[.uk] The Rough Guide to Spain (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (ISBN 1843532611)

Indispensable!:
If you are looking for a small book to fit in your back pocket, The Rough Guide to Spain is not for you. If you are looking for a guide that lovingly describes even the smallest Spanish town in careful detail and clear format, then this IS the guide book you should be looking for. The Rough Guide to Spain does an excellent job in several areas where many guide books fail. For example, smaller attractions are often overlooked in favor of the larger cities, such as Barcelona or Sevilla. Rough Guide ensures that for those who want to go provincial, they won't be going in blind. Another merit of the guide is in it's clear, concise format. Not overburdened with irrelevant maps/illustartions (a pet peeve of mine), Rough Guide has clean, simple directions and mapping. This is a vast imporvements over Guides like Lonely Planet, where I often feel the editors publish more with an eye towards their own self-satisfaction than towards the serious traveler. The resturaunt/hotel features are adequate, frequently include useful maps, and will not tax anyone's checkbook too harshly. Perhaps the greatest strength of this guide is the seeming conviction of the editors to tell you that which you NEED to know for that trip to Spain. Michelin might the cultural ask-all, DK may have lots of lovely photographs, but Rough Guide is for when you're ready to get serious about your trip to Spain. Well-written, informative, with a clear and honest style that should impress both casual and budget traveler alike, The Rough Guide to Spain should be your FIRST PICK in guide books.

Lots of info, but...:
Having been to Spain 14 times, I can say that this is a useful book, although some of the information and pictures are not essential. Given its size (1152 pages) and weight, this is a book to be read before your trip; be sure to have good lighting and good eyesight as the somewhat faint and small type will prove challenging to some.

Not bad, but a little dry.:
In the past I've been all about the Lonely Planet guides but tried out the Rough Guide for a recent trip through Spain. Though it's a great guide, it lacks personality and reads more like an encyclopedia than a real travel companion. The small print and color scheme is also hard to follow. If you want lots of details and don't mind lugging this massive volume around with you, this is a good choice, but if you want a more concise and cheeky review of a place, this book probably isn't for you.

not the best:
this does read more like an encyclopedia than a real travel companion.it doesn't really have alot of pictures of the places it talks about....it is a little on the borring side.