Rough Guide Germany 6e [Paperback]

I've lived, studied, and travelled a lot in Germany, and I've used three guidebooks: Let's Go (2003 edition), Lonely Planet (the two most recent editions), and this edition of the Rough Guide. The Rough Guide is the best of them hands down. For starters, it contains more text than the others: though I don't have the Let's Go on hand for comparison, the Rough Guide is almost 300 pages longer than the most recent Lonely Planet Germany, which comes in at about 800 pages. (Because of the thinner paper, however, it is almost exactly the same size as the LP.) The print is also denser and finer, so that the Rough Guide contains probably twice as much actual text as the LP. Legibility suffers a little, but it's a fair trade-off.

More words, of course, isn't necessarily better. Where the The Rough Guide beats the others is in detail and quality of information. For example, where the other guides tell you that the Frauenkirche in Dresden was the most important Protestant church in northern Germany, was destroyed in the firebombing of March 1945, and is now being rebuilt, the Rough Guide tells you also that they are doing the most painstakingly accurate restoration ever - where possible each piece has been dug up from the pile of rubble that was left as a "memorial" after the war and put back where it originally was, and only 10% of the total masory is new. That information adds a lot to your appreciation of the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche. That's just one example. Consistenly, the Rough Guide is more detailed and more authoritative on art, architecture, music, wine, you name it. The LP is by no means bad (although the Let's Go, at least the 2003 edition, is a pretty mediocre effort), but I see no reason to carry any other guide when the Rough Guide is so clearly superior.

UPDATE: I wanted to add to my original review and also address some points made by another reviewer:

- The reviewer says the RG is a well written but a bit snobbish. You could call it that; I say that the RG is not afraid to come right out and say that a sight, restaurant, or entire town is a total tourist trap, or that a place just isn't worthwhile. That's their opinion, of course, but I've found that their opinions are often very well founded. Compare to the LP, which tries to be more balanced and is less opinionated. Given that most travelers have limited time and money, I think they are well-served by the RG's more opinionated approach.

- The Holocaust memorial in Berlin (which is an artistic failure, in my opinion) was unveiled in the spring of 2005, a year after the RG was published and probably nearly two years after it was researched. RG can't be faulted for failing to include this sight. More generally, although there's much overlap between the two guides in what sights are included, RG includes some worthwhile ones which LP overlooks (the Deutsche Bahn Museum in Nuremberg being one good example).

- One thing which travelers often prefer LP for is the inclusion of travel details such as EXACTLY where and when trains depart from, how often they run, how much they cost, or the EXACT prices of hotel accomodation. RG is not as specific and gives just general information (e.g. Berlin to Hamburg, x hours, x times daily) and approximate hotel prices (on a scale of 1 to 9, with ranges given for each). LP's details can be useful, but as often as not I've found that they were outdated or plain wrong. Train/bus services and prices change all the time, and it's very risky to rely on a guidebook which was, say, published a year or two ago and researched another year before that. In any case it's very easy to get all the details from the Deutsche Bahn's excellent website or at the station, so the space in the guidebook should really be reserved for something more useful. As an example, the LP tells you that the ICE train between Nuremberg and Dresden pulls into Zwickau into the center of town, away from the main station. As far as I've been able to tell this was never the case, and in any case since the flood of 2002 the line has not been operated with ICE trains. LP should have gotten this right for the 2004 edition, but it didn't. Better not to include such details at all.

The sixth edition of the Rough Guide to Germany was hands-down the best English-language guide to the country available, but being published in 2004, it was quite out of date. So here comes the seventh edition. Actually, though Amazon says it's the seventh edition, the book itself indicates it's the first edition. What gives?

Turns out, this newest edition appears to be a complete rewrite of the RG to Germany, so much so that RG decided to "reset" the edition number. Frankly, the guide did NOT need a rewrite, just an update. The quality of the writing in the sixth edition was superb, far superior to its competitors. This newest edition is still the best of the bunch, but it disappoints in some ways.

The "Things Not to Miss" list is a clue. Of course, these "best of" lists are necessarily subjective, but it gives an indication of the writers' depth of knowledge and, well, their tastes. Top of the 2004 edition's list: Bamberg; top of the 2009 edition's list: Romantische Strasse towns. Now, nothing against Rothenburg ob der Tauber and similar towns on the Romantic Road, but they're incredibly touristy, especially during the daytime in the tourist peak season. Are they worth your time? Perhaps. But you didn't necessarily need a guidebook to highlight what was already one of Germany's best-known destinations. Bamberg, on the other hand, is a revelation. Perhaps Germany's most magnificent small city, it has extraordinary architecture (from almost every period, too), a perfect setting on hills and the Regnitz river, a rich history, great beer at an astounding number of local breweries (trust me, I know), all enlivened by a large student body. Maybe 1 or 2% of English-speaking tourists who go to Germany ever make it to Bamberg, all the more reason for highlighting it in a "Best of" list.

Perhaps I'm making too much of the "best of" list. But there's another "change" for the worse: the page count has shrunken from almost 1100 in the 2004 edition to under 900 in the 2009 edition. (The page size and font seem to be the same or similar.) Inevitably, cuts have been made. Though I didn't make detailed side-by-side comparisons, reviews on the Amazon UK site indicate that some of the smaller (but nevertheless very worthwhile) sights got cut out. That's too bad, as one of the best things about the 2004 edition was its inclusion of some places that the other guides did not have.

Most of this review has probably sounded quite negative, but perhaps that's a little unfair. This edition suffers only in comparison to its predecessor; it is still a better bet than its English-language competitors. I just wish Rough Guide had simply updated the sixth edition, rather than reinventing what was a very fine wheel.

I first picked up the "Rough Guide to West Germany" in 1990, and have bought every update since. The key to remember is that the guide is written for the average tourist, not for someone that lives in Essen. Having said that, I have lived in Europe for 8 years, and find the guide indispensable. The beginning chapters provide you with all the essential information you need to plan the trip, including tourist office addresses, best prices for airlines, reminds you to purchase Eurail passes while still at home, etc. The guide itself is written in a slightly irreverent way, giving a wide berth to commercial tourist attractions in favor of historically significant areas. It lists accommodation (sp?) for all price classes, and even directs you to a good meal in individual cities. The guide stands as a good read, even if you aren't traveling. It gives you everything as advertised, and then some.

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