- Illustrations are superior to anything else in its class
- Maps are easy to read and useful for mapping out a day of sightseeing
- Highly detailed explanations for each destination
- Cover is sturdy and laminated
- Highly elaborate style might not suit budget travelers
- Book is not specifically geared toward budget travel
- At $25 USD ($32 CAD) it is a tad on the expensive side
- A color-code system matches pages with regions of the country. If it's Tuesday and purple tabs, it must be Minho.
- The beautiful illustrations come at a price: the Portugal guide is nearly 500 pages and a bit heavy to tote around every day.
- The Portugal guide includes a 12-page section on the Azores, some 800 miles west of the mainland.
- A handy section called "Survival Guide" gives practicalities such as average cab fare from major airports to city centers.
- Full color, 480 pages, published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd., London 2006
Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides nearly qualify as artwork. The pictures are striking and the illustrations are meticulous. Few guidebooks portray a region or nation with such strict attention to detail.
How does that benefit a budget traveler?
Before you ever leave home, you can sit down with this volume and decide which aspects of travel to Portugal interest you, and which might be better left to another trip. Knowing what you'll see and where you want to go will benefit your travel budget long before you step off the plane.
In the Portugal guide, this relatively small country is divided into seven regions, with each receiving thorough coverage. Local foods and wines are explored -- one illustration even teaches the reader how to read a specific wine label that is frequently encountered in Portugal.
Each region's history is explored, along with painstaking diagrams of city centers, prominent structures and works of art on display. Food and drink is examined in detail that is perhaps greater than most budget travelers would require.
Although the book certainly is not geared for budget travel, a helpful section in the back reviews key hotels, with an occasional entry under 60 EUR and even a few under 35 EUR.
A relative newcomer to the guidebook scene, DK has been turning out high quality travel books since 1993. In addition to the Portugal volume reviewed here, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides are published for more than 100 destinations.
