Seville (Footprint Handbook)

Where to start? This is an update to a previous edition, but it hasn't been significantly improved, with very few of the previous criticisms addressed. It is, however, about the only pocket-sized guide to Seville on the market.The book has up to date useful information and it's quite well-written, but it's badly laid out, inconsistent in content, with a scattering of opinions/witticisms that we didn't need (eg "Carlos V married his first cousin Isabella... one of many interbreedings that doomed the Habsburg line").There is a good list of restaurants and bars by area, and it seems they've been carefully selected.It is only ~40% about Seville, the rest covering Andalucia.Layout confusion, an example: the section on the royal palace (Real Alcazar) starts on page 15; pp16-17 have a map of central Seville, although the area around the palace is mostly excluded. pp18-19 cover Semana Santa, the holy week up to Easter. P 20 (top half) provides a history of Seville. Finally, on the lower half of p20, the palace description continues.Inconsistencies/peculiarities include:- a big (and good section) on food vocabulary, but Spanish-English only. So nothing to help you order, only to translate a menu. Which is a bit time consuming if all you want is two beers and a coffee...- a walking tour of La Macarena district, but none anywhere else- 3 pages of architectural terminology, some of which offer translations from Spanish, but others which are simply a glossary of standard English terms- red 'index' tabs printed on pages, but these seem only to indicate the separation between Seville and Andalucia general, in other words, they're of little function- there are detailed maps for central Seville and Barrio Santa Cruz, but they don't extend out to sites the book highlights as great places to visit, such as Plaza de Espana. So you'll need something else with you to navigate around town- a selection of Spanish phrases is provided, such as "Is VAT included". This is a question we have never been prompted to ask in any language. We would have preferred "What is that?" or "Where are the toilets?".I could go on. Buy it if you need a pocket guide with useful stuff like where the bus station is, opening hours of main sites, and some good bar/restaurant recommendations etc. But, if you want something to help you get the most out of Seville, this probably isn't it.

This book is really not worth it, it doesn't stand up to the rough guide/loney plant standards at all but was the only option on the market that wasn't a big heavy regional book for a 4 night visit.128 pages:52 on Seville8 on the surrounding area26 on 'background'42 on 'practicalities'Examples of why not to bother:The Seville section is very focussed on arcitecture. It which doesn't cover all areas of the city you might want to visit in any detail & misses key elements (the Triana section is less than a page an doesn't reference the covered market which is a great spot to eat, people watch & shop).The 'practicalities' section tells you where to book a flight to Seville online in a slightly dated approach (skyscanner!) but doesn't tell you how to get from the airport to the city. Nor does it tell you anything helpful about key elements of the city's transport (bus advice is limited to 'avoid in the summer heat'!!, bike & electric scooters are for hire everywhere & a great green way to see the city but not mentioned at all). I know things need go out of date but we travelled in Nov 2019 & the book was published in 2019. There is a number of pages on getting round Spain as a whole though...?!?All in all it was a waste if time & money but on the plus side it's light weight....We went to Google & found a blog that covered visiting the city in 3 days & an article about all the indoor markets & tapas which were much more useful & free! The book stayed in the apartment whilst we enjoyed Seville!!