Richard Sterling

I don't usually write about non-fiction books, but this month was just full of them, it seems. This is a guide so excellent I wish I was allowed to have written it. Combining the passions of food and travel, this guide is the perfect read to get your appetite going.

This is a classic Eyewitness guide to Vietnam. Nice maps, great cutaway and perspective drawings of some sites and a reasonable overall coverage. We have just completed a 13 day packaged tour of Vietnam and the guide was certainly helpful for us. The main take-away for me from this was that 13 days is nowhere near long enough to do the country justice. I'd like to go back and spend a lot more time in places like Ho Chi Minh city. (The locals still keep calling it Saigon). I liked the show more traveller's hints and the potted history and found the diagram of the Temple of Literature (which we visited), to be helpful. Overall, a compact and helpful guidebook with some nice maps and pictures. show less

This is a fun book. Lovers of food and travel would love this. I especially love the side bars of authors who put their own little anecdotes on food/culture/traveling. Most of the advice I consider impractical, unless you are planning to be on the Amazing Race and visiting so many countries in one swoop.

I have the 2017 edition of this guide and used it during a recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. It covers the territory fairly well and is up-to-date. Plus, the photos are good. I like the presentation in the DK guides, but others may prefer the way Fodor and Frommer does their guides. All in all, it's a good basic guide.