Russia: Belarus & Ukraine (Insight Guides)

critical tour guide of these parts of the former USSR. WRITTEN from Western viewpoint. Many warnings, which are probably justified, but I could not test the premisses, since the resumption of the cold war by the US & Europe forced me to cancel the trip.

We loved it for our trip planning and overall preparation. the picture and map rich display aids us a travelers with a short amount of time.

Great book on Russia and the former Soviet Republics.

Looks good---quick service and great condition. I have only read a few pages so far. It looks like what I'm interested in. I've yet to visit this land.

Great pics get me in the mood for our upcoming trip. I also like the history section, not too overwhelming but enough for a good overview.

Insight Guides tend to have very beautiful photographs.In the Guidebook about Russia is no beautiful photo.Cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg is very poorly described.

I am surprised to be the first reviewer for this book, as it was the better of the  St. Petersburg (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)  and,  Moscow (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)  that I also looked at covering Russia.In style it is similar to DK books. What gives it the edge is the scope and humor of the book.Overview text of current situation and politics appeared fairly evenhanded and concise.Scope: Insight Guides Russia covers locations throughout Russia, DK books mentioned above are smaller and focus only on two major cities with the most popular tourist destinations. Belarus and Ukraine chapters are a definite plus, as Ukraine is also a popular destination, and Belarus is rarely covered because it isn't yet -not for us Americans anyway.I also found that Insight Guides Russia had a bit more humor than the DK titles, adding both dry humor and blatantly funny summaries to topics and photo descriptions.Book is filled with excellent photos. Just like DK titles they do not appear to be cliche stock photos, but original, high quality shots. The book has larger photos, versus detailed cutouts and small photos that dominate DK.DK titles have very nice cutaways of buildings and hand drawn maps. This series does not have it, so if you're an engineer aficionado, you may want to look into that.Overall, you will not go wrong with any of the three books I mentioned here. I am quite impressed with Insight Guides Russia, especially as I have come to see DK titles as the best in the genre of travel books.I particularly recommend it to someone who considers going off the beaten path.

Just retuned from Russia found this book invaluable.Would never go travelling without an Insight guide

again a present for someone

Good guide for the whole area.

Not quite as full as I was expecting, but interesting anyway

Visited Moscow and St Petersburg in June, and this book covered all aspects of the trip. Good background reading to the history of Russia and nice pictures!