Showing posts with label Eyewitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eyewitness. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Family Guide France (Eyewitness Travel Family Guide)

Spend more time sharing the experience of exploring a new place with those you love most with DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guides France. This guidebook gives families with kids between the ages of four and twelve the travel information they need most to have fun together on vacation.

DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guides France is written by parents who understand the unique needs of traveling families.

  • Major sights are "hub" destinations around which to plan your day.
  • "Let off steam" suggestions and eating options around all hubs enable the entire family to recharge their batteries.
  • Maps outlining the nearest parks, playgrounds, and public toilets.
  • Dedicated "Kids Corners" feature cartoons, quizzes, puzzles, and games to inform and entertain young travelers on the road.
  • Language section lists essential words and phrases.
  • "Take shelter" recommendations suggest indoor activities for rainy days.
  • Plus, this updated guidebook offers child-friendly sleeping and eating options, detailed maps of main sightseeing areas, travel information, budget guidance, and age-range suitability for major activities.

DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guide France offers you the best things to see and do on a family vacation to Paris and the country of France. Each spread bursts with family-focused travel tips and ideas for activities that will engage children, from boat trips along the Canal du Midi in Languedoc-Roussillon to astronomy workshops at Le Pic du Midi de Bigorre in the Pyrenees to discovering the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guide France includes all the practical information you need for a fun, stress-free family vacation.



A Look Inside Eyewitness Travel Family Guide: France
(Click on images to enlarge)


"These books are packed with suggestions for kid-friendly restaurants, outdoor spots where travelin' tots can run free, rainy day fun, and more. They also offer tips for engaging your child's mind and sense of wonder at every stop." – Scholastic Parent & Child

"What makes this series unusual is the attention to detail. Yes, all the big sights are here, but even the famous places are given a slight twist — always with children and their parents in mind." – Chicago Tribune

"For families traveling with young people, it's hard to do better than this handsomely illustrated guide, which is arranged geographically and notable for its focus on family friendly activities." – Library Journal

Most helpful customer reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
4Nice Book, But Not Sure It Is a Substitute For a More General Guide Book
By Brett H
Dorling Kindersley have avoided the overcrowded mainstream market for travel guides with this series which is directed at families with children. In essence nearly all the suggested visits here will be covered by the other guide books, but this book makes an effort to look for child friendly angles which will appeal. For example, Giverny, home of Monet is included and I would not personally have thought that the house and gardens would be a place kids would enjoy, although most adults will love it, particularly the lily ponds which were the setting for many of Monet's most famous paintings. However, the advice is to let the kids let off steam playing in the garden of the Hotel Baudy, and ride a local road train - it is not clear if this is while the adults get on with the Monet visit or a bribe to behave themselves during the visit!

As is usual with guide books, the first thirty five or so pages set the scene with details of the highlights of a visit to France, where to eat, where to stay, where to shop etc. Then the main part of the book which covers the following 330 page or so is split into regions, six main areas subdivided into 17 smaller areas. At the end there is a useful mapping section which is worthy of note as, although it is not sufficiently detailed for a road tour of the country, it is far better than most of the inadequate maps in guide books which would require a strong magnifying glass to make any sense of. For each area there are quite a few suggestions of where to stay covering B&Bs, hotels and camping sites and suggested places to visit. On nearly every page there is a kid's corner section which asks questions or tells children what to look out for and I can imagine that many parents will find this very useful to entertain the smaller members of the family.

I have never seen a DK book where the printing was not of very good quality with thick pages, and this volume is no exception. However, I am not sure it works for a travel guide. We returned from a holiday in France this week and found that this guide at 420 pages weighed about the same as the Rough Guide we also had with us which had over 1100 pages. Surprisingly there were things in this guide which the other one missed, but clearly as it was so much shorter, the coverage overall was much less. It is a nice book, but I am not wholly convinced that families will want to carry it around with them as well as a more general guide book, as I feel that on its own it probably does not provide sufficient coverage for a visit to this very large country.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
5the sidebars with questions and activities geared to children is a nice addition.
By mmesutton
It is very helpful to read practical details that apply to children, such as family style restaurants and parks. In addition, the sidebars with questions and activities geared to children is a nice addition.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
2Two Stars
By T. Gossard
The family guide is for very small children not twelve year olds.

See all 3 customer reviews...

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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Family Guide Paris (Eyewitness Travel Family Guide)

A family-focused guidebook to Paris for traveling with children ages 4 to 12.

DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guide Paris gives parents with children ages four to twelve the specific, family-friendly information they need to plan a vacation to a city with an abundance of history, outstanding museums, and beautiful parks. Sail a toy boat at Jardin du Luxembourg, design a robot at Parc de la Villette, and explore can't-miss sights such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

What's in the book:

  • Each major sight is treated as a "hub" destination, around which to plan a day, plus, DK's custom illustrations and reconstructions of city sights give real cultural insight.
  • "Let off steam" suggestions and eating options around each attraction enable the entire family to recharge their batteries.
  • Maps outline the nearest parks, playgrounds, and public restrooms.
  • "Take shelter" sections suggest indoor activities for rainy days.
  • Dedicated "Kids' Corner" features include cartoons, quizzes, puzzles, games, and riddles to inform and entertain young travelers.
  • Listings provide family-friendly hotels and dining options.

Written by travel experts and parents who understand the need to keep children entertained while enjoying family time together, DK Eyewitness Travel: Family Guide Paris offers child-friendly sleeping and eating options, detailed maps of main sightseeing areas, travel information, budget guidance, age-range suitability, and activities for Paris.



A Look Inside Eyewitness Travel Family Guide: Paris
(click on images to enlarge)


"These books are packed with suggestions for kid-friendly restaurants, outdoor spots where travelin' tots can run free, rainy day fun, and more. They also offer tips for engaging your child's mind and sense of wonder at every stop." – Scholastic Parent & Child

"What…makes this series unusual is the attention to detail. Yes, all the big sights are here, but even the famous places are given a slight twist — always with children and their parents in mind." – Chicago Tribune

"For families traveling with young people, it's hard to do better than this handsomely illustrated guide, which is arranged geographically and notable for its focus on family friendly activities." – Library Journal

Most helpful customer reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
1DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK1111
By csb
This book provides inadequate and incorrect information. It does not give the Metro stops for each spot and it's hard to track the correct one down if you don't know Paris at all.
Also, the information about days and times that certain attractions are open is often incorrect. Please note: the Louvre is NOT open every day from 9-9. We used this book with our 2 granddaughters, ages 12 and 14, and lost too much time using this book (and missed the Louvre completely).
This was a surprise because we have found the DK-Eyewitness books to be very good in the past.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
2This will drive you crazy!
By wkessler
At first blush when you receive this book you're thinking, wow, great pictures, organized by Parisian neighborhoods, sidebars with areas of interest and food choices, what could be better?

But when you're on the ground in Paris, this book will drive you up the wall. Please, please find another book. Specifically,

* the metro maps show the stations, but not which lines take you to which destinations. "The Lowdown" sidebars mention the lines, but not which direction takes you to which destination or which stop is best (for instance there are two stops listed for the Louvre, but only one stop is the one directly under the museum). The maps in the back show you which metro lines go where, but don't show you which sites are near which lines, so again, you're left guessing and cross-referencing constantly.
* food choices listed are mostly very expensive. If you're a family of five like we are, and you follow the guide, you'll easily spend $100 for lunch or $55 for a "picnic lunch" (not $25 like they claim, maybe this book hasn't been updated since 1973). What you need to know in any particular spot *really* is: where is the best patisserie (bakery), where is the best pizzeria, and where can i find a bathroom/pharmacy that's open on a Sunday because my kid just threw up.
* "A perfect Parisian day" at the beginning of each section/area is a joke! If you have a little kid (we had a 4-yr old), you *cannot* cover the distances (even with a stroller) listed on those perfect days. Be warned that distances in Paris are more than they look, and while the subway can help, you have to go up and down lots of stairs dodging harried locals.
* While the guide sometimes lists parks where your kids can play, it ignores the quality/upkeep of those parks. Sometimes they're filled with needles, drunks, or other unsavory elements. I doubt the DK people actually went to the parks in person.

In general, the book paints Paris as a super-family-friendly city. While the locals can be very friendly, especially if you speak french (as I do), the city is not any more family-friendly than say, New York. So you really need to plan ahead carefully so that you don't waste time on dead-ends, end up in a spot that's really geared to adults, etc etc. For that, you need a guide that is truly oriented at families and the special information they need. This guide isn't it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
5Haven't been yet, but this book is a great starter tool
By Amazon Customer
I'm preparing to take a trip to Paris with my 8 year old son in August (4 months away). Neither one of us have ever traveled out of the country. I purchased this book and it has proved most helpful in knowing what to do, where to stay, how to get around and great ideas for making travel with children easier. The maps at the end are great and very useful after reading the content as well as the key French phrases. The "Lowdowns" on each page give you pertinent information as far as hours, costs, nearest visitor information and places of interest. We are also going to London so I will be purchasing the Family Guide London next!

See all 6 customer reviews...

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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Top 10 Marrakech (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide)

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Marrakech will lead you straight to the very best this city has to offer. This pocket-size guide is divided by area with restaurant reviews for each, as well as recommendations for hotels, bars, and places to shop. Rely on dozens of Top 10 lists, from the Top 10 museums to the Top 10 events and festivals, hikes, and more. There's even a list of the Top 10 things to avoid.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Marrakesh includes:

  • Must-see souks
  • Jewels of Islamic architecture
  • Tranquil parks and gardens
  • Beaches and sights for Essaouira
  • Desert areas
  • Attractions and fun places for children, and more!

You'll find the insider knowledge you need to explore this city with DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Marrakesh and its pull-out map.

Most helpful customer reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
5Small, portable, great photos
By Kathy
This book was clear, easy to use, portable and included a map and tips for getting around as well as customs to be aware of for us foreigners. It also had restaurant and shop listings.

The info is the same type that you would find online but nicely packaged in a compact book that you can read on a short flight and then carry with you to get around. It wouldn't be for someone who wanted to backpack or do anything more exotic than stay in a riad for 3 days and see, literally, the top 10 sights in Marrakech.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
5Concise and covers many, many subjects
By Deanna
Wonderful little book. Concise and packed with loads of information including a handy folded map. It is just the right size to take with you while traveling.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
5Made the trip easy
By Galena Kathy
I like the top 10 format. It focuses the priorities and then makes the visit easy. The Marrakech book worked well for us and we had a great trips a result. We had a guide but due to this book we added a few sights the guide would have skipped that we were glad to see.

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