12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I like Cadogan guides!, Jun 27 2009
By Sabad One - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Gascony, the Pyrenees & Toulouse, 5th (Paperback)
I have recently purchased a couple of Cadogan guides, including this one (the other is the older "France" guide) and I like both of them quite a lot. I prefer guides that devote a lot of space to history and description and not too much to hotels/restaurants etc and these guides are just like that. I used this one specifically for Toulouse (about 20 pages of this guide) and I liked it a lot. Well-written with a lot of historic information (taking into account the size of the book), nice maps, very nice formatting, useful tips on "don't miss" locations. The one restaurant I tried based on the guide's advice (Le Bon Vivre, in Place Wilson) was excellent. Maybe the only thing that I could have done without is the few jokes found here and there in places where they didn't seem very appropriate, especially given the space constraints, but this is no big deal. Overall, highly recommended and I think I will buy more from this publisher.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich with detail, Sep 10 2010
By Brett Valle - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Gascony, the Pyrenees & Toulouse, 5th (Paperback)
This book covers seven regions: The Landes, The Pays Basque, Béarn, The High Pyrenees, Toulouse, and Ariège, Andorra, and the Eastern Pyrenees.
A pro and con of the book is the emphasis on historical detail (do you know Henri IV's favorite wine or the ingredients for a cassoulet?).
However, of six books purchased for a recent trip, this book had the most 'nuggets' and useful recommendations.
For example, in the section on Pau, a sidebar discusses Jurancon wine growers in the nearby town of Monein. Of these, one is indeed very traditional, and the other had the cited vintner (Henri Ramonteu) in the tasting room.
This knowledge may be normal to folks in South West France, but is not discussed in other guidebooks such as the Rough Guide.