My reasoning wasn't that I was going on one of his tours, it truly was the best book I saw on the shelves. The book isn't dominated by details on London, exactly what I wanted. In fact, Rick suggests you make London the last part of your tour. Why is this a good thing? There are plenty of books that focus on London itself, in fact every tour book I listed before has one. It would be like a foriegn traveler coming to the United States for a couple of weeks and only getting a book on Washington DC.

Being that I've never been out of the United States before, I'm a little wary of making reservations and plans without seeing what I'm getting into first. So not only do you get candid reviews on the sites (rated "must see", "try to see", "see if you can", "worth noting"...and sections on what is a waste of time), information on how to get there, where to eat, but most importantly web pages to check out before hand.

What's best is that Rick Steves is frank...doesn't sugar coat what is good and what is bad, what is a must see and what is a must avoid. I feel more confident making reservations and plans with this book than I would have with others.

41 of 47 found the following review helpful:


Great for beginners  Mar 25, 2002 By sootica "sootica"
I'll be going on my second trip to England this summer, and I thought that I would use this book a lot. I had used the London guide two years ago and was very happy with it. But I bought the book a few weeks ago, and I'm kind of disappointed. Since I've already been to England, and know some of what I want to see, this book isn't all that helpful. I don't need just a list of the normal tourist stuff in Edinburgh, or Bath. I think that Rick Steves is great at helping people try to travel on their own, without a tour group, but I don't think that his choice of places to visit are particularly original, or complete. He seems to really like Bath and Blackpool, but totally ignores some of my favorite places in England, such as Canterbury Cathedral. Also, although his directions to finding places in London are great, and he does give some information about each site, he doesn't give nearly enough background information about places to suit me. His directions to places outside of London are not nearly as helpful. If you're an experienced traveler in England, this book is not for you. If you're going for the first time, I'd buy this book for the directions to places and accomodations lists, and to help narrow down choices of places to visit, and then I'd look at other guidebooks to get more in-depth information for specific sites. I'd recommend the Dorling-Kindersley guide to London for starters. His sense of humor is terrific, and I appreciate his honesty about some of the things that he doesn't like, but I need more information than is available here. Spend some time on the internet, looking up things you're interested in, and researching, along with another guidebook or two, and you'll be much happier with your trip to England than you would be if you just relied on this book.

21 of 23 found the following review helpful:


Great Britain Travel DVD  Apr 01, 2005 By A Reader
Five Shows: This DVD contains five complete "Rick Steves' Europe" TV shows on Britain, first broadcast from 2000-2005 -- plus bonus behind-the-scenes footage.

Running Time: 2½+ hours.

Join host Rick Steves on a lively 2½-hour romp through Britain in five half-hour "Rick Steves' Europe" TV shows. You'll spend an hour in London, covering the greatest of the old sights (St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower), and some exciting new ones (the British Library and Millennium Bridge). Then you'll cover England's salty south coast from Dover to Land's End - and the hilly southwest, from the charming Cotswold villages to the rugged beauty of Wales. Up north in Scotland we'll toss a log, sip some whiskey and sail to a sacred island. As a bonus, Rick reveals behind-the-scenes footage and stories about his TV series.

London: Royal and Rambunctious: We whisper secrets across the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and eat our way through Soho. Then we check out the treasures of the new British Library, roll with the drums at the Changing of the Guard, and cruise the Thames to Kew Gardens.

London: Mod and Trad: We check out the new - the Millennium Bridge and the British Museum's Great Court, and admire the old - well-wrapped mummies and a rare Leonardo. After bantering with Beefeaters at the Tower of London, we do some riverside beach-combing along the Thames, from the Tate Modern to the dizzying London Eye.

South England: Dover to Lands' End: From the white cliffs of Dover to Land's End, we ponder Roman, Norman, and threatened Nazi invasions. After exploring Admiral Nelson's flagship, we chase wild ponies and discover an ancient stone circle. For refreshment, it's cream tea and Cornish pasties.

Heart of England and South Wales: After King Arthur country at Glastonbury, we go back in time to prehistoric Stonehenge. We sample hard apple cider in Wells, meet an eccentric lord in the Cotswolds, and visit an evocative ruined abbey in South Wales.

Scotland's Islands and Highlands: In Scotland, legends of Bonnie Prince Charlie swirl with pipers and kilts around crumbling castles. After tossing a caber (log) at a Scottish clan gathering, we remember Highland massacres. We play hide-and-seek with the Loch Ness Monster, tour a whiskey distillery, and take a ferry to sacred Iona.


11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


A great guide with only one flaw.  May 22, 2006 By C. Sell
My buddy and I just got back from our trip to the U.K. We used this book almost exclusively and it was a huge help in planning our time. The only flaw is that there is very little info on the eastern portion of the big Island from lower Scotland to Cambridge.

The reason for this omission is clear. There's not much to see in north east England. The problem is that a drive from Edinburg to Cambridge is stretching the limits of time spent in a car, in a foreign country, on the wrong side of the road. This omission left us to our own devices for one night's stay and it wasn't very much fun looking for lodging after eight.

Other than that the book was great. We went through lower left England then up through Whales and Scotland then back down to all the major schools and cities on the lower right. Through everything, Rick Steves got us where we wanted to go and helped us find good food and accomodations.

I'm happy to report that we saw everything we'd hoped to see and discovered quite a few other amazing locations using this book. I'd reccomend it to anyone who is planning a trip to the U.K.

One quick tip. Give yourself plenty of time to read this thing before you go and make reservations for where you'd like to stay the first and last night of your trip. In the middle Rick Steve gives you plenty of good advice about where to stay and what to see and do. Good book, great trip. Happy travels!

See all 28 customer reviews on Amazon.com