The Rough Guide to Croatia (Rough Guides) Paperback – April 5, 2016 by Rough Guides (Rough Guides)

I've read only about a third of this book, as we are traveling only part of the Dalmatian Coast [Split to Bay of Kotor] and not going up the northern Dalmatian Coast or into interior Croatia at all. But the information, insights, and history provided in what I read were excellent. The writing style is authoritative, but not authoritarian, the content is informative, but not a simple listing, and the history--both ancient and modern--seems thorough and evenhanded. The maps are also well placed in the text, and generally include all the points of interest and sights the surrounding text is designating and describing.

Don't be put off by my saying I read only a third of this book. This is a big book--478 pages.Of the 8 major sections, I read 2, plus the 55 pp. introductory sections and the 25 pp. history section [that was truly excellent, the author, Jonahan Bousfeld, is writing a book on Adriatic history due out next year, and because of the clarity and succinctness of his writing, I will look for this book]. If this book were on traveling in the USA, reading the section on traveling from Washington DC to the Florida Keys to Bermuda would be comparable to reading about Split to Dubrovnik to the Bay of Kotor in a Croatia travel book. Further, as I skimmed the sections on Zagreb, northern Dalmatia, and the southern Dalmatia islands, I wished our trip was going to be 3 or 4 weeks, not 10 days.

I rank this Rough Guide to Croatia [March 2016 Ed.] as one of the best travel guides I've read--and we have a 2 bookshelf's of travel guides and have given or thrown away many others. While reading this book, I also read Rick Steve's. I generally like Steve's books and find them helpful, but too often slanted to the backpacker and budget-minded traveler--but still loaded with great info and tips. This Rough Guide to Croatia is a more "literary" and provides an excellent modern historical context for all the Balkans.