Customer Rating:  
Summary: You can't have it both ways...
Comment: ...but if you really must see all of Europe in one vast, hurried trip, this book is for you. Using the sights-by-day, Eurail-pass-by-night method, this book got me from Sweden to Romania. It was invaluable for getting my bearings as soon as I walked out of a train station in a new country, and gave me a good idea of how to get around using public transportation and walking tours.
If you're planning to spend any significant amount of time in a country, you're much better off with an in-depth country guide. But for people planning to zip through countries, this guide does a decent job of highlighting the major attractions in the major cities, and is much more convenient than lugging a dozen country-specific guides around.
For backpackers, the book is a bit heavy. The binding is sturdy enough to allow for tearing out countries you don't plan to visit or have already finished. (Not that I'm condoning destroying books...) Unsurprisingly, western countries like France and Italy get far more attention (and pages) than the eastern European countries, but these still get fairly specific and very helpful descriptions.
The abbreviated language guide in the back is useful, if you can hold an entire conversation using only greetings, numbers, and days of the week. Often criticized, the maps in LP guides are small and inadequately labeled, but they still give you more than enough information to find the local tourist info, where you can usually get a real map for free.
Ironically, because such a large portion of budget travelers rely on Lonely Planet, any "off the beaten track" tips noted in little sidebars are guaranteed to be over-visited by the time you get there. When we found a small hole-in-wall cafe in Istanbul proudly displaying a replicated Lonely Planet logo on its illuminated sign, I wondered whether LP's influence reaches a bit too far...
Overall, this is a great guidebook for backpackers and budget travelers, if supplemented with a recent Thomas Cook rail timetable and local information from hostels and tourist info centers.
- Mary Ann Miller, author of CH is for Chocolate: Individually Wrapped Tastes of Switzerland
Customer Rating:
Summary: Europe Travel
Comment: This book is awesome. I am planning a trip to several countries in Europe next year and this book was recommended to me by a friend. And this was the best recommendation given for a trip. This book has everything required to travel to an unknown place with regards to the what to do, places to see, language translations, cultures, traveling budget, etc. I am so excited to take this trip with the guidance of this book. Thanks Lonely Planet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book
Comment: This book gives you places to see and eat that are sometimes mainstream which is nice. All in all this book is great!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring = BRILLIANT!
Comment: This book has been incredibly helpful in planning my trip and travelling around Europe. Unfortunately I had to leave my first copy of this book in London as I exceeded the baggage limit for the tour I was going on. I couldn't live without it though, so I bought a second copy after the tour to help me with the remainder of my trip.
The book is well set out with clear advice on everything from local customs to getting around and to and from cities, plenty of activities (with prices and opening hours for each), detailed city maps and food and accommodation options to suit even the tightest budget.
Everyone who is even considering backpacking around Europe should have a copy of this book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very hepfull
Comment: This book is awesome, only if you need some basic tips of each country, if not get the Western and Eastern europe guide, but is really good for the traveller and lots of good tips and advice, so if you're going to differents parts of Europe this is the book to get, enjoy, I'm doing it!
Claudio
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