The Rough Guide to Poland (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)
May 27, 2009 by Destination Guide
Filed under Travel Poland Guides
From Library Journal
These guides offer detailed coverage of both provincial and urban areas, especially Warsaw and, more importantly, Krak?w. The outdoor recreation for which Poland is deservedly well known gets its due. The Rough Guide has few maps and no photos, while Lonely Planet offers 90 maps and 24 pages of color.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
OUR FAVES FOR EUROPEAN TRAVEL… MAINLY BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT SO ROUGH
New York Daily News
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Buy The Rough Guide to Poland (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback) at Amazon
For my first trip to Poland, I bought the Lonely Planet travel guide. And although it was very good, I decided to try the Rough Guide for my second trip. I found it to be an absolutely outstanding travel guide. Compared to the Lonely Planet guide, it has better maps (and a LOT more of them – even for smaller towns and villages), more detailed information, and more specific information about hotels, restaurants, banks, and other facts that make traveling easier.
I’m really not sure how other reviewers here came to think that this book focuses too much on the Holocaust. Sure, it’s mentioned in parts of the book, but it is by no means over-emphasized. This is a travel book, and the history presented in it is fairly cursory, as it should be since the only reason it’s there is to provide some context. (In fact, the history section is actually labeled “Context”).
Don’t let the other reviews scare you off. This is an absolutely outstanding travel guide – one that will serve you very well.
Don’t want to sound like I’m shilling for Amazon.com, but if you’re going to be in Poland for more than a few days, I would recommend both the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet Poland guides.
Both the strength and the weakness of the Rough Guide is that it is written by a Western European (or is he a North American?) who experiences Poland in a way I assume would be similar to most readers of English-language guides. That means sometimes he’s sarcastic and dismissive when he shouldn’t be. It is true, what other reviewers said about his tendency to question the essential Polishness of towns, people, etc. There’s about 900 years of propaganda behind a lot of this, and I doubt the author is conversant with that history. On the other hand, his general reactions to things — the beauty of Krakow, bad first impressions of Warsaw, the horror of Auschwitz, etc. — were similar to my own reactions.
I have found the Lonely Planet guide to be generally the more accurate of the two on the mundane details. It’s also more balanced in its interpretations, though that is a matter of perspective. The author is a Pole, and his superior knowledge and understanding of just about everything both books cover is pretty evident. In no way is the book written from a crude, nationalistic standpoint, but he nevertheless doesn’t quite connect to the reader in some vital way the author of Rough Guide Poland does. Maybe it’s because he writes as a native rather than a sardonic ex-pat. If you’re buying just one Poland guidebook, go with Lonely Planet.
This book is very negative in presenting Poland and its culture. Every time the author mentions something worth visiting, it is with reservations and he makes sure to diminish it in some way by subtly bringing negative aspects or comparisons (or questioning Polish origins of it.) Makes you wonder what were the reasons for writing this book. Many names are misspelled and prices not very accurate, especially for higher priced hotels and restaurants. Lonely Planet’s Poland is much more enjoyable and accurate.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dependable
Any seasoned traveler should know that one guidebook can never tell everything we want to know, so it is always better to have a second one on hand.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tiresome emphasis on the Jews, Nazis and Halocaust response
I have visited Poland twice and am thinking of a third trip. The Rough Guide was the guide book I used on my last trip.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kind of depressing to read.
While the guide gives the usual tourist information for the main attractions in Poland, it fails to interest the reader in visiting Poland.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rough is right
The only thing rough about this book is that it was allowed to pass a copy editor and onto printing while in rough draft form.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the best source
This guide had extensive information on Poland, including coverage of many small towns omitted from other books. It is much more thorough than Lonely Planet.