Frommer's Beijing

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review:
Finally a decent and culturally-informed guide to Beijing, by someone who didn't really just want to be on a beach in Southern Thailand! (Which was the feeling I got from some other well-known guides....)

Rating:
Summary: Pretty useful, but missing some important aspects...
Review: I bought this book because it was the most recently published travel guide on Beijing at the time (Dec '03). I have been living in Beijing for 3 months and have been to several of the places the book recommends. The facts in it are usually accuate; some prices, restaurant names, and phone numbers have changed since the book was published.

My main qualm with this book is the referencing... it is completely inconvenient. First of all, the Chinese characters of location names are listed in the back of the book, instead of with the desriptions (like most books). This makes is difficult to show people the characters of the place you are looking for if you're lost.

Also, if you are looking at one of the book's maps, and want to find out more about a certain location, there is no page reference. You have to look the place up in the index and then flip to the description.

Similarly, there are no map references in the sight-descriptions. (The book has several maps.) You have to guess which map the place would be on, based on the very basic directions given in the description. This can be a pain!!!

Otherwise, the book proved useful. My friends that had the Lonely Planet guide said that is was much less acurate than my book. Also check out Let's Go when deciding which book to buy.

Rating:
Summary: Simply brilliant
Review: I've just seen Ms Petersen's review below, and I really doubt she possesses a copy of this guide. There are map references for the sight listings, straight after the address for every sight. There are no characters for locations given in the back of the book, they are in the map keys, under the pinyin names. The map keys are next to the maps. The maps -last time I looked - are in the middle of the book, in Chapter 6.

If someone would lend her a copy, perhaps she would discover this.

I've lived in Beijing for far longer than 3 months, have shown my share of visitors around the town, and believe me, this is the best guide you'll find on the town. I'd never have found Chuandixia without it.