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4.5
This is the mother of all Southwest guidebooks, and as one reviewer stated, it is most useful because it covers multiple states (New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Utah, and Southern Nevada).The maps inside are second-to-none. I always trust these maps, especially when I need to get off the major highways to a less-traveled road.This book has medium-to-small type and thin pages, so they pack a lot of information into a small space. This is great for the traveler who doesn't want to lug around a huge and heavy book.Every town has a good description, history, and information, followed by a list of practicalities like where to eat, where to stay, where to get more information. The Indian reservations are covered in great detail, and this was essential for my trip.Love this book and I highly recommend it to anyone driving through the Southwest.We recently travelled in the Grand Canyon-Southern Utah area, and found this an invaluable resource. None of the reviews was off-base... although some of the prices are outdated at this point, it's to be expected. One thing that's nice about this guide is that it's pretty durable, so after several weeks of use in the planning of the trip, 10 days of being tossed about in backpack, car and luggage, and being used as a reference in my post-trip write-up of our travels, it still looks fairly new. I could probably sell it used, but I think I'll keep it for when I head back that way in a few years.I travel in the Southwest frequently and have a diverse collection of guidebooks to the region. Rough Guide is my favorite, with the intelligently written descriptions and opinions. The other guidebooks are drier or shallower in comparison (Moon, Lonely Planet, Let's Go, DK, and Frommer's).I just knew this "Rough Guide" would be great. I've used their books before.It has helped so much with the planning of our forthcoming holiday. I've already picked where we will eat most days after reading the reviews in the guide. And, of course, it will come with us and help us a little more ;)
