Rick Steves' London 2010

I enjoy Rick Steves' books and always pick one up when I travel. I enjoy his 'back door' comments and suggestions and self-guided tours, and find them helpful. But depending on your type of trip, London 2010 might not be a sufficient guide on its own. This book concentrates on excellent self-guided walks outside -- Westminster, West End, City Walk, Bankside -- and MANY inside at the different museums and churches-- British Museum, British Library, both Tate museums, Victoria and Albert, National Gallery, National Portrait, Courtauld Gallery, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, Tower of London. If you are not planning to spend a lot of time in these museums and churches, to which a large part of the book is devoted, this book is not the best choice. His sections on eating and sleeping are limited to a few neighborhoods. There are also no specific sections describing the different neighborhoods and the flavor of each. Of course, there are many excellent websites for eating and sleeping advice these days, and they can be more current, so maybe people don't expect a lot of help from books anymore. Perhaps a book with more sections would become too cumbersome to walk with, so the choice was made to gear this book towards a size that would be good on the many walks.

Some parts of me do not want to like Rick Steves, but the fact is HE IS REALLY HELPFUL. Some of the basics are solid for folks who have not traveled, and for those who have traveled, the specifics of changing a train, tube stops, etc. are VERY helpful.

The down side is that the value of his books manifests itself in legions of humanity, Steves' guides in hand, go to all the places he suggests. The places he says ,"EAT" or "STAY" get swamped. The up side is that his recs. are good. Example : Rodin Museum in Paris, which is not a MAJOR site, but due to his rec. brings many people there. And it is worth the visit.

All that said, one must keep in mind his MAIN travel advice: try to be a local. Try new things. Try to get off the beaten path--and I think he would agree that path now includes (ironically) HIS path! That is, some of the stuff--esp. restaurants and hotels--are now VERY popular. However, his book can serve as enough of a confidence builder on the basics of London that even on a first trip, you might feel comfortable enough to go off that beaten path--and (for example) instead of going to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard (crowded, crowded, crowded and a tad overrated), you might wander down a side street and find a great local restaurant or funky SOMETHING to visit, tour, experience that will live in your memory forever.

Rick Steves is a brand name, and a trustworthy one. His new guide to London is very useful to any middle-class or student tourist. He includes maps, lots of walking tours, and up-to-date descriptions. He understands that any tour of London requires the traveler to lollygaggle- to select from the countless items on the menu, and to shape a personal agenda based on idiosyncratic interests and passions. Start out with this book; once you're orientated, give it away.

My wife and I recently took a trip to London and Paris and we used Rick Steves' books in both cities. They really came in handy when planning for the trip and especially while there. They were excellent reference materials when we were in a certain neighborhood around meal time. All we had to do was flip to that section and pick a recommended restaurant. Also, Rick Steves provides hand drawn maps of each area with highlighted attractions that were really invaluable when traveling. Overall, I highly recommend this book to the traveler who likes to do things on their own.

The book has a lot of great tips. I plan on trying some of the walks he has in the books. However I did not find the section regarding hotels very useful but that might be because a quick Google search or use of certain websites like tripadvisor I found to be more useful.