tostaky

Kja: do you have any specific recommandations about guidebooks ?

kja

The Rough Guide was, by far, the best of the half dozen or so I used when planning my time in the area.

kja

And BTW, I mean the Rough Guide for each country.
My impression, which could easily be wrong (but has been formed over multiple requests for input from you over the years) is that you don't work with guidebooks, instead posting multiple questions on various travel websites. Unfortunately, NONE of us can tell you what you don't know to ask, nor can any of us speak to your particular interests. In comparison to the cost of your trip, the cost of a guidebook or two or even three will be nugatory, and you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips. For that matter, you can consult them at a local library or book store. You would, I think, be much better served by doing a bit of homework. JMO.

neckervd

For a first approach you may load down the official sites of
Provincia di Belluno: Home Page - Infodolomiti
Provincia di Trento: https://www.visittrentino.info/en/tr...olomiti-unesco
Provinz Bozen: https://www.suedtirol.info/en/regions/dolomites
Osttirol: https://www.osttirol.com/en/east-tyr...es/summer.html
Provincia di Udine: Parco Naturale Dolomiti Friulane, tra le province di Udine e Pordenone https://www.parcodolomitifriulane.it/

tostaky

Kja: I will look to get the Rough Guide. I already got the Rick Steves that covers Slovenia and Croatia. I do maje my homework by reading all those forums, searching with google and asking questions. It,s true that i'm not very fan of guidebook since the information is not alwayys up to date and that it show only one persone vision. I prefer forums since more peopls can answer and most of the time is people who have experimented recently the palces we are talking about.

neckervd: Thanks. By the way have you got my PM ?

We will have 4-5 nights for Dolomites, should we base ourselves in one or two places ? I know it depends of wahta we want to see. Like i,ve said may times Ortisei seems fine, Tre Cime and Lake Braies. Of course I guess we could stay in that region for one month and still enjoy it, but with only 4-5 nights we really eant to have a glimpse of waht the region has to offer, we want to see the higlights if such a thing exist.

And the basic question who need answering still remains : what would you do with 28 nights for Dolomites, Slovenia and Croatia ?

that road is 2000km. I guess we could do it it in 28 days
https://goo.gl/maps/JbsmdhsdK8m

neckervd

For Val Gardena, stay at Ortisei or Selva, for Tre Cime del Lavaredo and Pragser Wildsee/Lago Braies (I never understand why so many people from overseas want to see that lake whereas Europeans usually bypass it) stay at Lake Misurina (nicer than Toblach/Dobbiaco IMO).

kja

I believe you are making some assumptions about guide books and travel forums that are, at best, debatable:

· As a rule, the only things in guidebooks for which currency is an issue are hotel and restaurant reviews, and I don’t know anyone in today’s world of booking.com and tripadvisor.com who uses guidebooks for either purpose. Yes, sometimes there’s a change to something else – maybe a museum opens or closes – but that’s not all that common and so most guidebooks with even modest currency (issued in, say, the past 10 years) aren’t out-of-date in meaningful ways.

· There’s no reason that I know of to think that the majority of on-line travel forum participants necessarily have more current information than guidebooks. Or that they will have information relevant to YOUR interests and preferences -- see next bullet.

· Many forum participants have visited only a few specific things, with very narrowly defined purposes – and that is quite different than the better guidebooks that seek to provide comprehensive information for travelers with multiple, diverse, and even divergent interests and preferences.

· Most better guidebooks are written by multiple collaborators who have expertise developed over many years. Only a very few reflect just one person’s vision.

· At this point in my life, I’ve used well over 120 guidebooks, and the ONLY one I thought utterly and completely worthless was the Rick Steves guidebook for Croatia and Slovenia. IMO, it covers very little of either country, and what it does cover, it covers with strong biases and, in many cases, extraordinary superficiality.

· A good guidebook has all sorts of information –
a bit of history;
an introduction to the area’s culture;
descriptions of both regions and specific locations;
detailed information about a range of things and places one might want to see / experience;
information about local cuisines and specialties;
a list of basic words and expressions that might prove helpful;
maps;
a summary of local laws and rules of relevance to travelers (including rules of the road);
emergency contact information;
where to find basic services;
information of interest to particular groups of travelers, including families;
etc.
All in one place!
And all for a cost that pales in comparison to the cost of a trip.

kja

PS. AND a guidebook has answers to questions you don't know to ask, and you can find that information just by flipping through the pages.

tostaky

The only one you’ve found worthless is the only one i’ve got.....what a coincidence. Well ill live with it for now ! To my eye it got all you said a guidebook must have.

Neckervd: i’m curious, what would you do with 4-5 days in the Dolomites region ? And once again avec you got my pM ?

kja

Right. It's the cheap one. So I've posted on this issue MANY times before -- you can do a search. Here are some of the most recent threads:
Croatia Rough Guide
Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro
10 days in Croatia

Reading trip reports tells you only what people did do, not what they didn't. And reading trip reports tells you nothing about the advice people got that they choose not to enact. Reading some planning threads can open whole new worlds to your consideration.

kja

FWIW: You seem to be spinning in circles, posting the same or similar questions repeatedly and on multiple web-sites and going back and forth among options. I’m sure that’s frustrating for you! But whenever you get advice that might help you out of your viscious circle, it seems that you spurn that advice – and IIRC (and I could be wrong), you’ve done that when planning at least one earlier trip, too.

I have nothing to gain by offering my two cents, nor does any other Fodorite. But you stand to lose by treating any Fodorite, regular or otherwise, with disrespect. JMO.

I can’t imagine that there is anything else that I can say to you that you would find helpful. But in case future travelers read this thread – and many people, as part of their due diligence, do read prior planning threads – I would suggest that many of the problems you are experiencing could have been avoided, or at least drastically diminished, if you had taken a different approach to planning – an approach that involved actually comparing the contents of guidebooks before buying the cheapest one available, an approach that involved reading planning threads (not just trip reports), an approach that actually took the advice you have been so generously offered on board, rather than merely pretending to do so. JMO.

Best wishes, tostaky. I’m out.

tostaky

Kja: In the thread you make look at there,s people who said that Rick Stve's guide have been very helpfull for them, looking at those thread would'nt habve make me stop to buy it. You are knowledgeable but you dont have the possession of the truth I guess. Threating people with disrispect is not something I do. I you feel that i,ve been like that i'm sorry, but that's nort something I do. Maybe it has something to do with my bad choice of word but since english is not my first language....

Those planing thread have been read, at least those I could find, but no trip is exactly the same like another one. I,ve made marvelous trip uin the past and many people, including you, have been very helpfull.

neckervd

Je ne vois pas en quoi kja vous aurait traité "with disrespect".
Ceci dit, il a parfaitement raison: vous tournez toujours autour des mêmes questions. Vous avez reçu des réponses à tout. Maintenant, c'est à vous de décider. Ce sont VOS vacances, faites ce qui semble bon à VOUS!

tostaky

It,s the contrary, she told that i'm the one who is being disrespectfull. Si je pose toujours les mêmes questions, c'est peut-être parce que je n'ai pas toutes mes réponses ?
neckervd: Take thee, with 6 days for Dolomites region what would you do with it ?