Footprint Guidebook!

I cannot speak highly enough about the Footprint Croatia Guidebook, 3rd edition that was published in May 2006.

In preparation for my trip to Central Europe with 9 days in Croatia (after the guided tour ends) I was in search for a really good guidebook to Croatia. I had been trolling the internet for months and back in January I purchased the Brandt guide to Croatia which was published in 2005. At that time that book was the most recent Croatia travel guide I could find. It's an OK book, but I wasn't really happy with it.

A few months later I was checking things out on both the Barnes & Noble website and Amazon.com. They both listed this Footprint guide, with the note that it would be published in May 2006 and available in June. I was waiting with "bated breath" for June 1st to roll around and when it finally did I made a bee-line for the local Barnes & Noble store. Considering where I live, I came to the conclusion even before I went into the store that the chances of the book being on the shelf there was slim to none. And I was right. So, I beat it over to the information desk armed with both the title and author. You can imagine my surprise when the clerk typed in the information and it came up as not available. They couldn't even order it! I was flumoxed!

All through June I kept checking the websites, still not available. Then finally one day it said available, but a 4-6 week wait! UGGGGH...don't they know I'm leaving on September 2nd and I need to get my "ducks in a row". Ok, so maybe it's unrealistic for me to think that I am the center of the universe for Barnes & Noble and Amazon, but I did! :)

Then lo and behold at the end of June a miracle! The Barnes & Noble website had the book and it was available! I never ordered anything that fast in my life! A week later the book arrived and I did my little 'happy dance" around my living room. It was perfect timing. I got the book on a Thursday and I could spend the weekend going through it and that is exactly what I did.

Now, since I only needed information on a few places I was able to get through the whole book in 2 days, including using my trusty high lighter pen to note the information that most interested me!

So, what do I like the most about this book? Well, I like the way the chapters/information is formatted and it's very easy to read. The information flows well and it gives lots of restaurant recommendations. It gives just enough history information at the beginning of each section so that I don't feel bombarded and give up reading that portion. And I like the fact that even though it's a guide for the whole country it's not so thick that it will take up too much space in my bag!

I have to give credit where credit is due and thank one of my fellow fodorites on the Fodors website message boards for recommending this book to me. I was hesitant to order it online without being able to see if it contained the type of information I was looking for. But this guidebook was "right on the money" for what I was looking for!