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...Read more

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...Read more

The walks are useful guidelines and I love the honest opinions and witty commentary that pops up throughout the book. It is fun to read and I generally agree with his opinions. However, he mentions Kew Gardens in passing. Which is a travesty, in my opinion, to the most beautiful place to visit in London. We spent an afternoon there and I felt like I could have spent more than a week absorbing the garden. He also has the most pitiful food suggestions known to travel books anywhere. He doesn't seem to care about food so that section of the book remained unread. We brought Frommers London which gave Kew three stars and highly recommended it so they won that round. But they had their own faults, like describing Piccadilly circus in a wholly favorable fashion while Rick Steves' description was much more accurate 'smells like teen spirit'. So I would recommend buying this book but having other reference points and using urbanspoon for food recommendations (which did itself proud).