DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Beijing and Shanghai Paperback – July 15, 2013

This guide is fantastic. My wife and I just got back from a trip to Beijing and Shanghai and not only did this book provide a ton of useful information in it's own right it also gave the perfect amount of background to help us sort through everything we were reading on the internet.I had looked at a lot of lists of things to do in the two cities but it can get a little overwhelming sorting through a ton of different web sites. I decided to get a China travel guide to get a little grounding and found that the guide getting the best reviews was one specific to the two cities we were visiting. Doesn't get any better than that.The guide has a brief background of China's history and culture; information about etiquette and important phrases; a traveler survival guide,subway maps, and ton of other stuff. We really loved the four walking tours of the cities. They were super detailed and took you to a lot of awesome sights that you might not realize are so close together. The guide also gives outlines of four days in each city. The historical days were more interesting to us than the cultural ones but there is something for everyone.One of the best features of the book were the tips on the times of day to visit certain places. A couple examples from our experience:When in Beijing, on the day you visit the Forbidden City, start early in Jing Shan Park to get some great views of the city. This is what we did and when we were in the park it felt like we were the only people there. Later when we were down in the Forbidden City we could see the heights of the park in the distance and it looked overrun with people.Similarly in Shanghai the book says to visit Yu Gardens right when it opens. Again, following that advice we spent a peaceful hour in a beautiful garden. A couple days later we went back to that area a little later in the morning to have tea in the Huxinting Teahouse and Yu Gardens was a mad house. The garden might still be beautiful but the whole ambiance of the place would be ruined.I really can't say enough about this guide book. It was literally in my hand the entire trip. I will definitely be buying DK guidebooks for our future trips.

I purchased this guide because there was not a "Top 10" guide by DK Eyewitness Travel for Shanghai that I could find. It was well written, full of colorful pictures, and very informative.It's size made it somewhat of a hassle to carry around on daily excursions (as opposed to the "Top 10 Beijing" guide I purchased) but it did the job and helped out with where to go and what I was looking at.As I wrote in the review for the "Top 10 Beijing" guide, Mandarin translations that you could simply point to in the book to communicate where you want to go to taxi drivers, etc. would have been IMMENSLY helpful and this book lacks any of those.

Whether you are heading to Shanghai, Beijing or both, this is your essential guide. It shows you in full color almost every sight to be seen, and has handly to-scale maps to get you around these bilingual cities. Having spent almost over a year's time in Shanghai and environs, along with Beijing, during the past five years, this is always the book I take along. No question about it, look no further.The book also features highly recommended walking tours in the cities to get off the well-worn tourist trail and see some of the "real" cities, rather than just the tourist-town areas. As usual for DK Eyewitness Guides, this is best as a sightseeing planning and then handy tour guide to take along. Your search for hotels and restaurants are best done on the internet to get up-to-date reviews. Hotel conditions can change dramatically and restaurants close their doors all the time, so the more timely the reviews of the trip food and lodging, the better. I use TripAdvisor and the NY Times on line as sources for these places.Only fault is that more locations and sites need to be written out in Chinese characters to show them to taxi drivers, none of whom understand or read English, or any western language for that matter. You can get your hotel front desk to make out "taxi cards" for you as a substitute to show the drivers. Other guides do feature more Chinese to help the tourist get around. Also bear in mind that the subways change so rapidly in both cities, you are best served using <...> and <...>. While the maps were accurate when printed, these editions tend to last several years.

I just did three weeks in Shanghai and Beijing in April as a tourist. Fortunately, the latest edition of the Eyewitness Travel Guide had just come out. Both cities are changing so rapidly, it was nice to have the latest version, e.g., subways. I've relied on Eyewitness guides for travel in Europe and this was the first time I used one for Asia. I like their architectural focus since I'm an architectural historian. And being an old fogey, I still go with a paper version, especially behind the Great Firewall of China where certain websites are not always accessible.The book did very well covering what I needed and getting me around. I had bought it specifically for the laminated tear out map of the two cities, which was really nice, especially for the subways. However, I ended up relying mostly on the GPS function of my smart phone to pinpoint exactly where I was. The book of course doesn't cover everything, so I supplemented with Lonely Planet's Discover China, which was also very good. Most importantly, both books are very good at preparing for the journey.I can't think of anything to add or subtract from the book, which is a good sign. There could always be more but weight is a concern with any book. This one is a little lighter weight than the Lonely Planet China, but then again, it only covers Shanghai and Beijing. With electronic versions, weight of course, wouldn't matter.

very happy with purchase

Lots of good stuff in here for our trip

Der Reiseführer ist übersichtlich, enthält alle reiserelevanten Informationen und vermittelt einem durch die reiche Bebilderung auch einen guten Eindruck der Sehenswürdigkeiten.

I almost exclusively use Eyewitness Guides when I purchase travel books.This is the 5th edition of January 2016, 324-page book, full of color and informative maps of Beijing and Shanghai, that will lead you straight to the best attractions both cities have to offer.The guide includes not only maps but also unique cutaways, reconstructions of Beijing and Shanghai's stunning architecture, plus block-by-block guides for particularly dense neighborhoods, 3D aerial views of the key districts to explore on foot (I love the 90-minutes walks proposed). You'll find detailed listings of the best hotels, restaurants, bars and shops for all budgets.There is also a free pull-out city map (very helpful when the smartphone is down) and a subway map for both cities.I think this is a great book for my travel!

es en inglés, no hay versión nueva en castellano, es la única visual de las dos ciudades, el mapa muy bien

It doesn't matter whether you are going to Shanghai or Beijing it will solve your purpose as a complete Travel Guide.Great pictures and maps.