Book Review: DK Eyewitness Travel India

DK Eyewitness Travel India

Many editors, contributors, illustrators and photographers worked hard to create the 824 pages of the new DK Eyewitness Travel: India book. They set out to take a visitor through India from top to bottom and did a wondrous job. Like all DK Eyewitness guidebooks, the illustrations and photographs in this book are extraordinary, and truly give the reader a realistic overview of this vast nation of many wonders. It is indeed true that Eyewitness Travel Guides are “Guides that show you what others only tell you.”

The book’s inside cover has an easy-to-use, color-coded map of India’s many regions. The first section of the book is an introduction to India. Read it, and you will long to go there. You’ll find highlights of each region and detailed maps, along with descriptions of wildlife, architecture, mythology, music and dance, costumes, Bollywood and more. This section also offers lists of festivals and events going on in India throughout the year as well as info about the climate and a fascinating pictorial history of India.

625 pages of the book are dedicated to specific info about India’s destinations, organized by region from north to south. There are so many highlights; I could not possibly mention all of them. I will tell you that I would make an effort to visit the magnificent, fertile tea plantations of the East! If you are traveling to India, I suggest you look through all of these regions to get familiar with the layout of the land. No matter what your impression or knowledge of India may be, this book will show you that there’s a lot more you need to learn. 

What really impresses me about this book is the Travelers’ Needs section. (Actually everything about this book impresses me). There is an extensive, straightforward directory of hotels, restaurants, shops and markets, as well as entertainment and activities. That is followed by DK’s excellent Survival Guide which even gives you tips on etiquette, tipping, health, safety, communicating, transportation and more.

The bottom line is that if you want to educate yourself about India or if you are planning to travel there, this is the book you need to read. Travelers planning a multi-destinational journey through India can realistically obtain all the info they need in this all-inclusive guidebook.

Debbie Glade/smartpoodle is the Geography Awareness Editor for Wandering Educators