10 lists - from the top 10 aspects of Moorish culture to the top 10 tapas bars in Seville and nightclubs on the Costa del Sol - provide the insider knowledge every visitor needs.
Customer Reviews:
a great summary.......2007-09-09
if you don't want to carry a heavy guide book and just want the highlights, this was a fun and helpful book
Great for what it is.......2004-07-20
Those familiar with DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides should already know what to expect from this product--amazing photography, great illustrations, and average written content. It's not that Eyewitness is a poor guide; it simply concentrates more on the visual side of the house and the less on the written than say, Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. This is not really a horrible thing; Eyewitness Guides are my first choice in preparing to go to a country because they a) get you excited about it, b) put you in the proper frame of mind to go there, and c) point out many places, attractions, and events you will want to visit while there. As I stated, the photography is breathtaking, and alone is probably worth the price of the book. Although not all-encompassing, the book's delightful format and ease of reading more than compensate for anything lacking.
The Top 10 Guide reviewed here is a smaller guide oriented towards providing-what else?-top 10 lists for the traveler venturing to Andalusia or the Costa del Sol. Just some of the lists presented are Great Beaches, Attractions for Children, Cultural Landmarks, Places to Eat, and many, many other (sometimes quirky, always entertaining lists). If you're looking for an inexpensive overview of places you'll want to visit while in this region, the Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide Series is for you.
Book Description
This guide provides extensive coverage of Andalucía’s stunning architectural and cultural heritage, with information on the region's many festivals, from centuries-old Semana Santa to the electronic mayhem of Creamfields Andalucía. Side trips explore the region's gorgeous coastline as well as lesser-known provinces like Jaén, Almeria, and Huelva. Up-to-the-minute reviews detailing the best places to stay, eat, shop, and party in Seville and other major cities, including Cordoba and Granada, make Time Out Seville and Andalucía a great resource for travelers.
Book Description
Look inside to find out what football, hamburgers, frisbee, Nobel laureates, and great architecture have in common. Explore Yale University and New Haven - home to not only the first university art museum in the Western Hemisphere, but some of the hottest discussions about pizza in the country. Michelin Travel Publications will donate $1.00 to New Haven Reads with your purchase of THE GREEN GUIDE Yale University and New Haven.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT GUIDE.......2007-08-24
Michelin is always a great source of reliable and comprehensive information. I like plenty of details so I can make my choices as I go, review my plans, envision and compare options in my mind.
Many guides in the market just give the author's picks or are excessively opinionated (e.g. Rough Guides). It is rare to find deep and well-informed text, a good understanding of the local culture, off-the-beatten track sites. Andalucia can't be visited in 1-2 days, and is incredibly rich and complex; seeing a few great places just off the hotel gives too little, considering how much is there.
This guide is very good. The text is perhaps too wordy in some places, but recreates well the landscape, traditional architecture and cultural vivacity of this fabulous region. It is not the best from Michelin, but is a great start.
I prefer this 1st edition to the second, where there was too much editing, especially cutting text. And, surprisingly, nothing new, less content and more pages! All in all, I'll keep my old and good first edition.
Average customer rating:
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Seville and Andalucia (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
Manufacturer: Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Spain
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Andalusia
| Spain
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Seville
| Spain
| Europe
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Eyewitness
| Guidebook Series
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0751348074 |
Book Description
Featuring the same portable and user-friendly format as the Insight City Guides and drawing on the best features of the original Insight Guides, the all-new Insight Regional Guide is filled with insightful writing, lavish full-colour photography and provides greater emphasis on practical information to create the most complete portable regional travel guide. .Magazine-style articles .Lively essays written by local writers on culture, history, and people .Expert evaluations of must-see-site - plus maps and floor plans .Restaurant listings at the end of each chapter ."Best of" section highlighting attractions, walks, activities for children and families, festivals and events, cafes, pubs, bars and more .Bonus pull-out Touring Map with tour suggestions and full-colour photos .Tabbed Travel Tips section for quick reference .Comfortable, rounded spine makes these volumes ideal for use on the go
Customer Reviews:
Perfectly wonderful introduction to Southern Spain.......2007-04-24
This was a great guide for a recent trip to Spain; both I and my young daughter thouroughly enjoyed looking through the photos...sometimes when I couldn't find the book, I'd look in her room and she'd have fallen asleep with it in her hands--no doubt dreaming of adventures to come! The info within is limited to Andalucia, so be aware of this if your travels take you beyond the borders of Southern Spain.
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Seville & Andalusia (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
