Rick Steves' Germany, Austria, and Switzerland Map: Including Berlin, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna City (Rick Steves)

Steves does some things really well. His maps are really good, for instance. Rather than try to show every street (you'll have an ordinary map for that), he makes it easy to find the places you probably care about (or the ones he thinks you should care about); the museums, train station, etc. are easy to find -- like the map you'd scribble on a cocktail napkin for a friend. Plus, he's reassuring about distances from one place to another (a ten-minute walk to the museum from the train station, etc.).

He also does a good-to-excellent job at, hmm, how shall I put this -- describing the experience of a place. I haven't been to Munich, yet, and his is the only guide that tells me that the biergarten tables with no tablecloths are reserved for customers who are drinking only (no food, in other words). And to look for a vomitorium in the bathrooms (!). When I'm traveling, I'm tripped up by the "ordinary" things I didn't know -- so this sort of information is reassuring. (Why do none of the guide books tell you that "Ausfart" is the word for "car exit" on the autobahn? As a friend of ours said, "The first time I saw all those Ausfart signs, I thought, 'Wow, this is a really big city!'" Ausgang, by the way, is the word for *people*-exit, a helpful item to know when you're in an underground parking garage, looking for the way out.)

Also, Steves is better at orientation than most. I think his is the only book that says you can get tickets ahead of time for the big Bavarian castles, so you don't spend time waiting in line. That sort of stuff is incredibly useful.

On the other hand... his priorities and taste do not coincide with mine. As another reviewer pointed out, Steves gives you the itinerary *he* thinks you should follow, and ignores or disparages other destinations. Maybe he thinks that Triberg is a tourist trap, but I spent 3 days in the area (in Hornberg, a few miles north) and I thought it was both a lovely town and a great base of operations for Black Forest exploration.

What finally turned me off was realizing how differently he travels than we do. (There. That doesn't seem so negative.) Steves gives a one-day itinerary through the Black Forest, starting in Frieburg and ending in Baden-Baden. To accomplish that, he has you zoom through the Clock Musuem in an hour (we spent two, though maybe it could have been less), and 1.5 hours at the Volksbaurnhof in Gutach. That's way too little time; we spent 3 or 4 hours there on two trips (obviously, we liked the place). Yes, in an hour and a half you can walk around this open-air museum, but you won't have time to watch one of the demonstrations, or read more than a few expanatory signs. If I followed his itinerary, I'd be skimming the surface of every destination rather than experiencing the place.

I own several guidebooks to Germany. It's probably worth looking through this one, especially if you happen to be planning to visit the sights he says are worthwhile. But it's far from a complete guide to the country, and you're stuck relying on HIS opinions -- which may or may not agree with yours. I'm glad I read through this book, but it's sure not being stuffed into my backpack.


Extremely basic, almost insulting   March 1, 2004
Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA)
17 out of 28 found this review helpful

I bought this book because I had seen (and suffered through) Steves' amateurish and infantile videos on visiting Germany. I was curious to see if his books were as bad as his videos. The verdict: they are equally as bad. The problem is, Steves isn't an innate or talented traveler, though he apparently has performed a miracle and makes money fooling others that he *is* a great traveler. The Arthur Frommer Guides are much better than these Steves offerings.

Problems abound. Steves concentrates most of his time on two cities: Berlin and Munich. He hasn't a clue on how to locate a low-cost Pension and opts for dingy tents on the outskirts of town. His suggestions on eating are obtuse. Snacking in Germany is a cinch: go to a bakery in the morning, buy your rolls, cheese and coffee and be on your way. His suggestions of hanging around railway stations and saving a few pennies are insulting and poorly rendered.

Similarly wretched is his advice on getting about the country. Forget the railway, you can rent an econo car for about $150 a week. Yes, gas is expensive, but driving is the only way to see these three beautiful countries. Another weakness is Steves' summation of Austria, which basically consists of 10 pages divided between Vienna and Salzburg. If that's all there is to see in Austria, then we're all in trouble. Truly, this is a terrible book written in plodding, patronizing style, guaranteed to set your nerves a-jangle.


Great Guide   March 4, 2003
laura joy (San Diego, CA United States)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

My husband and I used this book to plan our honeymoon and found it to be phenomenal. Steves does a great job of rating what you should see with the time you have. So it was great for planning our scant two weeks. He very candidly describes different places and explains what he likes about them or why he rates them low. This is helpful in deciding what you absolutly have to do since time is limited. Steves also has wonderful tips for drivers, where parking is located for example, and for accomodations. We loved all of our hotels and they were all well located and reasonably priced.

This tour guide has two drawbacks. One are the crude maps. They are fine for getting a general lay out, but buying detailed maps is a must, especially for drivers. It also has no pictures. Since I'm a visual person I also bought the DK Guide to Germany. It lists EVERYTHING and has a picture of EVERYTHING. So, once I used Steves to decide what to do and where to stay I would find out what it looked like elswhere.

We are planning a trip to England for next year, I'm certainly not going without his guide.


Travel guide for the intellectually challenged   September 11, 2003
14 out of 22 found this review helpful

I bought this book before going to Austria and Switzerland and was shocked by how primitive and incomplete it was. On Geneva, he offers 2 lines - 'The most boring city, not worth a visit.' Hello? Guidebook? Same deal on Zurich. The author packs certain sophomoric smugness, a know-it-all frat brother who tells you how to sneak for free into the second half of a show, that sort of clever little corner-cutting. If you have any serious curiosity about a country and want to get a bit off his beer-drinking trail, his book becomes useless. I bought it here, returned it for a refund (thanks, amazon!) and bought a very smart Lonely Planet guide in Vienna for twice the price of this website. Get the Lonely Planet and get it here!