Best Travel Guidebook for Rhodes Holidays
Greek Island Hotels, Restaurants, Maps, Shops, Tours and Attractions
Feb 15, 2009
If planning a Rhodes holiday, there aren't too many guidebooks to choose from. There's a Berlitz guide, the AA's Essential Spiral Rhodes, a Walk and Eat Rhodes guide published by Sunflower Books, and New Holland's Globetrotter Travel Guide to Rhodes, written by Greek expert Paul Harcourt Davies. The Globetrotter Rhodes guide is the most recent, having been updated for its 6th edition in 2009.
New Holland's Globetrotter Guides are written to a formula, and a very successful formula it is as the layout of the guides has been virtually unchanged for over ten years. They come complete with a very detailed separate map which is two-sided and in this case covers not only the island of Rhodes but the whole of the Dodecanese island group. There are also street plans of modern Rhodes Town, the Old Town of Rhodes, Lindos, Butterfly Valley, and some of Rhodes's archaeological sites too.
Rhodes
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands, and the Old Town of its capital, Rhodes Town, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was famous for being the location of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Colossus of Rhodes, while today it is better known for popular holiday spots such as Lindos and Faliraki.
Globetrotter's Rhodes
In its 128 pages, the Globetrotter Guide divides Rhodes into five main areas: Rhodes Town, the West Coast, the East Coast, Lindos and the Far South, and the Interior. Each section is filled with colour photos, side panels of extra information, road maps, street plans, and plans of archaeological sites such as Ialyssos and the Acropolis of Lindos. At the end of each section is a separate spread covering how to get there, getting around, recommended hotels and restaurants, tours and excursions, shopping, and useful contacts.
Islands near Rhodes
The final section of the guide covers the islands near Rhodes, including Symi, Tilos, Kos, and Chalki, and even the Turkish coast at Marmaris and Bodrum, although care must be taken when visiting Turkey from Rhodes. If traveling to Rhodes on a cheap charter flight, it isn't possible to stay overnight in Turkey or the return flight ticket from Greece is invalidated. The Globetrotter guide is full of this invaluable information, with several pages of Travel Tips at the back of the book covering travel advice for Greece generally and Rhodes in particular.
Rhodes Hotels
The guide covers all hotels from luxury to budget. The descriptions are little more than one sentence and a phone number, so are of very limited use when compared to other guidebook series. The same applies to the restaurant recommendations, and some areas have nothing but a general write-up along the lines of: "There is a cosmopolitan range of eating places all along the west coast... There are also many fine tavernas..." These sections are rather a waste of space – they should be done properly or not at all.
The Good News
Apart from the poor hotel and restaurant listings, this Globetrotter guide has many good points. The layout is bright and attractive, the photos are good, and the quantity and quality of the maps is excellent. There are lengthy entries on the important places such as Rhodes Old Town and Lindos, and anyone whose Rhodes holiday plans includes traveling around the island will find that most places, down to the smallest villages, are at least covered.
The Author
Paul Harcourt Davies is a Greek expert, a writer and photographer, and also a Rhodes holiday tour leader for his travel holiday company, Hidden World. He has also written Globetrotter guides to the Greek Islands and Cyprus, and written books about Mediterranean wild flowers.
Practical Information
The Globetrotter Travel Guide to Rhodes is published by New Holland at £8.99 in the UK and $14.95 in the USA.
 |
