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Madrid (Eyewitness Travel Guides) By Michael Leapman ( DK Travel )
Release Date: 2007-01-15
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $20.00
Price: $13.60
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Product Description
Whether you are traveling first class or on a limited budget, this "Eyewitness Top 10" guide will lead you straight to the very best Madrid has to offer. Dozens of Top 10 lists - from the Top 10 paintings in the Prado to the Top 10 tapas bars, shops and hotels - provide the insider knowledge every visitor needs. And to save time and money, there's even a list of things to avoid. Find your way effortlessly using the detailed maps which fold out from the front and back covers, plus many smaller maps inside.
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Amazon.com Review
You'd be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read guidebook than the Eyewitness Travel Guide: Madrid. Known for their eye-catching design, the Eyewitness city guides are practically spilling over with all sorts of useful information, and the Madrid version is no different. You'll find three-dimensional drawings, floor plans, and detailed neighborhood maps, as well as timelines and charts. There's even a map of the Metro. Broken down into four sections--"Introducing Madrid," "Madrid Area by Area," "Traveller's Needs," and "Survival Guide"--this book provides a complete picture of the city. Readers will especially love the hundreds of color photos showing everything from the city's famous plazas to a pitcher of sangria; the street-by-street illustrated city walks (Old Madrid, which takes in the Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayer, looks especially enchanting); the room-by-room explanations of the Palacio Real and Prado Museum; and, of course, the best places for tapas (Taberna del Foro is one). By the time you're finished with this book, you may know more than the locals. --Jill Fergus
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 Good for Madrid itself, not for nearby areas.
I use this guide for a 4 days Madrid visit. Ive found it most useful in preparation of what to visit and what to eat once I get there. It also give me a lot of background in terms of what to expect for the dining hour, culture, and how to spend my evening.
What I really like about this guide is the map (both the city map and street by street map) attached. I also like how the guide divided Madrid into 4 major areas and how it pinpointed major attraction which ease your pressure if you have little time in your hand (2-2 days). The guide also covers the most basic historical background and interesting fact that you need to know as a tourist.
The guide is without its flaws however. First disturbing flaw is that - it happen that the a restaurant I want to pay a visit has been renamed and that the Metro network map isnt updated so It puzzles me a little bit.
More disturbing part is that -- the guide for out of town place like El Escorial, Segovia and Toledo is very lacking. By lacking, I mean, if you do not do your research in advance I can assure you 100% that you will get lost. The map is so much incomplete that if regardless if you travel by train or bus -- you will not see yourself anywhere within the Map (lesson learned, research where the station is located and research by what mean of transport you can get there).
The restaurant listing is also subpar at best. It failed to mention even the existence of Botin restaurant which is the oldest restaurant recognized in the world by Guinness world record. In the end I was being generous and tried two of the restaurants recommended. I was dissapointed by one of them. My hotel which I think was an awesome find isnt also listed there. Lesson learned, do your own research for restaurant and hotel
Overall, would I recommend this guide? of course but a forewarning that you need to do your homework too. :) These days its so easy for you to do more an indepth research online as a supplement to your guide. I saved many pages I found online in my cellphone
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 When you want to know more ...
I enjoy Rick Steves' guides, but often I want to know more, both in-depth and in-breadth about a destination. This is a typical Eyewitness Travel Guide, almost a small encyclopedia about one place, its history, and its many attractions. I enjoy buying such books months in advance of a trip, reading & re-reading it, hoping that when I arrive at the destination it will seem familiar. I would heartily recommend any Eyewitness Guide to anyone who similarly want to know more. This little volume on Madrid packs a lot of information into one book.
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 Nice guide, hotel/restaurant locations are very inaccurate
This was a nice guide for a 2 day trip to madrid -- the monument descriptions & photos were enjoyable & the walking tours were fun. It was very nice to have pictures of each key sight next to it's description so we could be sure were were looking at the right place.
However, we also used this book to navigate to our hotel. Big, big mistake. In this guide, hotels are not marked on the map, they are located by quadrant (e.g. Map5 D-3). But our hotel was very far from where the book said it was; it was 3-4 map-quadrants away, which we found only by using the address & after a 30 minute walk with our luggage. FYI: unlike in the US, addresses do not go up by 100 per block. Going from 85 Gran Via in the old quarter to 15 Gran Via is about a 2 mile walk.
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 so-so
Not as good as some of the other guides I used. The page numbers mentioned next to sights in the intro sections are often incorrect. Lots of pretty pictures though.
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good book, slow delivery
I like these Eyewittness Travel Gides and byu them when I plan to travel. However this time the delivery was delayed.
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