Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but a victim of its success
Review: Lonely Planet is definitely the guidebook to beat, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it ahead of the others.However, buyers should be aware of a few problems. The first is the popularity of the Lonely Planet guides...since they're so popular, following the guides too closely steers you entirely to the same well-recommended hostels, restaurants, and so forth, that every other LP reader goes to. These institutions start specifically aiming themselves at the LP crowd. Definitely loses some of the cultural experience, and well-reviewed hostels are something like an American/Australian frat party. I'd view the Lonely Planet guide as a necessary evil. It's very convenient, but their recommendations are self-defeating, especially in the more heavily-touristed areas. Secondly, most people visiting Europe seem to be doing massive every-big-city-in-three-week tours. This guide is suited for that, but for those spending more time in the indivisual countries, definitely buy the single-country guide.
Rating:
Summary: Un buen libro de referencia
Review: Recientemente hice mi primer viaje a 8 ciudades europeas (Londres, Bruselas, Berna, Roma, Florencia, Barcelona, Madrid y Paris) usando este libro, usando sus recomendaciones en hoteles, museos y otras atracciones, lo único que deberÃan mejorar son los mapas, pero se complementa bien con los mapas que regalan en las agencias de información turÃstica. Muy buen libro, muy actualizado.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Lets Go Europe 2000
Review: The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want. I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe - poor, but free. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you. It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all. The same experience is true for my trip this last spring to Ireland. Lonely Planet Ireland is as good as Western Europe, but more detailed.
Rating: 
Summary: Best I have found
Review: The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want. I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe - poor, but free. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you. It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all. The same experience is true for my trip this last spring to Ireland. Lonely Planet Ireland is as good as Western Europe, but more detailed.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy the country guides instead
Review: This book provided at best a cursory overview of travelling in Western Europe. I ended up buying the individual Lonely Planet country guides for each country I travelled in. (These country guides were excellent.) The country guides provided the detail that I was looking for but was not available in the Western Europe Shoestring book.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Lets Go Europe 2000
Review: This summer (2000) a friend and I traveled across Western Europe - Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Span and France. We only visited capital or major cities. I used Lonely Planet's Western Europe Guide and my friend used Lets Go Europe 2000. I assumed that since my book was exclusively on Western Europe it would have much more detailed information on the places we were visiting. However this was completely incorrect. Lonely Planet's Western Europe Guide was useless on the descriptions and information about tourist attractions in these cities whereas Lets Go was much better. Plus Lets Go had entries on many attractions that Lonely Planet did not even contained. Most importantly, Lonely Planet was hopelessly outdated. All the prices it suggested were incorrect and many restaurants recommended were closed. I got the feeling that they had not updated information recently. In contrast, Lets Go was much more up-to-date with accurate prices generally across the board. In short this reader recommends using Lets Go Europe 2000 over Lonely Planet's Western Europe Guide if a fellow traveler intends to visit the big cities of Western Europe.
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