Reviews (2)

Pretty good
All in all, I was very happy with this guide. It was the right size (not too thick, not too sparse), was very informative, and had great maps. I even liked the recommended routes (since Tunisia is small, it's very possible to "do" the whole country in a month), if one can "do" a country at all without living there.
Nicely Laid Out and Easy to Use.Useful Maps
It's light and compact and has some useful maps.We used the hotel suggestions but in most cases the ratings were off, if it says 3 stars assume 1.5-2 stars.Take ear plugs.Almost all of the hotels were in noisy areas.Many of the suggested eating places were also off the mark.Extensive menus would be met with three or four options available.The guides to sights and towns to visit were very good.We used the walking tours and maps to navigate through the country quite comfortably.Assume you'll be ripped off by every taxi driver and you'll be ok.It's still very inexpensive to travel in Tunisia.And this book is very handy to have along for the ride. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel & holiday guides    5. Tunisia   

Reviews (2)

In need of update
I find the guide useful in my recent travel to Tunisia but many places need updating, particularly the "where to stay" and "where to eat" sections the comments in which I find run-of-the-mill and, in some cases, outdated, e.g. one hotel was closed down more than a year ago despite its mentioning in the guide.I find these two sections disappointing.

Best Travel Book on the Market
This is the best travel guide I've ever found. Full of full color photographs and information that is relevant and sectioned in a logical manner. Well worth the money. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. General    3. Guidebooks    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel Guides    7. Tunisia    8. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Guidebooks    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel Guides    6. Tunisia   

Reviews (3)

Delightful Jaunt Through Antiquity
This is a delightful piece of travel writing by one of the genre's masters as he wanders through some of the most history-rich real estate in the world.Covering both sides of the Mediterranean --in winter, no less -- Kaplan weaves into his narrative the historical heritage and significance of each place he visits.At each stop he shares his personal impressions, as well.One of the most endearing qualities of this book is the tribute he pays to other travel writers who covered the same ground over the years, ranging from the Homeric era to modern day.For me, the book ended perfectly, as Kaplan concludes his trip at the Greece home of Patrick Leigh Fermor, the legendary travel writer and war hero, whose books chronicling his walk across Europe as the storm clouds of WWII were gathering, remain travel writing classics.Kaplan has paid his dues as a journalist, with his years of visiting mostly third world countries, staying in ratty hotel rooms, surviving on boiled eggs, and spending endless and boring hours on buses to nowhere.This has given him rare insights into our world and its people -- insights he generously shares with us.It's like taking a trip with a master traveler.A masterpiece.

Absolute Pleasure on a Lazy Sunday
One of Kaplan's most recent works is an excellent read, suitable for a lazy Sunday morning when one is noshing on a bagel and daydreaming about traveling the southern 'fringe' of Europe.
Beautiful travel writing based on extensive historical research!
As in "Balkan Ghosts," Kaplan writes with great clarity and intelligence, weaving a fine travel narrative founded on extensive historical research.He writes with a unique and creative eye, and tends to focus on important yet little-known locales.He philosophizes quite a bit, but it is an intriguing, pleasurable philosophy. The following quote from his section on Greece crystallizes for me the special appeal of this type of writing, "...travel writing, rather than a low-rent occupation for the Sunday supplements, could also be a means to explore art, history, literature, and statecraft..." Precisely! Bravo, Kaplan! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Description And Travel    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Travel    4. Travel - General    5. Travel / Essays & Travelogues   

Reviews (2)

Footprint Tunisia Handbook-Fantastic Book
You can't imagine how much detail and information there is in this book. It must have taken this gentleman several lifetimes to actually visit all of the places about which he so accurately describes. This is far better than the Lonely Planet book on Tunisia in my opinion, especially for people who hope to travel to this progressive nation that is very "American friendly" and quite a bargain in most ways.

Footprint Tunisia
Footprint Tunisia is without question the best travel book I've ever used.It's information was accurate to the letter in every case.Background history of the country and it's ancient colonizers was exhaustive comparedto the standards of most guide books.Perhaps most impressive is thepertinence of the information to every type of traveller, budget to luxe. The clever and pointed opinions were always on target.The writer did nothesitate to give sly negative reviews where applicable. "LonelyPlanet" and "Let's Go" both offer good information but havetarget readers and leave out the needs of many of us as well as frequentlyproviding only rudimentary information. With Footprint you can throwout all the other guidebooks or just avoid buying them entirely, that's howexhaustive I found the Tunisia entries to be.I've used many guidebooks, Eyewitness, Access (awesome in the original versions, especially forwalking tours and architectural sites,food and shops)and Fodor's but theseall pale in comparison to Footprint. Where have they been hiding?I'veyet to see them on the shelves of those big bookstores in my neighborhood.Bravo to Amazon for carrying them all. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Reference - General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign   

Features

• Folded Map

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Maps    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel / Africa    7. Travel / road maps & atlases    8. Tunisia   

Subjects:  1. Maps    2. Maps & Road Atlases    3. Reference    4. Travel   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Africa, North    2. Description and travel   

Reviews (8)

Would have been lost without it
I almost didn't take this book because of reviews I read about it, but I'm used to the Lonely Planet Guides, so I took this book and the Rough Guide to Tunisia on my one month trip. The Planet Guide proved to be invaluable for information about the country, getting around, sites to visit, and places to stay. The information in the Rough Guide was often vague, hard to follow, or simply wrong. The Rough Guide is also a much larger book to lug around for a month, and I could have gotten along fine had I just taken the Planet.

Terrible, Don't buy this book!
This is the worst of many LP guidebooks we have purchased.We were wondering if the author actually went to Tunisia!Much of the information was dead wrong, especially about the transportation and hotel recommendations.This misinformation put us into quite a potentially dangerous yet miserable predicament in Sfax, where we were stranded.The are no reliable transportation connections to the south (to the Sahara), which is completely contrary to the information in this book!We are seasoned travelers and eventually negotiated our way out of the situations we planned in advance using this guidebook (Hammamet, by the way Mr. Willett, was incredibly wonderful!).We felt this book was a complete waste of money and nearly cost us having a great holiday in Tunisia. A great country to visit, "Morocco light", but you are better off without this book.

Sadly below the Lonely Planet standard
To my regret, I must say that I have not come across any Lonely Planet guidebook as poor as this one - and indeed, I have quite a substantial collection of them, which I have used worldwide. The book surely manages to cover a great deal about Tunisia's culture and society, the country's arts, etc., with plenty of historical facts and data, filled with rich information and thrilling anecdotes, all written in good prose and well edited. Indeed, it is a good introductory book about Tunisia, nice for the armchair traveller, and useful for those wishing to grab bits of pieces and data in a rush in order to know the basics about this beautiful country. Yet, as a guidebook, which is supposed to help the visitor in getting around the place in comfort and style, this book features rather poorly. When I found myself looking for a hotel in Tunis (and that should be quite a primary task for this kind of publication !), I discovered that the guidebook makes no mention whatsoever of most top-hotels, such as the Hilton, the Radisson, and the Best Western. The coverage on places to stay is extremely poor, not even enabling one to know which part of the city to head to for different budgets. As for restaurants, the situation was even worse. Needless to say, the book did not help in finding any entertainment in the daytime or at night, suffice it to say that no mention is made as regards the role of renowned entertainment spots like Hammamet or Soussa for Tunis-based travellers and locals. Information on basic things such as changing money was simply not there either, thus leaving the visitor unaware of the simple fact that, in order to change local currency back into foreign currency, an exchange receipt of ATM receipt must be produced... The information on visas is accurate, but the author misses out mentioning the fact that most nationals do not need a visa to start with ! All in all, the author has put together a nice book about Tunisia, but not so useful for those visiting Tunisia - which is very different. As such, you may well wish to buy it in order to get a feeling of the country, but not bother taking it with you once you go. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Reference - General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (8)

Absolutely worth it
I spent about 8 months in Italy last year with this book as a my bible.It helped me find the 'off-the-beaten-path' experience i was looking for especially in some of the major cities where it can be easy to get sucked into the tourist trap.I loved this book so much I actually bought another copy after losing my first, and the second quickly took on a beating.What I like most is it allows you to choose, there are enough major sites to keep you busy but enough quirky spots to make it an adventure.It does an excellent job with restaurants as well and after studying in Parma my standards were pretty high.I got lost quite a bit but i can't say that is the fault of the maps so much as my own directional ability.Anyway, in short this guide was an incredible resource that steered me towards spots where i could meet actual Italians and not just other tourists.
Let's Go 2005 Italy (Let's Go Italy)
Hello,
Highly recommended
I bought this book as an addition to my long love - Lonely Planet. If you have to choose one of these two - choose Let's Go.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Ireland    2. Europe - Italy    3. Guidebooks    4. Italy    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Tunisia    8. Travel / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA)   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Social life and customs    3. Tunisia   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign   

Features

• Folded Map

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Atlases    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel / Africa    5. Travel / road maps & atlases    6. Tunisia   

Subjects:  1. Africa, North    2. Description    3. Guidebooks    4. North Africa   

Reviews (4)

A Great Guide Book, But Not Always Entirely Accurate
I am an experienced desert driver and bought Sahara Overland in the planning stage of a Gilf Kebir and Uweinat trip that I put together with a bunch of friends when I was living in Egypt. On preparation, this is the bible. It is an absolute MUST get and DEFINITE need.What cars (although a bunch of good cars are not covered, and to his credit Chris Scott acknowledges this) and how to prepare them, advice on equipment and supplies, emergency repairs, all invaluable.
A thoroughly excellent, traveler friendly guidebook.
Sahara Overland: A Route & Planning Guide is the first truly comprehensive guidebook to one of the world's most compelling andchallenging environments, North Africa's Sahara Desert. Ranging from theMoroccan Atlas Mountains to the Red Sea, Sahara Overland is ideal forSaharan travelers whether for a weekend excursion, a week long vacation, ora season spanning safari. Thirty-five detailed itineraries are available,covering more than 15,000 miles through nine countries: Morocco,Mauritania, Libya, Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Niger, Chad and Egypt. The onlySaharan guidebook covering all aspects of traveling the great desert byvehicle, Sahara Overland provides tips on how not to get lost, and what todo when things go wrong. Chris Scott's informative, "travelerfriendly" text is enhanced with fifty maps and more than 300 b&wand color photographs. If you are planning a trip through the Sahara, beginwith acquiring and throughly reading Chris Scott's Sahara Overland.

The best guide to real adventure travel I've read
Chris Scott's book was worth the wait. I've been exploring the deserts of the United States and Mexico for decades, and my wife and I plan to ship our vehicle to Morocco and explore the Sahara soon. This book has left noquestion unanswered.Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Personal & Practical Guides    3. Reference - General    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel / Africa    7. Motorcycling    8. Cycling    9. Algeria    10. Tunisia   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel & holiday guides    5. Tunisia   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Guidebooks    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Tunisia    6. Reference