California (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

It also includes lots of information on San Francisco, where I have not been yet, but really want to visit. It also has a section on Las Vegas which is pretty good too. So, if you are looking to see and do everything California has to offer, this guide is for you.

It includes hotel information and restaurants according to location. This book is an excellent tool, showing you just what you'll see when you visit different locations in California.

Enjoy!


Best Travel series: easy to use, clear, great organization   February 16, 2000
Paul Gaffner (Los Angeles)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

This book was a great find! Now I only use the Eyewitness travel books. It is organized in sections based on region. Then each section is organized by area. So everything in the book is organizaed by area. This lets you plan your days extremely easily, if you want cultural, arts, or historical. And all the points of interest are great. Has things for the Adventrous and the Classic traveler.


This should be the first thing you pack   September 7, 2000
Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Dorling Kindersley makes the best travel guides hands down. They are extremely well illustrated, have extensive and detailed maps up to date information on hotels (rates, rooms etc), restaurants (costs and reservation policies), and sites to see.

The travel guides have wonderful pictures, well researched histories and facts about California (the cities and the sites), what wines to look for and taste (not just by region and vineyard but also by year), detailed walking tours, information on famous sites (The lore behind Man''s Theater in LA, the La Brea Tar Pits as well as Alcatraz and some of the top wineries to visit in Napa and Sonoma).

The guide covers travel information, driving directions, the best places to shop and see celebrities in LA, where to get good deals and SOOO much more. The book give you wonderful ideas on how to best see each area in a limited time or really enjoy it if you are there for more than a few days.

The book also covers things to do that many tourists might over look as well as telling you what is worth your while and what to skip.

This is one of the best guides available on the market. It is perfect if you are planning to go to a few cities in a limited time or for more in depth information when planning a longer trip.


Great place to start and finish your trip   November 18, 2006
Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is a good book to use to begin researching a trip to California. The focus is primarily on LA and San Francisco but there is also quite a bit of information on the rest of the state as well. Like the rest of this series, this one also includes lots of pictures, illustrations and maps to give the reader/traveler a clear idea of the various sites. Detailed information about public transportation - where available - as well as traffic, health, banking...everything a traveler to California might need to know is offered.

This particular entry to the DK Eyewitness series covers a very large and diverse area making this volume rather larger (and heavier) than others in the series. Unless you are traveling throughout the state I would recommend getting one of the more specialized volumes. In addition this series does not update as often as other travel guides so it is necessary to check specific information just as hotel rates, or opening/closing of attractions by another source. For detailed local maps outside of featured areas it is also necessary to go to another.

With all of these drawbacks why get this book? This book contains a wealth of information concerning California history, geography, weather as well as the usual guide book information about tourist attractions and accomodations. This is an excellent book to give a would be traveler needed information about the area. Once the destinations have been selected this guide gives incredible detail about major (and some not so major) attractions in the form of photos, illustrations and diagrams as well as written descriptions.

Get this book to research your trip and keep it to remember your adventures.


great background info on CA sites   June 11, 2007
Kristi L. Long (St Louis, MO)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I purchased this book and also the current Frommers CA guide. I appreciated this book, because as we drove around the cities- the book gave detailed information about the different points of interest including their history and origins. It was great for all of those times we wondered what the heck something was- or how it came to be - while driving around CA cities. I also found this book more helpful in pointing us to some cool shops in the cities. While the Frommers guide was more detailed in its restaraunt and hotel descriptions, this book was more helpful in finding some of the off the beaten path - fun to see sites.