St Petersburg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

In the past year I have used Eyewitness Guides for trips to Thailand, China, and St. Petersburg, and I have not been disappointed. They are extremely well-made and durable. If your vacation time is limited and you must narrow your choice from among many attractions, then this is an important guide for you to use in your planning. Each guide is loaded with full-color photographs of the most important attractions at each site, thereby permitting you to make an intelligent decision whether or not you want to add it to your itinerary. And, after the trip is over, the Eyewitness Guide serves as well as most coffee table books in assisting you to recall your trip to others and revive important memories. Because of its superb construction, it is not light to carry, but it won't fall apart with use. If you are not interested in a guide book full of tips about where to find gay bars and cheap hotels for backpackers, but rather want a quality book with serious sightseeing in mind, the Eyewitness Guide is the one to choose.

This book is a gem!! I love the colorful photographs and the chapter on the history of St. Petersburg.

I typically buy 3 or 4 books for each city I visit and I would have to say Eyewitness Travel Books are my favorite... Their list of hotels, resuraunts, clubs and sites are dead-nuts!

Beautifully photographed, very easy to follow, informative, great guide for what to do first. When I got home, I could look at the book to mark my photos!!

This guidebook is great for it's wonderful photos, and as other reviewers have noted, it is great to use with a local tour guide. It certainly helps you to figure out what you are interested in seeing, particularly if you have limited time. If you're exploring on your own, however, the organization of the book can be a detriment as well as an asset. The book divides the city into 5 sections, each of which is graced with a detailed map. What is missing, however, is a detailed map of the city as a whole.

The compact and concise guidebook has all of the information that you may need, but not necessarily where you think it might be. We found the book difficult to use when we needed information "on the fly". For example, we were on our way to Tsarskoye Selo (Catherine I's palace) which is outside the city. The information on how to get there was located in a completely different section of the book than the description of site. This feature, while great if you're not the one responsible for transportation, makes navigating the train station more difficult.

This is a great guidebook on one hand, but I sorely missed the "other" guidebook I had planned to take to St. Petersburg as well, but had forgotten in Moscow. I think next time, I'll opt for fewer pictures and more words.