I loved this book and it did give some good ideas where to visit.
Lovely colour maps showing walking tours.

The book has great maps and nice pictures, but doesn't help with making decisions for what to do on limited time. It also doesn't provide tips on avoiding lines or what days are best to go like other books

It's a great book if you've never been there before to find out what you want to do. Everything is categorized in the back, and great pictures! It's definitely a good thing to purchase before you go and study on the long plane ride.

CAUTION: Do not pick up an Eyewitness Travel Guide unless you are prepared to take a huge hit on your savings account and buy a plane ticket. Any and all of these books make your mouth water for the beautiful and exotic places featured within the pages.

Now that the commerical is over, we'll get down to what I didn't like.

The pictures are amazing and beautiful and inspiring, but that's more or less where this book's assets end. If you're looking for information, pick up Frommer's instead. There are very brief travel helps in the back of the book, but if you had to be stranded in London with one guide book, you'd be foolish (and lost) if you chose this one. The travel information and survival tips are kept at a bare minimum, and even information on the sights and sites mentioned or pictured in the book are lacking. Think National Geographic captions.

If you're planning a trip, it's worth checking this book out of the library to help you make a list of all the beautiful places you want to see, but if you want to know the best place to stand for the Changing of the Guard or where to find cheap food that resembles food, find another book.

Britain used to rule half the world with an iron fist less than a hundred years ago. Today she is a toothless old tiger that is the subject of mock and ridicule the world over! The world now refers to her as 'Londonistan' because she is so overrun be foreigners that she resembles the middle-east more than she does the merry old England of centuries past. Her borders used to stretch from India to Hong Kong, from Australia to Cornwall, but today she doesn't even have borders on her own island!

A slew of failed leaders since the late, great Winston Churchill, failed liberal policies that have never worked, and a pathetic military that makes Canada look tough all churn together to create what can only be called the British chamber pot.

It's people, no longer possessing any form of core beliefs, spend most their hours in dance clubs or s-e-x shops. Their outlaw of guns has increased street crime to the point where you can't walk the streets without getting mugged. Their universal health-care is a socialist fiasco where people are dying from minor problems because the lines are so long for routine surgery.

Ladies and gentleman, King Arthur is on his death bead, sent there by a bad VD he picked up from some liberal harlot! Can anything be done? Is there no elixir that can revivify him? Not unless the people of Britain wake up and take their country back. They are going to have to put down the s-e-x toys, leave the dance-clubs, and throw out anyone that is illegal or does not swear allegiance to the Union-Jack!

Britain used to rule half the world with an iron fist less than a hundred years ago. Today she is a toothless old tiger that is the subject of mock and ridicule the world over! The world now refers to her as 'Londonistan' because she is so overrun be foreigners that she resembles the middle-east more than she does the merry old England of centuries past. Her borders used to stretch from India to Hong Kong, from Australia to Cornwall, but today she doesn't even have borders on her own island!

A slew of failed leaders since the late, great Winston Churchill, failed liberal policies that have never worked, and a pathetic military that makes Canada look tough all churn together to create what can only be called the British chamber pot.

It's people, no longer possessing any form of core beliefs, spend most their hours in dance clubs or s-e-x shops. Their outlaw of guns has increased street crime to the point where you can't walk the streets without getting mugged. Their universal health-care is a socialist fiasco where people are dying from minor problems because the lines are so long for routine surgery.

Ladies and gentleman, King Arthur is on his death bead, sent there by a bad VD he picked up from some liberal harlot! Can anything be done? Is there no elixir that can revivify him? Not unless the people of Britain wake up and take their country back. They are going to have to put down the s-e-x toys, leave the dance-clubs, and throw out anyone that is illegal or does not swear allegiance to the Union-Jack!

I would warmly recommend this tourist guide, as it is very very helpfull. It was my first time in London, and I manage to navigate through this huge city very easily, and to see all the tourist attractions. Also, the texts about the sites of interest were not too long not too short, with an accent to the important stuff to see.Great restaurant guide as well.

I have always been very satisfied with Eyewitness Travel Guides! And this was not an exeption!

I did, and I regret it.

Now I'm not saying this is a "bad" book. I'm just saying this is a very specific book (which actually makes it good, since the more specific, the better) but it's not specifically for me, and I think is not specifically for 90% of the people who are visiting London at any given time.

Therefore, it's odd that this book is has a higher Amazon sales ranking (2594), relevant to other books (7741 Lonely Planet, for example). The popularity ranking and the mainstream look of DK led me to choose it. But now I realize that, 1.) I am not really that mainstream, and 2.) This book is not mainstream either. And, I suppose, 3.) The way that I am not mainstream is different from the way that DK London is not mainstream.

Since the subject of this review is DK London and not me, let's stay on topic. The cover says History - Theaters - Art - Churches - Pubs - Hotels - Nightlife - Markets - Restaurants - Museums - Parks - Architecture. Of these, the guide covers mostly: History. And by extension, churches, museums, architecture. But really, it's history. Floor plans of museums. Descriptions of every wing. Details of church spires, which you probably won't be able to see except with binoculars. Historical timelines. And most of all- worst of all- any and every building, arcade, academy, house, church, mall, institute, chapel, square, market, gallery, arch, tower, theater, museum, and library in London. It's in here.

So what's wrong with that? Well, if, like me, you're just going for a week and for the first time, and you just want to visit a few major sights, not more than one or two museums or art/ historical things per day, and take plenty of time to mellow out (it's a vacation, right?) at cafes, or lunch, dinner, maybe go somewhere at night- this book leaves you completely in the lurch. 90% of the book is about buildings and history. The hotel listings are just a few pages in the back, as are the restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Followed by some cursory travel info. Also, the listings are mostly for mid-range to expensive places. This is where I realized I'm still more of a budget traveler. They do offer some suggestions for "light meals and snacks" like pizza, noodles and sandwiches, but this amounts to just a few pages in the back section. This book is in denial that you have to eat and find places to rest inbetween examining all those Tudor facades. Like I said, it's very specific.

This book is for my high school AP Spanish teacher, who made us memorize a hundred slides of places I had never been to (and gave a decided advantage to those affluent enough to have traveled and seen them). This book is like the annoying guy at the office who does NOT shut up and goes on and on about things that no one cares about. This book weighs three pounds.

I bought this book because it looked easy. It looked like a comprehensive yet user-friendly guide (due to the pictures and glossiness). Well, it is comprehensive and user-friendly, but only in one respect. And overall having this book, rather than calm me, has overwhelmed me. I can't tell what to visit. Everything seems important. Meanwhile I am left to figure out of all the practical matters of my trip by myself.

Of course history is important. But I'm also interested in London as a living, breathing city- where people live, its culture... none of which I will really come in contact with if I follow this encyclopedia masquerading as a guidebook. And ideally I'd rather not go from historical object to historical object all day and then sit in my room at night.

Now I will say some positive things about it:
1.) It's beautiful. I bet some are duped by its beauty into thinking they ~are~ interested in this stuff.
2.) It has several "area by area" maps, watercolor aerial close-up drawings of small sections (a few blocks) of the city with handy lines pointing to --yep, historical places. This does make things easier to find.
3.) It also has maps in the back, which look easy enough to use.

Oh yeah, one more "bad" thing-- it doesn't say what anything costs. It just says either "free" or "charge." I mean, that could mean anything.

OK I'm done. That's all my thoughts about this book. In this time I probably could have gone to the bookstore, sat down with several other guidebooks, perused them all, and found one that was really for me. Given that there are 100 London guidebooks out there, there is probably one that is just for me. And one for you. Instead I chose to sit here and write down all my thoughts about this one. 'Cause actually, I hate returning things. And I wish that someone had written an honest review, instead of all this general positivity that proliferates on this site, because then I would have found something else. I don't think it would hurt to have a negative review here and there. I mean, someone who is going to London is going to buy a London guidebook; it's just a matter of which one. I wish someone had told me that this was not the one for me.

Once we figured our way around this book it bacame quite valuable as it shows what places are in which areas of London. If you are only going to be there a few days that helps you figure out which attractions to schedule seeing on the same day. Although the book is loaded with imformation, it does give you the impression that the City is loaded with things to do and places to go. It made us more comfortable with our planning especially as we knew our children wouldn't sit quitely once we were there while we figured out what to see.

I like DK Books. Their wonderful pictures and diagrams are real strengths and I would buy this particular London book again.

However it was written so long ago and has been so poorly patched its practical text is not suitable for the people I bought it for. The advice about traveler's checks with the patch about using your credit card to get a cash advance from an ATM is quite a bit off. Digital camera owners need to be told to look at their charger and see if it works at 240; that tells them whether to get a voltage transformer or only a plug adapter. Oyster cards are a confusing convenience that can save real money and time if you stay more than a few days. These practical things need to be written up properly.

A brief reference to vibrant Canary Wharf and the superb Dockland's museum was not added very well. The photo on page 236 must have been taken before the first American edition in 1993. For perhaps 5 years you have been able take a tour that walks across the top of Tower Bridge; do readers want to be told that is a change from what the book used to say? Goddard's pie shop, which gets as much coverage as Docklands - Canary Wharf, is closed. Have the editors heard of Ben Franklin's house?

"Annually Revised" it says. There is evidence of many revisions and repairs; that is true. However this 2007 edition is not good enough to be your main guide book. Read it with some skepticism.

I like DK Books. Their wonderful pictures and diagrams are real strengths and I would buy this particular London book again.

However it was written so long ago and has been so poorly patched its practical text is not suitable for the people I bought it for. The advice about traveler's checks with the patch about using your credit card to get a cash advance from an ATM is quite a bit off. Digital camera owners need to be told to look at their charger and see if it works at 240; that tells them whether to get a voltage transformer or only a plug adapter. Oyster cards are a confusing convenience that can save real money and time if you stay more than a few days. These practical things need to be written up properly.

A brief reference to vibrant Canary Wharf and the superb Dockland's museum was not added very well. The photo on page 236 must have been taken before the first American edition in 1993. For perhaps 5 years you have been able take a tour that walks across the top of Tower Bridge; do readers want to be told that is a change from what the book used to say? Goddard's pie shop, which gets as much coverage as Docklands - Canary Wharf, is closed. Have the editors heard of Ben Franklin's house?

"Annually Revised" it says. There is evidence of many revisions and repairs; that is true. However this 2007 edition is not good enough to be your main guide book. Read it with some skepticism.

I like DK Books. Yet this one was written so long ago and has been so poorly patched its practical text is not suitable for the youngsters I bought it for. The advice about traveler's checks with the patch about using your credit card to get a cash advance from an ATM is quite a bit off. Digital camera owners need to be told to look at their charger and see if it works at 240 which tells them whether to get an adapter or a transformer. Oyster cards are a confusing convenience that can save real money if you stay more than a few days.

These things need to be written up properly. A brief reference to vibrant Canary Wharf and the superb Dockland's museum was added, but not integrated in. The photo on page 236 must have been taken before the first American edition in 1993. For perhaps 5 years now you have been able take a tour that walks across the top of Tower Bridge. Readers don't want to know that it's a change from what the author used to say. Goddard's pie shop is closed. Where is Ben Franklin's house? "Annually Revised"? It needs a rewrite.

Still DK's wonderful pictures and diagrams are real strengths I don't find in other books.

I bought my first DK Travel Guide for a trip to Rome - and it proved to be the most useful travel guide that I've ever purchased. Don't even bother with searching for something else - none can compare. No matter where you are traveling - pack a DK Travel Guide for the trip. You won't be disappointed.

I bought my first DK Travel Guide for a trip to Rome - and it proved to be the most useful travel guide that I've ever purchased. Don't even bother with searching for something else - none can compare. No matter where you are traveling - pack a DK Travel Guide for the trip. You won't be disappointed.

This colorful, well organized guide is full of maps, information, and covers London's surrounding areas as well. I went to the bookstore and checked all the guidebooks from cover to cover and this one is well worth the money! A little history, lots of color pictures, building layouts, underground map, guided walks, as well as the usual sights, eats, and where to stay info. Brilliant.

I purchased this book 6 weeks before my trip to London - and it was money well spent! Before leaving, I planned my entire vacation using the D&K Travel guide (and tripadvisor dot com for reviews). The map section is excellent and accurate as I used it continually on walking tours as well as when on the buses and tube. I really loved the map section. The maps are broken down into sections of London with arrows at the edges of each map pointing to the page number that the map continues on (depending which direction you are following) - so no struggling with a huge unruly map. There is a handy tube (subway) guide at the back of the book. The book fit nicely into my purse, and this was very important to me as I wanted it with me at all times. Not only did I find the road maps terrific, but also the various overview maps of specific areas (i.e. Covent Garden, Russell Square, Westminster & Whitehall) which had recommended walking tours marked up. The individual attractions diagrams (i.e. Westminster Abbey, British Museum, National Gallery), were excellent too and right on the mark as I used them for planning exhibits to see in advance of the trip. Being a full color guide divided into locations, you'll find information easily and be able to organize a flowing itinerary. The tips section is excellent with bus, telephone, currency and many other important tidbits of info. As for the hotel/B&B selection, I found it limited, but the information accurate as to the accommodations listed. My vacation in London was fabulous and I truly think this book had a big part in my trips success. Almost all of the museums in London are free - enjoy!

I purchased this book 6 weeks before my trip to London - and it was money well spent! Before leaving, I planned my entire vacation using the D&K Travel guide (and tripadvisor dot com for reviews). The map section is excellent and accurate as I used it continually on walking tours as well as when on the buses and tube. I really loved the map section. The maps are broken down into sections of London with arrows at the edges of each map pointing to the page number that the map continues on (depending which direction you are following) - so no struggling with a huge unruly map. There is a handy tube (subway) guide at the back of the book. The book fit nicely into my purse, and this was very important to me as I wanted it with me at all times. Not only did I find the road maps terrific, but also the various overview maps of specific areas (i.e. Covent Garden, Russell Square, Westminster & Whitehall) which had recommended walking tours marked up. The individual attractions diagrams (i.e. Westminster Abbey, British Museum, National Gallery), were excellent too and right on the mark as I used them for planning exhibits to see in advance of the trip. Being a full color guide divided into locations, you'll find information easily and be able to organize a flowing itinerary. The tips section is excellent with bus, telephone, currency and many other important tidbits of info. As for the hotel/B&B selection, I found it limited, but the information accurate as to the accommodations listed. My vacation in London was fabulous and I truly think this book had a big part in my trips success. Almost all of the museums in London are free - enjoy!

The City of London is one of the most fascinating urban areas on the planet. Its remarkable history, from its founding by the Romans and its long years as the center of the British Empire to its vibrant present as a cultural and commercial center provide venues of interest for almost everyone.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide to London packs an enormous amount of useful information into a single, easily portable guidebook. This guide includes a brief synopsis of London's long history, breakouts by area of what to see and do, traveler's tips on where to stay and where to eat, and survival information on how to get to, and around London. This last section includes vital information on how to get from the various airports into London itself.

This eyewitness guides come with the usual extensive collection of maps, photographs, and diagrams of attractions, along with short explanations on their respective histories. Enough information is provided to allow the discerning traveler to plan a vacation and to determine when to visit popular tourist attractions such as the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral. The guide also include information on many attractions that are off the beaten tourist path, such as London's many smaller museums that offer unique collections for public view. The guide includes a number of useful internet web page addresses where visitors can check the latest information on operating hours.

This guide is highly recommended to the traveler planning a visit to London.

After looking through many other travel guides, mostly copy-dense volumes with only a section or two of color photos, I admit to having been skeptical of the utility of this large, colorful, profusely-illustrated book. Would it really have the in-depth info I wanted? I shouldn't have worried. When my wife and I took a vacation to London this spring, this (along with one or two more specialized guides) was the book we ended up taking with us.

This guide handily divides London up into several sections, and covers each in generous depth. The suggested walks and tourist highlights in each chapter came in handy, even if we never chose to follow them verbatim. The collection of maps in the back, as well as the more narrowly-focused illustrated maps in each section, was easy to read and pretty comprehensive. And because the illustrations are large and lavish, it was no problem finding the information we needed quickly (keeping us from having to stand on street corners thumbing frantically through guidebooks like, well, like tourists).

The general travel information at the back of the book also came in handy, although we found it odd that according to the authors, "travelers checks are the safest alternative to carrying large amounts of cash." In fact, we had absolutely no problem accessing our American bank accounts via British ATMs, which struck us as a far safer and more convenient process.

Many travel guides become obsolete very quickly. But the many illustrations in an "Eyewitness Travel Guide" make it a best-of photo album as much as a guidebook. I think this volume is one of the very few that may be worth hanging on to now that we're back home.

From Lonely Planet to the Rough Guides, location-specific guidebooks generally seem so transient since a purchase generally depends upon an upcoming trip and soon afterward ends up in a storage box collecting dust or on craigslist for sale. That's not to say they don't have valuable information when you need them, but there is no incentive to return to the book once the trip has ended. The one exception to the rule is the series of Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Travel Guides. The London guide is as good as any in the series as it presents a graphically pleasing, intuitively organized guidebook with detailed pictorials that show animated aerial shots of neighborhoods like Covent Garden or cut-away floor plans of heavily visited buildings like Westminster Abbey or the Tate. It also helps make geographic sense of neighborhoods that allow you to navigate easily through them by pointing out recommended sights.

The first part of the book presents a timeline history of London that is both interesting and useful, as events are cross-referenced to sights you would want to see there. There is a well-presented survival guide toward the end of the book that highlights important travel information as well as recommendations on where to stay, shop and eat. Moreover, there is a comprehensive street finder of central London which helps you navigate without the inconvenience of fold-out maps. All the information is contained within a user-friendly, laminated paperback format that slips easily into backpacks and holds up well against inclement weather (a particular plus in rainy London). For all its obvious benefits, the one that has the most resonance to me is the fact that the book makes a fine keepsake of the trip afterward given its colorfully glossy quality. Even though the price is on the higher end of such guides, it is well worth it for its lasting value after your trip.

I have sworn by the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides for Florence and Rome in the past, and the Eyewitness Travel Guide for London is absolutely up to their standard. Other commenters are correct that the DK Guides aren't exactly in-depth, but they do provide cogent, engaging thumbnail sketches that make informative starting points for reasonably curious, adventurous travelers. The excellent color photographs give you a taste of a city's feel and look (I've been to London twice before, so I can vouch for the verisimilitude of the pictures in the London Guide). I also appreciate the detailed and extensive street maps at the back of each guide. (In the case of the DK London Guide, I find its maps much easier to understand and follow than the famous A-Z Maps, which I find cluttered and confusing). The DK London Guide is great in giving you sketches of each section of London, and what is to be found there. The breakout sections for such landmarks as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum are extremely helpful to tourists who want to know at a glance the particular points of interest. The sections on local customs, the Tube, guided walks, and restaurants in or near the Theatre District also are invaluable. When I head to London this summer, the DK Guide will be the only London guide I take with me.

The new (2006) Eyewitness Guide for London maintains the beautifully-photographed, competently-written, and *brilliantly designed* full-color format--with heavy use of informational sidebars--that the DK Eyewitness series has become famous for. It's a combination of a guide for practical use and--primarily--a whirlwind, photographically-intensive overview of London as a tourist is likely to encounter it...and as a tourist is likely to enjoy remembering it when looking through the book upon return from London.

The book is nicely arranged by sections of the city. All major tourist attractions are covered, in part through the use of attractive cutaway museum floor plans and street plans for neighborhoods commonly visited by tourists, including a few removed from the center of London, such as Greenwich.

The Eyewitness Guides do not provide in-depth or specialist information; but, overall, they are no less detail-oriented than any other of the many *basic overview* guidebooks. A helpful contrasting example might be the Blue Guide for London: which is also an overview guide book but which cannot fairly be called a "basic" guide. While the Blue Guide is as broad in scope as the Eyewitness Guide in terms of the number of attractions covered, it is generally more detail-oriented, especially regarding architecture and history.

Since the Eyewitness Guide for London is not a specialist guide book, it is also largely free from editorializing, for better or worse. (I.e., no entry in an Eyewitness guide is going to include a suggestion to avoid a particular attraction, or a warning that some aspect of an attraction can prove frustrating. Other guides--such as a TimeOut, Blue Guide, or a Lonely Planet guide--are better for that.)

As is the case with most guide books, the Eyewitness Guide also offers sections of practical tips and information. This includes how to operate most London phones, what British currency looks like, what the emergency numbers are (e.g., in London one dials "999" not "911"), where to buy stamps, how "zebra" crosswalks work, etc. It should be stressed that other guide books offer the same information, and some more comprehensively. But the Eyewitness series' handling of such information is noteworthy once again because of the photographically-intensive style. While another guide book might inform the reader that in London phone booths are red, the Eyewitness Guide states the same thing *and shows a photograph* of a typical red phone booth. Is such a photograph really necessary? No. But, the photograph becomes one more aspect of the London tourist experience graphically captured by the publisher.

In short, the book is a must-have if you're traveling for the first time to London. I never tire of thumbing through my Eyewitness Guide for London. So rich, colorful, and dense are the layers of photographic and graphic elements in the Eyewitness Guide for London that it can provide hours of enjoyment both before and after your trip.

The new (2006) Eyewitness Guide for London maintains the beautifully-photographed, competently-written, and *brilliantly designed* full-color format--with heavy use of informational sidebars--that the DK Eyewitness series has become famous for. It's a combination of a guide for practical use and--primarily--a whirlwind, photographically-intensive overview of London as a tourist is likely to encounter it...and as a tourists is likely to enjoy remembering it when looking through the book upon return from London.

The book is nicely arranged by sections of the city. All major tourist attractions are covered, including through the use of attractive cutaway museum floor plans and street plans for neighborhoods commonly visited by tourists, including a few somewhat removed from the center of London, such as Greenwich.

As the previous reviewer rightly mentioned, the Eyewitness Guides do not provide extremely detailed information per se; but, just what is considered "detailed" differs from person to person, and the Eyewitness Guides are, overall, no less detail-oriented than any other of the many *basic overview* guidebooks. A helpful contrasting example might be the Blue Guide for London: which is also an overview guide book, but which cannot fairly be called a "basic" one. The Blue Guide is as broad in scope as the Eyewitness Guide in terms of the number of attractions covered; but a Blue Guide is arguably more detail-oriented in general and, specifically, much more detail-oriented regarding architecture and history.

Since the Eyewitness Guide for London is not a specialist guide book, it is also largely free from editorializing, for better or worse. (I.e., no entry in an Eyewitness guide is going to include a suggestion to avoid a particular attraction, or a warning that some aspect of an attraction can prove frustrating. Other guides--but as a TimeOut, Blue Guide, or a Lonely Planet guide--are better for that.)

As is the case with most guide books, the Eyewitness Guide also offers sections of practical tips and information. This includes things like how the phones work, what the currency looks like, what the emergency numbers are (e.g., in London one dials "999" not "911"), where to buy stamps, how "zebra" crosswalks work, etc. It should be stressed that other guide books offer the same information, and some more comprehensively. The Eyewitness series' handling of such information is noteworthy, again, for the photographically-intensive style. While another guide book might inform the reader that in London phone booths are red, the Eyewitness guide will state the same thing and show a photograph of a typical red phone booth. Is such a photograph really necessary? No. But, the photograph becomes one more aspect of the London tourist experience graphically captured by the publisher.

In short, the book is a must-have if you're traveling for the first time to London. I never tire of thumbing through my Eyewitness Guide for London. So rich, colorful, and dense are the layers of photographic and graphic elements in the Eyewitness Guide for London that it can provide hours of enjoyment both before and after your trip.

Sometimes the Eyewitness guides can be short on details because the emphasis is often on the pictures, but this is a very thorough, well-organized, and informative guide. One of its best features is the absolutely outstanding maps it has, which I found to be better than any other London guide (and I looked at a lot of them). The only reason I did not give it five stars is that it is not quite as thorough and informative as the Rough Guide (but that book lacks the excellent maps that this one has). I'm torn between this book and the Rough Guide, but I think the excellent maps in this book may give it a slight advantage.