Is this book helpful or should I save my money??

I personally thought it was very helpful. I have used it in Italy and France. It's not in-depth, but covers the essentials and does it in a slightly humorous way.

You can read a very representative sample if you want, cited on the recent Rick Steves thread - - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34485194

==========================

I do have a left-handed compliment/comment on the ricksteves.com website - - there is a lot of good information that it simply not locatable by searching ON his site. To his credit, for example, there is a wonderful guide to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (from the cutting room floor of an old edition of "Mona Winks&quot - - but you cannot find this by searching on his site - - http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/countries/munich.htm - - fortunately, you CAN google to this page.

=========================

Best wishes,

Rex

I have used it for every city listed in the book except for Spain. I have found it quite valuable, to the point, hitting the highlights. My wife does not like spending more than an hour in a museum so there you go.

buy it.

One more positive review...I've used it in Rome, Venice and Paris, and really enjoyed the walking tours. The one for the Louvre really was a big help, its such a huge musuem, he gives you a route to see the highlights.

Used it a couple weeks ago in Florence. I second all of the comments above...not in depth but humorous and covers the more significant works at each place.

This post has the whiff of the troll du mois for Rick Steves.

I have used in in Spain as well as France and Italy and London and think it's very worthwhile. Plus his overviews of art history, while brief, are fun and informative.

hopscotch, Rick Steves hardly needs a troll post here to promote himself.

I don't have Mona Winks, but certainly found his Museum Tours from his Paris Guide worthwhile. They help you to negotiate the big museums (like Louvre, d'Orsay), which can be overwhelming when you first arrive. I feel sure that Mona Winks would be worth the money!

Actually, Sue4 and kdunn, I think the museum walks in the guidebooks are excerpts from Mona Winks, but not certain. Like everyone else, I too found that Mona Winks is very helpful for a first time museum visit. It made the Louvre workable and included paintings I would have missed. The section on the Orsay was also very helpful especially with navigating the
"non-Impressionist paintings" part.

You might be able to find used copy through amazon or a good used book store, but it's worth paying full price for it. You'll learn lots of little things to look for that will enrich your experience. Personally, about two hours in a museum is all I can absorb, and he cuts his tours down to manageable lengths. These museums are so huge and have so many fabulous treasures that you simply have to figure out how to hit the highlights, and this book does it.

I have used Mona Winks throughout Europe, and have found it useful in many museums that do not have guidebooks or audioguides in English.

The best way to think of Mona Winks is "art history for the non-major." It hits the highlights and will your time at museums will be greatly enhanced.

Woody

grantop: "Rick Steves hardly needs a troll post here to promote himself," you say.

The fact is that the Fodors.com site gets over 4 times as many visitors as Rick Steves' web site. That is reason enough for the monthly troll on Fodors.

The museum tours in Rick Steves city guidebooks are the same as the ones in Mona Winks, but may be more current since the city guides are updated every year and Mona Winks isn't (unless that has changed very recently). Mona Winks has museum tours for many cities, which is useful if you are going to a number of cities and don't want to have to buy separate guidebooks. But if you are going to just one city, you will get many more tours from the city guide. For example, Mona Winks has a tour for the Louvre and the Orsay. But Rick Steve's Paris 2004 has the same tour for those two, plus tours for the Pompidou Center, Carnavalet Museum, Picasso Museum, Rodin Museum, Marmottan Museum, Invalides, Cluny, and Versailles.

Thanks for the info, Rex. Am visiting the Alte Pinakothek for the first time in June. The notes seem like they'll be helpful.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/countries/munich.htm

Above is the link I followed from Google if anyone else is interested.

IMO, you really ought to browse through most travel books in an actual, not virtual bookstore. Look up a topic that interests you, such as the Louvre, in several books, and see which book has the tone and content of information that you want.

In some cases on amazon.com you can
read excerpts from the books, just not necessarily the topics you are most concerned about.

The rick steves website also has some great walking itineraries--the Paris walks at least are great, and I am far from his biggest fan.

You're welcome, Heather.

FYI, I have been finding most of my travel books at half price or better on half.com. Sometimes there's some price gouging (like on text books) but for travel needs, that's where I go once I know what I want. Look up by ISBN so you're getting the most recent editions.

An update to this old therad - - there is no longer a reference to the fact that the Alte Pinakothek material is/was excised from earlier versions of "Mona Winks" (is it back in again? I don't know) - - but the URL with (I think) essentially the same info is now...

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...any/munich.htm