Insight Guide Taiwan (Insight Guides)

I also used the book's short reference section to help me choose hotels, and the advice was on target. In addition, the maps and photos are uncommonly good.

Weaknesses are few. The book's descriptions of individual attractions, restaurants, & hotels (to help you decide whether to go) are too concise. Its inconsistent use of English spellings of Chinese words -- with no pronunciations given -- was a nuisance.

I travel a lot and have bought a number of guide books to various countries and cities. More guide books should be written like this one: really helping you to know the place, and appreciate what you are experiencing, instead of just telling you "go here and then go there". I'll buy more of this series, because it added value to my trip.


A Must-read for Those Who Wanting Inside Info   August 1, 2006
JULIAN (Kansas City, USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Beside many detailed maps and interesting photos, this book also contains wonderful essays showing the authors' "inside" knowledge of Taiwan's history and culture, apparently written by expat residents who have lived in Taiwan for many years.

Information such as hiking excursions or setting up a cell phone account is very useful, but the book will benefit from a lot more Chinese characters and more tone markings of the Chinese language.


A Decent, Although Far From Comprehensive Guide   October 28, 2007
T. Parfitt (Taipei, Taiwan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is a good alternative guide. No, it isn't packed with penetrating insights into Taiwan's unqiue culture nor would it suffice on a huandao luxing (round island trip). Rather it is a supplementary guide filled with lovely photgraphs, very good maps, and lots of introductory blurbs. A good second choice for a book, or a first choice for those coming just for a short time.



Excellent guide to Taiwan   June 9, 2008
Donald R. Anderson (Idyllwild, CA United States)

The Insight Guide to Taiwan is an excellent work, but needs to be used along with another work such as the Lonely Planet Guide, which has more practical information.


Beautiful   October 12, 2003
T. Hooper (Osaka, Japan)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

The keyword for this guide is photos. It's packed with full-color photos on almost every page. It seems almost like a National Geographic magazine. In fact, this is why I like this guide. It also has a lot of information about the culture, history, and people of Taiwan in the first half of the book. The second half is dedicated to an overview of the major cities and sights in Taiwan. Again, these are well illustrated with full-color photos on almost every page.

This guidebook has a few bad points though. The section on hotels and restaurants is very weak. You could probably find more information at the information counter at the airport. Also, the maps are a bit difficult to read. And finally, the transportation information is entirely inadequate. It doesn't tell you how to get around the country at all. For me, this is the weakest point. I feel uncomfortable traveling with this kind of guidebook.

I don't recommend using this as your primary guidebook. I do recommend this as a secondary guide though. It can help you choose destinations because it has a lot of full-color photos and also the culture section is excellent. I think this book is especially good for armchair travelers.