NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER: ROMANIA

It's great to see a book on Romania published by the prestigious National Geographic. There are many attractive pictures, maps and travel ideas and it is overall a great resource for someone who is introduced to this East European country. However, as an amateur photographer and someone who lived and traveled through Romania for many years, I have to point out 2 cons. First, the book is very much oriented towards the old and traditionalism, and you will have a hard time finding any buildings built after WW2, yet alone after the fall of communism (1989). I love the old yet it would have been nice to see at least a few pages dedicated to the more modern facade of Romania. To some degree, it feels like a National Geographic Magazine from the 60s. Second, I am very surprised at some of the choices for photographs. As a prime example the village of Vinga is represented by an ordinary church when it has one of the most famous and impressive churches in Western Romania - a huge Bulgarian Cathedral. Arad, a city of close to 200,000 which used to be called "little Vienna" due to its architecture, gets one picture: a glimpse of a local market.

If you are looking for info on the historical and cultural sights then this is for you. For me even a little picture is worth more than a thousand words yet here I got both a picture and the information. The only complaint would be that this book is ten years old which is a lot for a guidebook. Nothing newer is on the market though if I don't count the LP guides which I don't like and don't use.

Excellent guidebook. Thorough information, beautiful pictures by Steve Weinberg and interesting articles about culture (music, resistance fighters, Constantin Brancusi, myths, mining, fauna, healing waters, romanian art, gypsies, winemaking). It features a guided walk of old Bucharest, a few driving tours across the countryside (Muntenia, Oltenia, Transylvania, Banat, Maramures and Moldavia) and boat tour of the Danube Delta. I'm giving it 4 starts because the only city map featured is that of Bucharest. It includes some logistics details and lodging/dining options, but I always check the Internet for the latest news about that. All in all, a great guidebook.

This is a lovely book, but I returned it because we decided not to go to Romania this year. It would be especially nice for someone who is taking a tour because of the photos and descriptions without details about logistics. We were planning to drive and travel independently. I thought some of the driving tours were very nice. I would buy it again when we travel there.

This expert on all things Romanian has produced a fine photographic guide to this fast emerging country and it should tempt the reader (as it did me) to visit the country where the people are friendly and the horse and cart still rules in the country districts