About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

DK Real City London aims to "discover the city as locals know it".



Pros

• Excellent listings for restaurants, shops, hotels, etc
• Interesting 'Havens' section

Cons

• Bit heavy considering small size of book

Description

• Bookmark flaps on front and back cover.
• There are 8 destinations in the DK Real City series.
• Dedicated website: www.realcity.dk.com (Not working when I checked!)
  
• DK Website.
• DK Real City London was previously published as London eGuide, 2005.

Guide Review - DK Real City London - Book Review

This probably wouldn't be great for first time visitors to London unless they are already familiar with the UK. It has only a small section on survival information but has some great listings for restaurants, shops, pubs, hotels, etc., which includes websites and color photos. All listings also have a grid reference to the streetfinder pages at the back of the book.

The book is an unusual square format and quite heavy because of the glossy paper.

Even though this edition was only published in 2007, changes have happened in all areas - shops closed, clubs shut down, etc. This is the eternal problem with printed travel guides.

I like the tips that run along the bottom of some pages as they are insightful.

The Streetlife section gives neighborhood descriptions and the Havens is an interesting collection of places for peace in the city, including churches, parks, and spas.

There should be a dedicated website to accompany this book and the Real City series but I haven't found it working yet so can't comment.

This book reminded me, as a Londoner, of loads of places I haven't been to for ages but that are well worth a visit. It's full of interesting tips and I found it an enjoyable read.