Here is a list of the books we've reviewed about Ireland and Scotland. Follow us on our Fall Trip to Ireland and Scotland!

Guidebooks

Ireland Travel 101, by Pat Preston

Recently we shared an excellent resource about travel to Ireland -
Pat Preston's Ireland Expert. Pat is fantastic -
she knows Ireland!  I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Pat's
latest book, Ireland Travel 101. I've read a plethora of
travel guides to Ireland - THIS ONE is the best I've read. It is chock
full of information about traveling to Ireland (well, you knew that,
though). Starting with a chapter on Planning, Pat covers the basics,
from when to go, climate and weather, holidays, what to pack,
electricity, and more. THIS is the chapter you should definitely start
with if you're heading to Ireland for the first time. I appreciate it!
There's a great section on saving money, travel passes, and discount
cards. And more...

Locals' Guide to Edinburgh, by Owen O'Leary and Claudia Monteiro

The Locals' Guide to Edinburgh is a complete departure from other travel
guides. Designed to act as a friend in a foreign city, it makes the most of
local knowledge to make visitors to the city feel at home. Add to that the
beautiful design by Claire Dowling, and we feel you have a guide that appeals visually like no other.

We were fed up with guides that had too much information and just looked
like phonebooks with pages and pages of listings. The Locals' Guide series is
designed to be a short cut to the best of Edinburgh, and by interviewing
locals living in the city, readers don't just get to know Edinburgh but the people living there who are just as important to a city as its streets and
buildings.

Frommer's Edinburgh and Glasgow

It has fold out maps of Scotland and Edinburgh Castle, as well as a take out map in the back pocket of both Edinburgh and Glasgow. As with other Day by Day guides by Frommer's, the book has several really cool sections: the best full day tours, the best special interest tours, the best neighborhood walks, the best shopping, dining, nightlife, arts and entertainment, and hotels. The book also includes geographical sections of the Borders and Lowlands, Tayside, the Trossachs, and central Highlands, and a detailed section called the Savvy Traveler, which has basic facts about getting to and around Scotland. 

Frommer's Ireland day by day

Frommer's Ireland day by day is a gem. It has 104 maps (!)
and, as they say, 85 ways to see the sights. What does that mean for
the reader? A great read, for starters!

A Journey into Ireland's Literary Revival, by Robert Todd Felton

A Journey into Ireland's Literary Revival is a literary travel guide --
part of Roaring Forties Press ArtPlace series.  It is a guide to the places in
Ireland that helped inspire poets like William Butler Yeats and playwrights
like John Millington Synge and Sean O'Casey.  It covers Lady Gregory's
Coole Park estate and George Moore's Moore Hall in County Mayo, as well as
Dublin, County Wicklow, the Aran Islands, Galway and Sligo.

Pauline Frommer’s Ireland: spend less see more

The strength of the guide comes from its' selection of sites, accommodations, dining and shopping options. Descriptions are accurate and often entertaining... “Just about everyone in Dingle Town has a room or house for rent...” “There’s eccentricity — and often no electricity — at David Corbett’s rambling family manse...” 

DK Eyewitness Travel Ireland

Rather than referring to DK Eyewitness books as travel guides, they deserve to be called “travel bibles.”  When you pick up DK Eyewitness Travel Ireland you can just feel how solid it is – packed with everything you’re looking for plus a whole lot more you didn’t even know you needed to know. One thing is for sure. The main contributors to this book, Lisa Gerard-Sharp and Tim Perry, really know Ireland inside and out.

Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands

This book among the Rough Guide Series particularly strikes my fancy because 2009 was a year of grand celebration for tourism in Scotland.  The book  is chock full of highly readable information, where to go and what to see.  Dozens of photos will set you dreaming of your trip.  Rob Humphreys and Donald Reid, along with Colin Hutchinson provide expert background on the best places to stay and eat for every budget.  And they add a grand bit of  prose to satisfy the readers' love of beautiful words.

Memoir

An Irish Experience, by Howard G Franklin

An Irish Experience (AIE) has as its mission to share with the reader the flesh-and-blood reality, the true experience of an actual visit to Ireland. And AIE accomplishes this goal by carefully interweaving Eire’s storied past and vibrant present into an exciting journey of discovery, complete with a spiritual search for Home, and accompanied by an off-beat sense of humor that makes the learning adventure fun.

Check back for more book reviews, as we keep learning and researching for our trip!