000 Places to See Before You Die - Revised Second Edition

I purchased the thick paperback edition in 2003 and have used and enjoyed it often. I like the commentary and background.

In preparing for a trip to Italy, I got the Kindle edition so I would not have to lug the book or photocopy the pages I wanted to bring.
Boy was that a mistake. The Kindle edition is so sparse. I was under the mistaken impression it would have the same content as the paper version.

Live and learn.

I'm ordering the hard back. Kindle (at least the cheaper model) can't toggle back and forth to locations, I can't find the chapter/location i want without scrolling through. i wish I could sell it back and just order the hardback. But I can't. So lesson learned. Will apply at other opportunities.

Having just downloaded this book to my Kindle, I am struck immediately by not knowing how to skip to a chapter later in the book. I have the first edition in hardcover.... and was delighted when the new edition was released on Kindle. However, I am circumnavigating South America (for the third time) and wish to go directly to the Latin America section. How? (Because I had to rate the book to publish this review, I gave it a 3... this could be too low, too high, or just right!)

This is my first review of a book for the store. I just had to write this to tell the truth about this book.
For a person who loves to travel, I just had to purchase this book to see what places I need to go to and review places I have been to.
According to the author, I missed a lot of places because I was too busy to vistit all the recommended 5 star hotels. For an example, Torres Del Paine, Chile is one of the most beautiful nature wonder of the world with its glaciers, lakes, peaks, and majestic views. Instead of writing this, the author decide to descibe in detail about the over-priced hotel in the park.
Author consistently writes about:
1. Hotel, hotel, and more hotels. Not just any hotel, but the most expensive accomodation in town.
2. Hotels, of course. I have not counted, but I can guess about 250 places to see are hotels.
If you like hotels, this is a book for you, otherwise look elsewhere.

This book was given to me as a gift a few months ago and I am happy to have it on my bookshelf of references.

While I do recommend 1000 Places To See Before You Die as a Must Have in your personal travel library, it is more like an encyclopedia than a travel guide. It is easy to use and arranged by major regions of the world (8). So if you are planning to be in a particular area of the world, you might wish to check this book out before going so you do not miss seeing something you might otherwise have no idea exists, like unusual National Parks.

While this is a great reference to have on hand, I actually prefer curling up in a cozy place and reading travel guide books for information about places to see in the world rather than an encyclopedia style. And I like the travel books that are written in a personal style like Extraordinary Dreams of an Ireland Traveler and also Paul and Kiki's Guide to Vacationing In Italy: Making Your Tuscany Holiday a Treasured Memory (Full Color Edition). These personal travel logs give you not just the facts about interesting places to go that you may never have been to before but also how it feels to be there and important tips about traveling and even fun stories.

1000 Places to See Before you Die is a great book to have, and I suggest that you keep it somewhere in your house that you like to read very short passages, as each entry is just a couple of paragraphs and is a fun daily short read to widen ones worldly perspective, which is how I read it and enjoyed it.

Martha Char Love
Author of What's Behind Your Belly Button?: A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut Instinct

Having worn my original copy of the book down to where pages are filled with my own notes and scribbles everywhere, I had no idea how a revision could be better than the first. But I bought it to have a "clean" copy. I am over-the-moon excited by the new inclusions and additional comments to the old ones. I have no idea how Ms Schultz managed to add so much more to the original such as places to see on the way to get to the places in the book as well as the color photos. And, it seems to me, there are many less expensive options to the uber expensive accommodations that have their own unique style and charm and are not just a "cheaper option down the road". I looove this book!

This book is a great resource, but please do not think it is a definitive, exhaustive, end-all kind of list. Given that I am in the infancy of my travelling life, I can name a couple of egregious omissions in the list. For instance, the lack of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (southwestern Pennsylvania) and Humpback Rocks’ trail (Virginia, about 40 minutes from Charlottesville) make the list look a bit silly, if it is supposed to be exhaustive. The list also has the frustration-inducing commercialistic leaning, suggesting that hotels and similar be visited. Personally, I feel that, if the list leaned more toward intellectual bents and naturalist aesthetic bents, the guide would have been worlds better. The list does contain some such places, like Twain’s home in Connecticut and Yellowstone, but I also feel like these are generally well known enough that, if the listing did not contain them, the book would simply have lost all credibility.

Other than these agitations, which some might chock up to my personal preferences, not a failing on the list’s part, I think the book is great for giving someone who is not particularly well travel to get a better-than-good idea of what they should plan to see whenever they are in this region or that.

All of these things considered, it is a great guide. If one were to follow this book’s recommendations, his or her life would definitely be full of wonderful, memorable experiences. Those places entailed in the book are generally of a very, very high caliber, so I recommend this book as source to all.

Golly gee, do you think the places mentioned in this book are included because they paid to be included? I know that no real author would do this but how come there are several bars located in Four Season Hotels that you have to see before you die? Bars? In hotels? I'm sure that this is just a co- incidence. that's my only my opinion but I'm sticking with it.

Every time we are thinking of visiting a new place, or have just returned from a trip, I pick up my copy of "1,000 Places..." and highlight the pages to indicate where we've been and when. I also jot a few notes to indicate what we liked and didn't like. I enjoy picking up the book from time to time to do a little armchair travelling to help decide where we might like to go next. Although it doesn't supplant the need to read dedicated travel guides for specific destinations, "1,000 Places.." is very effective at highlighting the significant places to see around the world. Others have criticized the book for such high-level coverage, but what do you expect from one book that attempts to cover the whole world?

Last year I entertained a German colleague who had travelled the world extensively with his wife and I asked how they decided where to go next. He said they frequently referred to "1,000 Places..." ! I was surprised that this book, written by an American author, would appeal to Europeans, but the more I think about it, I realize that the desire to travel and experience the world transcends nationalities. For a German to visit a foreign land is no different than an American visiting the same place - it is exotic and fascinating to learn about places so different from our own cultural experiences. "1,000 Places..." encourages us to expand our horizons, and that can never be a bad thing.

It's important to be magnanimous when dealing with a book such as this. Anybody asked to put together a 1000 of anything is always going to come up with a different list to anybody else, even their best buddy. So while there are some issues with the items selected (more on that later) I'm going to start this review by focussing on the positives.

And there are a number of them. The book isn't a massive hardcover tome and it's written by someone who obviously loves the idea of travel itself and much of it is written in a breezy and somewhat gushing style. Now I may have issues with gushing at times but a love of travel is something that is its own best defence. The author has set this book out quite logically via geographic area and further broken down each part of the world into national groupings arranged alphabetically. As such it's easy to just flick through and find nations you are interested in or have already visited to have a look at the authors thoughts or suggestions. Of course as I touched on in my opening paragraph there are always going to be sites that some people will feel were left out unfairly but anyone who buys this book and expects to treat it as some sort of ego stroking checklist is missing the point by a country mile. This book is designed as much to celebrate travel and throw a stack of ideas at the reader (at least 1000 ideas, to be exact). Each entry is admittedly fairly perfunctory and there really is no other way it could be without writing a series of books of Tolkien like proportions.

There are some downsides however. While I am more than happy to admit that there are some signature hotels around the world, the Caledonia, Raffles etc, I found the constant banging on about hotels detracted from the breezy nature of the book by the very monotony of it. And the author is obviously a `foodie' of epic proportions given the gushing over this restaurant or that. It got annoying to be perfectly blunt. Again, there are probably some places that are banner items but name checking chefs is a sure fire way to obsolescence.

The only other main gripe would be the plethora of North American sites. It was a touch unbalanced. I note that there is a 1000 for North America now, and it would be lovely if in future this world edition was remastered - to use musical phraseology.

Despite these quibbles overall I found this a fun read, it was amusing to peruse and mentally tick places off and it certainly will get you and your mates arguing for this or that site and it will also whet your appetite for more travel. Which is kind of the reason your thinking of buying this book isn't it?

When I was given the chance to review this book I jumped on it for a couple reasons. The first was that I am able to give away some copies to my loyal followers. The second was that I am taking vacation at the end of June and wanted some good ideas on where to go and what to see. And now that the book has arrived I have a third reason in that it contains some gorgeous photography.

I have to admit that I am rather impressed overall. It is small enough to toss in a backpack yet is chock full of information. It is divided up by regions such as Europe, Africa, Asia and five others. Once you decide on a region and country, you are then shown available locations in the specific area you have chosen. What I really appreciate is the fact along with the sights to see the reader is also given URLs for further information, various hotels and restaurants at the locations and various costs associated with them.

I live in Washington state and one of the things to see is the San Juan Islands. I found out tidbits about the various islands, the best time for various activities, recommended Inns and cafes along with their phone numbers and costs. This information was very helpful in planning out a very nice two day excursion for myself and husband especially as June thru September is the best time for sighting Orcas.

I recommend this book for anyone that is planning a vacation or simply wanting to add to their 'bucket list'. I have looked at various travel books and while this book won't replace one dedicated to a specific location, it does a fantastic job of compiling a lot of information about a lot of places. Also 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is available as an Apple app or as an e-book to save even more space while traveling.

I rate this book a 4.5.

***I was provided a copy of this book so that I could give a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and no monies have or will exchange hands.

This book was purchased for a coworker's retirement, and we were each asked to sign a page we'd like her to visit. I was disappointed in the description of my family's home country, Trinidad, which was so poorly described it was a bit of an insult. It was almost as though she'd never been there, but instead someone told her how much "wild, raucous fun" it was, and she wrote that down instead. No description of the actual culture, and the food history was wrong. This likely makes a fun coffee table book to remind one of how many destinations there are in the world to visit, but I wouldn't refer to any of her descriptions of the actual countries. No idea where she got her information from.

If you plan to buy Patricia Schultz's latest offering to the travelling public, make sure your passport is up-to-date! After looking through even a few of the alluring photographs and charming descriptions of places you've never even heard of and now must visit, you might also want to reconsider how much your heirs can expect to receive. Even though I know I will only actually go to a fraction of the places I've fallen in love with, thanks to Ms. Schultz, I feel, at least for a few moments of my day, that my world has been expanded every time I imagine myself in any of the entries. Can't say anything about the app that comes with the revised edition: I'm putting the Ipad $ towards airfare!

The spirit of this book is well exemplified by a quotation from Mark Twain (Page xv): "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tide winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." So, the author advances a listing of places throughout the world worth discovering. This is a companion piece to another volume of hers, in which she explores 1,000 places to see within the United States.

The world is divided into eight regions, for the purposes of organizing discussion: Europe; Africa; the Middle East; Asia; Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands; the United States and Canada; Latin America; the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda.

In a brief review here, it would be impossible to illustrate each region in any depth. Maybe some samples from a few of the regions. Needless to say, any selection like this is apt to engender discussion--Why were some places left out? Why were others included? But that's part of the fun of a book like this!

Europe: Some of the usual suspects like Windsor Castle, Winchester Cathedral, London, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna, Paris, Versailles, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Sistine Chapel. But there are other treasures as well: Bellagio, Rhodes, Ile de Re, Kinsale, and Ludlow.

Africa: The Great Pyramids, Abu Simbel, Jack's Camp in the Kalahari Desert, the Cape Winelands, and so on.

United States and Canada: Kenai Peninsula, Monterey Peninsula, Telluride, South Beach, Art Institute of Chicago (one of my favorite art museums), Art Gallery of Ontario, Nimmo Bay Resort, Polar Bear Safari, and the like.

This is fun simply to browse. Choose a page at random and fantasize a trip there. . . . Again, lots of fun!

This is one of those books that can be used multiple ways. I've heard about people having competitions to see which of their friends can visit more of the places listed in this book. For me, I don't know that this is a book I would use to construct my "bucket list". After all, I tend to seek the out of the way, more unique, known only to "locals" places. One of my favorite memories in Europe was going to buy vegetables in a quaint little town in Holland with a local. That would never make a tour guide book, but I loved seeing the town, interacting with the locals, and enjoying a dinner complete with fresh vegetables we bought that afternoon. This is an updated edition, the first one having been published in 2003. I had only been to five of the places in the first book. Since then, I've been to 30 places. (Counting all Hong Kong, Los Angeles, etc. as a singular place.) For me, I think this book would best be used as a springboard of places I might want to see. I realize when you are compiling a list of only 1000 places, you lose out on many sights that are important, but I could think of different places I would have included in this volume, both in the USA and on foreign soil. (I was going to say Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is one of those places, but I just looked it up and it got a one sentence mention, so it was mentioned, but one of the most memorable places I've ever visited, and I would have given it more than a mention.)However, that's the joy of this book. It includes places I wouldn't, leaves out places I would, and gives a different "must see" perspective of this world, and after all, the world is as unique as the people who live in it, and everyone has their own ideas and opinions, and that includes what should be the "must see" places. It is enjoyable to flip through and learn about different places all over the world!

I purchased the thick paperback edition in 2003 and have used and enjoyed it often. I like the commentary and background.

In preparing for a trip to Italy, I got the Kindle edition so I would not have to lug the book or photocopy the pages I wanted to bring.
Boy was that a mistake. The Kindle edition is so sparse. I was under the mistaken impression it would have the same content as the paper version.

Live and learn.

I'm ordering the hard back. Kindle (at least the cheaper model) can't toggle back and forth to locations, I can't find the chapter/location i want without scrolling through. i wish I could sell it back and just order the hardback. But I can't. So lesson learned. Will apply at other opportunities.

Having just downloaded this book to my Kindle, I am struck immediately by not knowing how to skip to a chapter later in the book. I have the first edition in hardcover.... and was delighted when the new edition was released on Kindle. However, I am circumnavigating South America (for the third time) and wish to go directly to the Latin America section. How? (Because I had to rate the book to publish this review, I gave it a 3... this could be too low, too high, or just right!)

This is my first review of a book for the store. I just had to write this to tell the truth about this book.
For a person who loves to travel, I just had to purchase this book to see what places I need to go to and review places I have been to.
According to the author, I missed a lot of places because I was too busy to vistit all the recommended 5 star hotels. For an example, Torres Del Paine, Chile is one of the most beautiful nature wonder of the world with its glaciers, lakes, peaks, and majestic views. Instead of writing this, the author decide to descibe in detail about the over-priced hotel in the park.
Author consistently writes about:
1. Hotel, hotel, and more hotels. Not just any hotel, but the most expensive accomodation in town.
2. Hotels, of course. I have not counted, but I can guess about 250 places to see are hotels.
If you like hotels, this is a book for you, otherwise look elsewhere.

This book was given to me as a gift a few months ago and I am happy to have it on my bookshelf of references.

While I do recommend 1000 Places To See Before You Die as a Must Have in your personal travel library, it is more like an encyclopedia than a travel guide. It is easy to use and arranged by major regions of the world (8). So if you are planning to be in a particular area of the world, you might wish to check this book out before going so you do not miss seeing something you might otherwise have no idea exists, like unusual National Parks.

While this is a great reference to have on hand, I actually prefer curling up in a cozy place and reading travel guide books for information about places to see in the world rather than an encyclopedia style. And I like the travel books that are written in a personal style like Extraordinary Dreams of an Ireland Traveler and also Paul and Kiki's Guide to Vacationing In Italy: Making Your Tuscany Holiday a Treasured Memory (Full Color Edition). These personal travel logs give you not just the facts about interesting places to go that you may never have been to before but also how it feels to be there and important tips about traveling and even fun stories.

1000 Places to See Before you Die is a great book to have, and I suggest that you keep it somewhere in your house that you like to read very short passages, as each entry is just a couple of paragraphs and is a fun daily short read to widen ones worldly perspective, which is how I read it and enjoyed it.

Martha Char Love
Author of What's Behind Your Belly Button?: A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut Instinct

Having worn my original copy of the book down to where pages are filled with my own notes and scribbles everywhere, I had no idea how a revision could be better than the first. But I bought it to have a "clean" copy. I am over-the-moon excited by the new inclusions and additional comments to the old ones. I have no idea how Ms Schultz managed to add so much more to the original such as places to see on the way to get to the places in the book as well as the color photos. And, it seems to me, there are many less expensive options to the uber expensive accommodations that have their own unique style and charm and are not just a "cheaper option down the road". I looove this book!

This book is a great resource, but please do not think it is a definitive, exhaustive, end-all kind of list. Given that I am in the infancy of my travelling life, I can name a couple of egregious omissions in the list. For instance, the lack of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (southwestern Pennsylvania) and Humpback Rocks’ trail (Virginia, about 40 minutes from Charlottesville) make the list look a bit silly, if it is supposed to be exhaustive. The list also has the frustration-inducing commercialistic leaning, suggesting that hotels and similar be visited. Personally, I feel that, if the list leaned more toward intellectual bents and naturalist aesthetic bents, the guide would have been worlds better. The list does contain some such places, like Twain’s home in Connecticut and Yellowstone, but I also feel like these are generally well known enough that, if the listing did not contain them, the book would simply have lost all credibility.

Other than these agitations, which some might chock up to my personal preferences, not a failing on the list’s part, I think the book is great for giving someone who is not particularly well travel to get a better-than-good idea of what they should plan to see whenever they are in this region or that.

All of these things considered, it is a great guide. If one were to follow this book’s recommendations, his or her life would definitely be full of wonderful, memorable experiences. Those places entailed in the book are generally of a very, very high caliber, so I recommend this book as source to all.

Golly gee, do you think the places mentioned in this book are included because they paid to be included? I know that no real author would do this but how come there are several bars located in Four Season Hotels that you have to see before you die? Bars? In hotels? I'm sure that this is just a co- incidence. that's my only my opinion but I'm sticking with it.

Every time we are thinking of visiting a new place, or have just returned from a trip, I pick up my copy of "1,000 Places..." and highlight the pages to indicate where we've been and when. I also jot a few notes to indicate what we liked and didn't like. I enjoy picking up the book from time to time to do a little armchair travelling to help decide where we might like to go next. Although it doesn't supplant the need to read dedicated travel guides for specific destinations, "1,000 Places.." is very effective at highlighting the significant places to see around the world. Others have criticized the book for such high-level coverage, but what do you expect from one book that attempts to cover the whole world?

Last year I entertained a German colleague who had travelled the world extensively with his wife and I asked how they decided where to go next. He said they frequently referred to "1,000 Places..." ! I was surprised that this book, written by an American author, would appeal to Europeans, but the more I think about it, I realize that the desire to travel and experience the world transcends nationalities. For a German to visit a foreign land is no different than an American visiting the same place - it is exotic and fascinating to learn about places so different from our own cultural experiences. "1,000 Places..." encourages us to expand our horizons, and that can never be a bad thing.

It's important to be magnanimous when dealing with a book such as this. Anybody asked to put together a 1000 of anything is always going to come up with a different list to anybody else, even their best buddy. So while there are some issues with the items selected (more on that later) I'm going to start this review by focussing on the positives.

And there are a number of them. The book isn't a massive hardcover tome and it's written by someone who obviously loves the idea of travel itself and much of it is written in a breezy and somewhat gushing style. Now I may have issues with gushing at times but a love of travel is something that is its own best defence. The author has set this book out quite logically via geographic area and further broken down each part of the world into national groupings arranged alphabetically. As such it's easy to just flick through and find nations you are interested in or have already visited to have a look at the authors thoughts or suggestions. Of course as I touched on in my opening paragraph there are always going to be sites that some people will feel were left out unfairly but anyone who buys this book and expects to treat it as some sort of ego stroking checklist is missing the point by a country mile. This book is designed as much to celebrate travel and throw a stack of ideas at the reader (at least 1000 ideas, to be exact). Each entry is admittedly fairly perfunctory and there really is no other way it could be without writing a series of books of Tolkien like proportions.

There are some downsides however. While I am more than happy to admit that there are some signature hotels around the world, the Caledonia, Raffles etc, I found the constant banging on about hotels detracted from the breezy nature of the book by the very monotony of it. And the author is obviously a `foodie' of epic proportions given the gushing over this restaurant or that. It got annoying to be perfectly blunt. Again, there are probably some places that are banner items but name checking chefs is a sure fire way to obsolescence.

The only other main gripe would be the plethora of North American sites. It was a touch unbalanced. I note that there is a 1000 for North America now, and it would be lovely if in future this world edition was remastered - to use musical phraseology.

Despite these quibbles overall I found this a fun read, it was amusing to peruse and mentally tick places off and it certainly will get you and your mates arguing for this or that site and it will also whet your appetite for more travel. Which is kind of the reason your thinking of buying this book isn't it?

When I was given the chance to review this book I jumped on it for a couple reasons. The first was that I am able to give away some copies to my loyal followers. The second was that I am taking vacation at the end of June and wanted some good ideas on where to go and what to see. And now that the book has arrived I have a third reason in that it contains some gorgeous photography.

I have to admit that I am rather impressed overall. It is small enough to toss in a backpack yet is chock full of information. It is divided up by regions such as Europe, Africa, Asia and five others. Once you decide on a region and country, you are then shown available locations in the specific area you have chosen. What I really appreciate is the fact along with the sights to see the reader is also given URLs for further information, various hotels and restaurants at the locations and various costs associated with them.

I live in Washington state and one of the things to see is the San Juan Islands. I found out tidbits about the various islands, the best time for various activities, recommended Inns and cafes along with their phone numbers and costs. This information was very helpful in planning out a very nice two day excursion for myself and husband especially as June thru September is the best time for sighting Orcas.

I recommend this book for anyone that is planning a vacation or simply wanting to add to their 'bucket list'. I have looked at various travel books and while this book won't replace one dedicated to a specific location, it does a fantastic job of compiling a lot of information about a lot of places. Also 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is available as an Apple app or as an e-book to save even more space while traveling.

I rate this book a 4.5.

***I was provided a copy of this book so that I could give a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and no monies have or will exchange hands.

This book was purchased for a coworker's retirement, and we were each asked to sign a page we'd like her to visit. I was disappointed in the description of my family's home country, Trinidad, which was so poorly described it was a bit of an insult. It was almost as though she'd never been there, but instead someone told her how much "wild, raucous fun" it was, and she wrote that down instead. No description of the actual culture, and the food history was wrong. This likely makes a fun coffee table book to remind one of how many destinations there are in the world to visit, but I wouldn't refer to any of her descriptions of the actual countries. No idea where she got her information from.

If you plan to buy Patricia Schultz's latest offering to the travelling public, make sure your passport is up-to-date! After looking through even a few of the alluring photographs and charming descriptions of places you've never even heard of and now must visit, you might also want to reconsider how much your heirs can expect to receive. Even though I know I will only actually go to a fraction of the places I've fallen in love with, thanks to Ms. Schultz, I feel, at least for a few moments of my day, that my world has been expanded every time I imagine myself in any of the entries. Can't say anything about the app that comes with the revised edition: I'm putting the Ipad $ towards airfare!

The spirit of this book is well exemplified by a quotation from Mark Twain (Page xv): "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tide winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." So, the author advances a listing of places throughout the world worth discovering. This is a companion piece to another volume of hers, in which she explores 1,000 places to see within the United States.

The world is divided into eight regions, for the purposes of organizing discussion: Europe; Africa; the Middle East; Asia; Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands; the United States and Canada; Latin America; the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda.

In a brief review here, it would be impossible to illustrate each region in any depth. Maybe some samples from a few of the regions. Needless to say, any selection like this is apt to engender discussion--Why were some places left out? Why were others included? But that's part of the fun of a book like this!

Europe: Some of the usual suspects like Windsor Castle, Winchester Cathedral, London, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna, Paris, Versailles, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Sistine Chapel. But there are other treasures as well: Bellagio, Rhodes, Ile de Re, Kinsale, and Ludlow.

Africa: The Great Pyramids, Abu Simbel, Jack's Camp in the Kalahari Desert, the Cape Winelands, and so on.

United States and Canada: Kenai Peninsula, Monterey Peninsula, Telluride, South Beach, Art Institute of Chicago (one of my favorite art museums), Art Gallery of Ontario, Nimmo Bay Resort, Polar Bear Safari, and the like.

This is fun simply to browse. Choose a page at random and fantasize a trip there. . . . Again, lots of fun!

This is one of those books that can be used multiple ways. I've heard about people having competitions to see which of their friends can visit more of the places listed in this book. For me, I don't know that this is a book I would use to construct my "bucket list". After all, I tend to seek the out of the way, more unique, known only to "locals" places. One of my favorite memories in Europe was going to buy vegetables in a quaint little town in Holland with a local. That would never make a tour guide book, but I loved seeing the town, interacting with the locals, and enjoying a dinner complete with fresh vegetables we bought that afternoon. This is an updated edition, the first one having been published in 2003. I had only been to five of the places in the first book. Since then, I've been to 30 places. (Counting all Hong Kong, Los Angeles, etc. as a singular place.) For me, I think this book would best be used as a springboard of places I might want to see. I realize when you are compiling a list of only 1000 places, you lose out on many sights that are important, but I could think of different places I would have included in this volume, both in the USA and on foreign soil. (I was going to say Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is one of those places, but I just looked it up and it got a one sentence mention, so it was mentioned, but one of the most memorable places I've ever visited, and I would have given it more than a mention.)However, that's the joy of this book. It includes places I wouldn't, leaves out places I would, and gives a different "must see" perspective of this world, and after all, the world is as unique as the people who live in it, and everyone has their own ideas and opinions, and that includes what should be the "must see" places. It is enjoyable to flip through and learn about different places all over the world!

HI i have done a video review on the book on u tube as desitheblonde. Well this book i got on the blog hop. ME i would love to go to Ireland and then the way i got the book they ask where
do you want to go to. Well i read and blog on the book .I like the things she has in the book and then the Calf coast i did visit it. The author did good with the book she had some great pic in the book and tell you what the place are

They tell of the sites and then if there is place of interest the food and then the site you can see some of the place have tour and will tell you about them.She has maps of the country you wnat to see you could never be amazed of the stuff in the different country's.

This book will be re gifted end then i now the people who will read on it and in joy it as much as i did thanks for the chance to win the book

every blog i do is my own information i do blog on the book here pin and other places

My number one hobby is vacation travelling from 1989-2006 I have travelled to some of the locations listed in this enjoyable book of wish list locations, I know what you're asking yourself where has this kook travelled to, well here is my list EGYPT-twice, KENYA-twice, SOUTH AFRICA, TANZANIA, ISRAEL, CHINA-twice, INDIA, NEPAL, SINGAPORE, THAILAND-three times, VIETNAM, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, FIJI, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, ARGENTINA-twice, BRAZIL-twice, CHILE, AND PERU and I have the picture albums to prove it. This book belonged to my younger sister she died at the age of 48 in February of 2011 from a brain aneurysm I dedicate this review to her may she rest in peace.

This book is perfect for people who love to travel but cannot afford to. This book is so well written and researched. I loved reading about the geography and history of all the places described in this book. All of these destinations seem so exotic and exciting. There are so many interesting places in this book such as national parks, museums, rivers, festivals, restaurants, mountains, places to view art, nature, and amazing works of architecture.
I would love to go scuba diving off Australia's Great Barrier Reef and look at 1,500 varieties of fish. I would love to go to Egypt to take a cruise on the Nile River and view ancient ruins and royal tombs. I would like to see camels race in the Sinai desert. I would to see the artistic elegance of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I wouldn't mind visiting the breathtaking marble architecture of the Taj Mahal in India either. I never knew some of these places even existed like Count Dracula's castle in Romania and Santa's village in Helsinki Finland. I would enjoy horseback riding through the mountains of South Africa. Looking at thousands of beautiful women in Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro Brazil seems like a lot of fun too.

A lot of fun destinations described in this book are in the United States and North America too. I would love to go on a hot air baloon ride in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It would be exciting to watch the Iditarod dogsled race in Anchorage Alaska or go white river rafting in West Virginia. I would love to go on a polar bear safari in Manitoba Canada. Montreal Quebec would be an interesting destination choice for a lot of people. It is home to a world film festival, a jazz festival, and an international fireworks competition.
1000 places to see before you die is the most comprehensive world travel guide I have ever seen. I learned so much about different countries and their histories. I will take this book with me on every trip I go on in the future.

An enjoyable read. So far I have only had a chance to travel the US & Europe, so I was excited that I had been to about 112 of the places she mentions - I was also chagrined to find out that I'd missed some stuff in places I've been. I will definitely consult this next time I travel as I plan my trip- HOWEVER, I would research a place and take with me a more detailed country specific guide (like Let's Go or Rick Steves) when actually travelling for other sites, hostel/hotel and food suggestions.
Secondly, as others have mentioned she spends WAY too much precious space on the US (if you're going to skip whole countries, it's probably ok to skip a few states).
Thirdly, yes, the spas/hotels/restaurants should only have been an add on to the sites, not entries in and of themselves! (a "while you're there, check out...." note). Also, it saddened me to see her suggesting you spend $300-600 on a room in a country where people live on $5 a day.

I know she had so much to cover and trying to narrow it down to 1,000 must have been awfully hard. I don't blame her for the ommissions (even though I was shocked -as everyone else probably is- to see my own top choices not in the book). I understand it's a subjective list of her own choices.

Nonetheless, I'm going to use this note to add my suggestions: I would suggest that if you're ever in Poland, you visit the Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camps. They are amazing, kept by the gov't so it has not been turned into a commercial tourist trap, but merely a place to learn about our history. The Wieliczka Salt Mines (near Krakow, Poland) are also amazing - the most amazing part is an entire undeground church (icons, floor, chandeliers, icons) made out of salt. Even for an atheist, it was a moving sight to see.

This is kind of a mini Lonely-planet style guide and it does have a lot to recommend it, however it is not the best guide to go by because it is a quick guide and doesn't have all the detail necessary to travel. Also I have a feeling this is a 1000 places to visit, but not necessarily the 1000 BEST things on offer.

I don't think Schultz has visited all these places, and if she has it seems like an awful quick once over. This means that she doesn't really have the advantage of knowing the best places to go. Even making room for variations of personal opinion.

For instance, I;ve only been to the cook Islands a few times and as a traveller I would agree with the assessment of going to Aitutaki - which is a pretty neat place. However they miss out the extremely remote Island of Penryn which would have to rate as one of my top places to visit above anywhere else there.

In New Zealand, where I live, I found the list of places to visit extremely uninspiring. There are at least 3 ultra-exclusive and expensive resorts mentioned (among them Huka Lodge and Wharekauhau) not my personal preference - they simply seem to be homes places for the uber-rich. Yet they fail to mention a couple of the most gorgeous spots in New Zealand - Spirits Bay and Waiheke Island - places I would recommend ANYONE visit if they came here - neither of them difficult to get to, but neither necessarily on the tourist hit-list.

Its not that every place mentioned in the list was dull - I'd definitely agree that Doubtful Sound is right up there as a must visit - and even Queenstown for adventure. I just felt that the places mentioned were pretty much all on the tourist trail. Not that this is bad, but they aren't the places I would necessarily take tourists on a tour of New Zealand. Where was Palliser Bay? D'Urville Island? Even Cape Kidnappers.

My opinion of the book was coloured by this. There were so many places throughout the world I haven't visited and as I flicked through I wondered if every other country and region had been treated in the same manner as New Zealand. That is, rather than picking the most interesting places, they had simply picked the easy to know things. It made me wonder if this had cobbled together from a variety of tourist guides.

The Advantage of this book and the format is that you do seem to get a good variety of top tourist spots that would be of interest for travellers of all kinds. There is a quick once over of what they are and where they are, but any extra information would need to be gleaned from a tourist guide or travel agent. And if you are going to do that then you might as well just get a tourist guide anyway or a lonely planet guide.

It was fun to flip through, well written and good general detail, but nothing I would go out of my way to own.

I really love this book. It opens your eyes to so much of the world and the things in it to go see and do. It really demonstrates the notion that the world is indeed your oyster. It's great if you have the time and the funds to pick a few places out, and set your sights on going to visit them and learn of new places to you.

It's set up in an easy to use format (Europe, Africa, USA etc etc) and then within each of those catagories, you can read about different regions in those countries and from there, it tells you about places of interest and why a place is historical etc. It even sometimes mentions particular hotels or features of a hotel. In the back of the book there is a special index pages broken into many catagories such as Festivals and Special Events (camel races at Wadi Zalaga in Egypt, or St Patricks Festival in Dublin, or Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico) or Glories of Nature (Boboli Gardens in Tuscany or Tivoli Gardens in Copehagen).

As you can see, this is a very user friendly guide that is interesting, educational and will give you the travel bug from page one. I totally recommend this to anyone - whether you are a traveller or not, because if you aren't - you soon will be.

What a terrific idea for a travel book! I saw "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" at a bookstore and took a copy with me to browse through over a cup of coffee. It was one of the bookstores that allows browsing over beverages. After 2 cups of java I left with the book - purchased, of course. And then I began reading, enjoying thoroughly and adding to my rapidly growing list of "places to visit." Some of these places I will only know from my armchair, but the author's wonderfully descriptive vignettes, detailed indexes and marvelous photographs are the next best thing to being there. And one also avoids bankruptcy this way.

This amazing travel anthology includes 1000 man-made and natural wonders of the world, thus the book's title. Ms. Schultz has done her research thoroughly in order to guide the would-be world explorers without losing them. And this is one of the most user-friendly guides I have seen. A detailed and cross-referenced, subject-specific index lists such categories as Unrivaled Museums, Sacred Places, Festivals, Culinary Experiences, and gorgeous beaches - also, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, costs, best times to visit.

From Europe to Africa to Asia - to your wildest dreams, Patricia Schultz has selected the most extraordinary places which reflect "some sense of the earth's magic, integrity, wonder, and legacy." The author's prose is as exciting as the sites she describes. And she discusses why each of her entries is worthy of your itinerary. Take a safari into Botswana's Okavango Delta, tour the covered souks of Aleppo, climb the Tuscan hills to San Gimignano, sail the seven seas with descriptions of exactly what to look for in each. Visit Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market, the Great Wall of China, Brazil's Ipanema beach, the Buddhas of Borobudur, Mesa Verde's cave dwellings, the Oaxaca Saturday market, Canyon de Chelly, the backwaters of Kerala, California's Monterey Peninsula, the Lewis and Clark Trail in Oregon, Alaska's Inside Passage, and the Alhambra in Andalusia. Splurge, just once, at Venice's Cipriani Hotel, the Hassler in Rome, or Paris's Crillon.

Although one needs a "certain amount" of money to actually take these trips, there is information for every class of travel and accommodation - from the most elite to the most acceptably modest. So you don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy. And you don't have to own fortune to enjoy this beautiful, hefty volume. It makes a great gift!

JANA

Expensive hotels and spas...and more hotels! Did high end hotels pay to be included in this book? I certainly find it hard to believe that with all the amazing things to see in the world, the author thinks the lobbys of non-historic hotels and other expensive (but otherwise boring) retail businesses should be on anyone's Top 1000 list. I guess the author would suggest I skip the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids in Egypt (or in the Americas) and, instead, sit in some expensive hotel room in the middle of nowhere? Can you imagine the thrilling vacation pictures I could take of the mint on the pillow or the new tile in a hotel hallway? Ooo..sooo exciting!

I think this book was designed to make money, not be useful. Perhaps it could come in handy for wealthy travelers whose idea of seeing a foreign country is to stay at a fancy Americanized hotel and only venture outside long enough to take a limo ride to the local Starbucks and/or McDonalds outlets.

I'll be returning this book.

The value of a book like this is to whet your appetite to do more research to confirm this is a location you would like to visit. It reminds me of a book from Pan-Am years ago that had highlights and basic info on every country open to tourists.

I looked through the book to compare my travel experiences with the descriptions. I found very good descriptions for most places I am familiar with. Russia is excellent. I am in absolute agreement with the sections on London, Paris, Milan, Venice, Austria, Uzbekistan, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Costa Rica, Belize, Canada, and the highlights in the US.

Criticism: Germany is missing too many places that rightly qualify, such as, Coburg and Passau. Switzerland is missing Murren and others. There is a lot more in Louisiana than New Orleans. Minneapolis has many important things, such as the most extensive fine arts museum outside Europe.

I have visited many of the places listed in this book, but to list the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Sorrento, and not mention the archeological museum in Naples, or even Herculaneum made me wonder if the author had really visited Campania. The Grand Hotel Excelsior in Sorrento is beautiful, and I have stayed there in a suite with a view of the Bay of Naples, but the experiences that were the most memorable for me seem to have either been forgotten, or unknown by the author. The same is true of Lake Como, and the Villa d'Este even though it was one of the finest hotels that I have ever stayed in. The hotel is fabulous, but I will never forget riding the ferry from village to village on beautiful Lake Como. The Grand Hotel et des Iles Borromees is very grand, but the real treasures here are the three magnificent Islands of Lake Maggiore. It would be a shame for someone to read this book, and decide not to visit some of the world's great sites, because they felt they could not afford the hotel, or restaurant that is touted. Also, some of the hotels that are listed are no longer the grand hotels she describes. I would skip the Oriental in Bangkok, but the magnificent temples, and floating market are not to be missed.

I purchased the books because I liked the idea of it- I love to travl and was hoping that this would uncover a few gems for me to go see that I was unaware of, or that the author might have some insight into doing unusual things in usual places.

To a very small degree, there is some of this in the book. There were a few suprises, for example, on a recent trip to Hong Kong I was inspired to blow out my Holiday Inn points to book a room at the Kowloon Intercontinental. The view was indeed spectacular, and I likely would not have doen it had the book not recommneded it. But overall I get the feeling that this book is the result of spending a lot of time on the internet getting rates for package tours and hotels.

Certainly some of the costs quoted are quite ridiculous. One can book a trans-siberian package tour for only $4-5000 dollars- or a buy a ticket yourself fo $200, and then realize once your there that the previous figure amounts to more than most folks in that region make in a year.

There are certainly very few "deals" in the book, and also few insights, at least not enough to justify the price tag. As one reviwer stated, it has quite a lot of info about swank hotels. I am quite certain that the author hasn't visited these 1000 places, so I think you would be better off trolling the internet to research your next trip.

This is an extraordinary wish list of faraway places, as well as a guide to the travel treasures in your own neck of the woods. Patricia Schultz has been everywhere and seen everything, or so it seems. What she has seen, she has recorded in a handy one-volume guide to the most remarkable corners of this world as we know it.

Any book of this kind is of course subjective, but the well-traveled reader will find most of her or his favorite haunts herein. This is of course a bit of a concern if you wanted to keep such out of the way joys as dinner at Almo e Nadia in Milan all to yourself. No matter, Schultz writes for the discerning and discriminating traveler, or armchair dreamer. And she does not disappoint.

The book is divided nicely into continents, with Europe at the fore. But Schultz does not stint in her attention to Africa, The Middle East, Asia, Australia and environs, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. If you have been there and done that, her book is a good reminder of the joys and wonders you have seen. If not, this is a marvelous carrot dangling before all who love the lure of places yet unseen.

Each locale has, as well as a description of the sites not to be missed, some good recommendations for dining and lodging. Those who travel on a budget will be challenged by the rather opulent hotels Ms. Schultz suggests, but then again, a careful traveler will find a way to take in at least the occasional splurge, prompted by this guidebook.

Do not look for lavish color photographs here. All of the many photos are in black and white. but do look for clues to such wide-ranging wanderlust as horseback riding in Mongolia, the Spa of all Spas, the Last Supper, the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

You will find yourself making little check marks beside all the places you've gone, and exclamation points alongside those that are next on your list.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Schultz's book inspires the imagination with words that evoke the very best the world has to offer. After reading the book, and not just paging through as seems to be the case for most readers and reviewers, I had mixed feelings about its content and approach.

It is doubtful that most travelers will have the budget or the time to see 1,000 international destinations during their lifetimes. While I agree that there is a sense of urgency to get out and see the best that the world has to offer, many of the places mentioned in the text are not that interesting or unique. More to the point, the detail provided about these locations is frequently less detailed and less up-to-date than the information provided in a quality guidebook.

Of more interest is the concern that the author and her team of researchers seems to have missed important facts in several locations. Just focusing on the Netherlands consider the following. The author mentions the 170 rooms of Amsterdam's Rijksmusuem but the Rijksmuseum many rooms (except for a nice display in the Philips Wing) have been closed for renovation (and will remain closed until 2008) since before the publication of the book. Next, when describing the Kroller Muller Museum in the De Hoge Veluwe National Park, the author mentions that the collection includes 278 works by Van Gogh but does not mention that only 47 of them are on display (although the pictures on display are treasures of the Van Gogh's work). Other examples of inadequate reasearch are scattered throughout the book but perhaps I am being too picky as the book does provide a great list of places to see around the world.

Many travelers who read this work may decide not to travel since they may not be able to afford the style of travel described by the author. I am sure that we all would like to stay in expensive hotels and dine at the best establishments; unfortunately my travel budet only allows me to stay at good quality places and eat at restuarants with good quality meals. I think Rick Steves has it right when he urges you to mix with the locals - and you won't find the locals at most of the restaurants suggested by Schultz.

The wonders in the world are the places it contains and not the accomdations you reside in while you are visiting. When I started to read the book, I was looking for insights into the author's thoughts about the qualities of destinations that separate them from more mundane locations that have little to offer or, perhaps, discover. I did not find the insights that I was hoping to discover. The book reads more like listing of places to see, composed by a group of researchers who often ran out of the appropriate superlatives to describe an attraction.

I am pleased, however, that the author has sparked an ongoing debate about the best places to visit at home and abroad, as all of us benefit from travel

Mike Dobson

[...]

I am an American living in Europe and am currently taking a year off to travel, so I will actually use this book. I find it really useful when I have a limited amount of time in an area or to find a route for travel. I have just spent about 5 weeks in Italy and have visited most of the things outlined in the book. My biggest criticism of the book is that there are many hotels in the 300- 1000 dollar a day range. It takes up too much space in this book. When I was working, I occassionally stayed at these types of places, but then would not have benefited from all the locations in the book. Let's face it, who can travel worldwide AND spend 300+ a night for hotel rooms.

The places listed are well chosen (with a few exceptions), but I would really love to see a stronger concentration on places, not places or at least good value hotels. The places are a combination of well known attractions and things i had never heard of. I do not think it is worth while for the occassional traveller because of the vast area (the world) covered in the book.

This book is suited for easy reading in the powder room or waiting room; a book to be opened at random or for a quick review of some interesting places in the world.

However, it is not suited for the traveler (who will demand more), nor (I think) for anyone who really wants to see the 1,000 best places in the world. This book lists many such places, but misses as many, and substitutes some odd choices instead. It combines beautiful places with hot new fashion spots, in an odd sort of way that may satisfy some readers more than others. In short, it is a cute book, but neither timeless nor valuable.

Some sections (California and Egypt, for example) are good. Others are very idiosyncratic (restaurants in Chicago? Spas in Arizona?) or incomplete (Massachuetts, Myanmar, New Zealand).

Speaking personally, I would hope that Chicago has more to offer than a few restaurants and a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright homes. If not, I would have saved the ink for other, more memorable places. It seems odd to me to rank Boulders Resort or Canyon Health Resort in Arizona as the equals of Sedona, Canyon de Chelly, or Grand Canyon. I think most people could die happily without seeing these particular spas or restaurants.

Although everyone has different taste, I felt some real gems were missing. Discussing Tanglewood is fine, but what about the Norman Rockwell Museum only six miles down the road in Stockbridge. Freedom Trail, Boston, is nice too -- but so are Concord an Lexington. What about Pagan in Burma - only the largest collection of temples on earth and one of the wonders of the modern world? Tsukiji Fish Market and Hyatt Hotel in Toyko, but not Nikko? Where is mention of Great Barrier Island, the Hokianga or Arthur's Pass in New Zealand? The Four Seasons Hotel in Hamburg, but not the Raperbahn, or the Fischmarkt? The list of missing wonders is long, and the author's choices of what to include and what to exclude was a bit exasperating to me.

I had the feeling that Ms. Schultz did not visit many of the places she writes about, but wrote this book based on some quick desk research. Otherwise, she would realize the difference between Mt. Kenya (a must see with its jungles, tundra, wildlife, glaciers and raw rock formations) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (a ho-hum slog up a dusty mound). She would have included the Galapagos Islands (rather than simply listing most of the Hawaiian Islands) and might have thought twice about listing eight spots in Fiji and only two in Cambodia. And she would have given London and Vienna a longer, deeper look.

The book deserves to do well. It is a brave start for people who love arbitrary lists. However, some people would be happier, I think, with a book that is either a list of beautiful places or a book of fashionable hotels, spas and restaurants. Some readers may be distressed at seeing the Pyramids of Giza in the same category as the Iowa State Fair. Others will find the juxtaposition quite charming.

This book is certainly a stunning achievement, but I feel as though certain parts of the world are given short shrift while others are emphasized. One area of note is the Caribbean - it is hard to imagine there is that much difference between one virginally white, powdered sugar sand beach versus another.

I also feel that there were several US states that were emphasized at the expense of others. Some unique, relaxing, and not overly expensive destinations were definitely left out.

Continuing on the same tack, I felt there were far too many 'destinations' that were simply expensive hotels. That's great for celebrities and captains of industry, but even if my budget allowed I am not interested in traveling to stay in an expensive hotel. Too much hedonism, not enough adventure!

Instead of this book I highly recommend Lonely Planet's Blue List 2006-07. Simply amazing photography and insight into the selected destinations, and they pick a few surprises that I would not have.

Thanks to the modern world's travel infrastructure, many remote and exotic places can be reached in only a day or two, so the entire world can be our playground. How, then, could author Patricia Schulz select 1,000 places from all the wonders the world has to offer? Her criterion was to select places that have inspired adventurers, writers, and artists, as well as curious travelers. She admits that traveling is a personal experience and that this is her own short list of dream trips. Since her choice was subjective, she may well have neglected your favorite vacation spot or dream destination. Even if that is the case, you will still marvel at the breadth of her selections. Don't expect glossy color photos, though. The included pictures are small black and white photos.
The book includes far more than just cities and countries. It mentions excursions like a cruise on the QE2, a trip on the Eastern and Oriental Express from Singapore to Bangkok, and a trip on the Moscow Underground. It suggests events like the Winter Alpine Balloon Festival in Vaud Switzerland and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It lists geographical areas as diverse as London, the North Pole, and Bora Bora. It describes sites as varied as the Mayan city of Tikal, Museum Mile in New York City, and the Taj Mahal. It recommends places to eat as diverse as gourmet restaurants, the street food of Singapore, and Chicago's Superdawg hot dog stand. It suggests places to stay that are destinations in themselves, such as the Singita safari lodge in South Africa and the Rawlins Plantation in St. Kitts, Lesser Antilles. It includes experiences like bungee jumping from the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand, playing golf in Scotland, and attending the opera at La Scala in Milan. There is a useful set of special indices to help you find active adventures, festivals, spiritual sites, museums, natural wonders, culinary experiences, resorts, beaches, museums, and sacred places around the world.
This is not really a Fodor's-type travel guide. Although it lists some places to stay and dine, it should be regarded as a source of ideas and suggestions. You should consult more detailed travel guides when planning your trip. Even if you don't have the time or resources to experience some of these destinations, it's a great way to armchair travel to some spectacular places off the beaten track. Bon voyage!
Eileen Rieback

Patricia Schultz does an amazing job of listing and briefly discussing 1,000 places around the world that should be seen before you die. The places she lists range from the well-known heavily-visited places by tourists such as DisneyWorld and the DC Smithsonian to much more obscure places such as the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin and all sorts of places in locales that are easy to get to as well as locales at the extreme ends of the planet and some in very remote areas.
Many of her location snippets are accompanied with a picture, allowing you to see just how beautiful the park or hotel or attraction really is. The place descriptions discuss, in a half page or so, what the place is, what there is to do there, lodging opportunities (if applicable) and often who should go there.
Obviously, this book doesn't give you a clear picture of a place to decide to definitely go there, but it can pique your interest enough to explore what places you would like to explore and with that information you can go and do more research and plan a trip.
My one critique is that many of the locales in the book are expensive and definitely out of the financial reach of middle-class travelers. There are many high-end hotels and restaurants that only cater to the ultra-rich. And I also expected more natural sites, but she discusses many more man-made places (hotels, museums, restaurants, monuments, etc) than I had expected.
Nonetheless, this is a great book to be able to just pick up and skim through to get a sense of just how much outstanding stuff there is to see and do in this huge world of ours.

I was prepared to dislike this book. It was given to me as a present. The whole thesis seemed dangerous. If everyone tried to visit the same 1000 places they would be overwhelmed with tourists. Then who would want to go? Also, the very idea that everyone would like the same thing seemed over simplified. Last, how could a mere travel agent understand my sophisticated preferences?

In the sense of full disclosure, let me say that I received this book when I was 68 years old and had already traveled widely. My wife and I like a wide variety of things: from elegant big city hotels to camping in the wilderness. Museums, symphonic music, opera, and ballet are important. So is trout fishing. Last, we are unabashed foodies who plan restaurants carefully in advance.

When I picked up the book and started reading it, I was surprised. When I read about places I knew well, I had to admit that the things mentioned were the most interesting, not to be missed, things. For the last four years we have been consulting 1,000 Places before taking overseas trips. It has given us some ideas that we would not have had otherwise and they turned out to be very good ideas. Also, the places we visited were not over run by zillions of people who had read about them in 1,000 places.

Yes, it is a good hotel book. What do you want, a bad hotel book? It is always best to double check with Michelin if possible, but if a hotel is good it will probably not change too quickly. Restaurants are a different story. They can change overnight and 1,000 Places limited restaurant coverage can not be relied on.

I had mixed feelings about this book. As someone who has been a traveler all his adult life and for whom travel is a passion, I am always interested in a book recommending places to travel, hoping to find a gem of a place of which I was previously unaware. I was prepared to have some disgreements with the author; after all, no two people on this planet could come up with a list of 10 places to visit, let alone 1,000, and expect to be completely in accord. Having said this, however, I was struck by some of her omissions, and even more so by some of her recommendations. But these are minor quibbles.

My major criticisms of the book can be boiled down to these two: 1) the book is relentlessly upscale; 2) it is excessively Eurocentric. Let me elaborate a bit.

Regarding my first point, and to cut to the chase, this is a book for rich travelers. In nearly every location she highlights, she invariably recommends the most expensive hotels. In quite a few cases, the hotel itself is a 'place to see,' i.e., it is one of her 1,000 places. Consequently, a person with an ordinary job receiving an ordinary salary might very well toss the book aside and conclude that such travels are something he/she couldn't afford. It also demonstrates a basic misunderstanding of the purpose of travel, which is to experience new things, to expose oneself to new cultures, to meet the ordinary people in other parts of the world who may look at the world in different ways than we do, and not to hole up in some luxury hotel, which you could very well do at home.

Regarding my second point, of the books 894 pages (not counting indexes), 342 are devoted to Europe, 53 to Africa, 19 to the Middle East, 95 to Asia, 47 to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, 215 to the US and Canada, 71 to Latin America, and 46 to the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda. Astonishingly, she devotes exactly 1/2 page to Antarctica, an entire continent, and tucks it in at the end of the Latin America section!

In spite of these biases, however, please note that I gave the book 3 stars, because there is a lot of useful information here, especially for someone new to travel, and she does mention quite a few places that might otherwise be overlooked and that are invaluable travel experiences. Examples: the Kingdom of Mustang in Nepal, Persepolis in Iran, Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, and the Ariau Jungle Tower in the Brazilian the store. And, as a pleasant alternative to the book's usual snob appeal, she includes Graceland in Memphis, the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota, and Philadelphia cheesesteaks. But why not the Patpong area of Bangkok, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro (for which there is a safe tour), etc.

So I suppose this book is a worthwhile purchase--I'm not sorry I bought it--but take it with a grain of salt, look at a lot of other travel guides as well, and above all be aware that the unforgettable experiences of travel are not to be found among the snobs in luxury hotels.

Limited

Had some good ideas

But really,... the only place recommended in Michigan was the Grand Hotel?

Limited as a resource

Good starting point though

Biased perspective

As an avid traveller, I must admit I found it entertaining to read through this book and compare notes on places I have been to or would like to go. But, unfortunately, many truly memorable and fascinating spots were left off the list because Schultz devoted far, far too much space to her favorite hotels and restaurants, especially the type of super expensive places that only the wealthy can afford. Worse still, she has an extremely elitist and condescending attitude towards those of us on a budget. For example, from her entry on Machu Picchu in Peru, "Machu Picchu has forever been known for its lack of decent hotels, leaving the market open to a nortorious(sic) hodge podge of backpacker's crash sites." She is at one of the world's cultural wonders and still worried about finding a fancy hotel? Schultz is definitely missing the true spirit of travel here.

But what bothers me most about this type of book is that it keeps regular folks thinking that travel is only for the wealthy and fabulous and therefore not possible for them. The reality is that travel is available to everyone and many folks manage to travel the world, especially inexpensive regions like Latin America and most of Asia, for less than it costs to stay home and pay rent. Schultz's emphasis on grandiose tours and hotels at premium prices helps to feed the illusion of travel being beyond the means of most people and for this I must offer a strong condemnation.

I do give this book an extra star because it does make for a fun, breezy read and does suggest some worthwhile places to visit, especially in terms of natural and cultural sites. But, with a whole lot less snobbery and elitism, the book could have been far better than it is.

I love, love, love a to-do list; so, I thought this book would be a perfect travel companion. Overall, I have enjoyed the ideas presented in the book and it makes figuring out what to put on my to do list a little bit easier. This book gave me a few ideas on how to start figuring out what to do when I went to Oahu last year, but it was incomplete. I don't think you can plan a vacation entirely with this book. And I agree with some other reviewer's that the book focuses heavily on nice hotels in the various locales. I don't really need a book to help me find a good hotel. I was expecting to find out about some lesser known experiences in these far-off places.

I like having this book on my bookshelf. Whenever I'm going to a new place, I definitely flip through to familiarize myself with some interesting options. It's not a one-stop resource, though.

Def a "bucket-list" type book. As a father to two young girls I wanted a book that would help me plan some great family vacations in the future. This book and the companion one on the US is a great resource for just that. I love the ideas it gives. Some are pretty straight forward and you could find them on any guide book but a lot of them are very different and not that well known. Really looking forward to my girls getting a little older so we can start trying these out!

As an armchair traveller, I had a lot of fun reading this book and its sequel, "1001 Places.. in the US and Canada". The entries are divided into continents, and further grouped by countries. The information is plentiful, with photos, websites, addresses, etc.

However, as others have mentioned, the author seems to have a fixation on hotels and restaurants, particularly of the expensive variety. Now this is just me, but unless it's a truly one-of-a-kind experience, hotels and restaurants simply don't interest me that much. Many of the activities and tours mentioned also fall into the "prohibitively expensive" category.

As for the places mentioned, it did seem like a sort of strange mix. As has been mentioned, there seemed like very few places in Africa mentioned. Spain was another country that seemed to get shortchanged. I would have liked to have seen more maps that showed all of the places and their general locations in greater detail.

In all, this book was a lot of fun to read, browse through, and fantasize about. However, I would not consider it an actual travel guide with which to plan a trip.

This book does mention some sights that are worth visiting, however it focuses more on the pricey hotels to stay at than on actual things to see. For instance, when discussing the town of Sedona, AZ, it focuses about half of the entry on the Enchantment Resort instead of many of the amazing sights around town like the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Slide Rock, Snoopy Rock, Coffee Pot Restaurant (Home of the 101 Omelets), etc. It is also surprising that an author who has written for travel guides such as Frommer's is so Euro-American-centric, focusing much of the book on places/hotels to see in the US and Western Europe. As a traveler, many of the sights that have taken my breath away occur not in the big Western cities, but away from the path that so many typical tourists take. Read this book if you want to visit beautiful hotels around the world and maybe see a sight or two along the way, but if you want to experience the things that you really should see before you die, talk to fellow travelers with real experience exploring the spectacular.

I like this book and have gone through the pages many-many times. I have yet to make even a small dent in those 1000 places, however I keep telling myself to add another and another for our next trip. While this is a great list there are many more places that I personally think are just as interesting and rewarding and should be visited. On a cold , snowy day take this book and browse and browse and see what adventure can be in store for you on your next travel.

I wish this book had more photos. It seemed only every third entry had a photo; otherwise, we had to go to the website. Also The links didn't work on my iPad so if I wanted the links to connect to the websites, I had to use the Kindle application on my laptop. This made it inconvenient when I preferred reading and carrying it on a smaller device. But I realize it is isn't the author's fault. Otherwise, it is a fascinating book. It was sort of depressing for me to read about the many wonderful places I want to visit and realize I won't get to some of them due to lack of time and/or money. Between my husband and I, together or individually, we've probably visited only 10-15% of the places, mostly in Europe and the US. We've decided that our next destinations will be Alaska and Hawaii--one of these years.

This is a great idea for a book, and it is fun. I'm being a bit tough to give it only 3 stars, but after a while it got to me.
There are probably about 50 to 100 places in this book that one ought to visit if at all possible. There are also some places that ought to be there, like the Vale of Kashmir, but one would die while visiting them. There are also about 8,765 very expensive hotels to exercise a Platinum card on. She's a traveller who likes her servants elegant and plentiful. I'm sure they're fine hotels, I've known a few of them myself. Still, they're hotels darn it! Not one is worth ten minutes in the Louvre, or a walk in any fine forest.
Some of the places she mentions I knew 20 years ago when they were fresh, now they are well worn and there are different and better alternatives. She also is rather stuck on the northeast.
That said, it is a fun bathroom read for residents and guests. As a travel book it's three stars, as a certain kind of recreation it's 3-4 starts. If you want to travel with it, use the examples as hints, but explore as much around the places she mentions as in them.

Yes, I get it, you've stayed in all the five-star, treats-you-like-a-Royalty, $400-per-night Grand Hotel suites all throughout the World, and you liked their banquet dinners with their fancy hors d'oveurs while enoying the view of their pretty, "sprawling gardens". You also should have mentioned your 24k-golden toilets and those diamond-embedded pillows you rested your head upon after a tiresome day of the luxurious tours.

Come on, I was looking for a general Tour Guide, not an All-Around-The-World Hotel Yellowpage! The compact size of the book was favorable, but I didn't know that would mean it also had compact, 20-second guides per city. When it actually started to get interesting, it went onto other popular, well-known cities, and then finally onto her excellent selection of hotels and cabins and the like. The author should also have put into consideration the fact that most people who ARE considering a grand, World-scaled Tour, or even a brief vacation somewhere exotic, either can NOT afford such excessive luxuries on a daily basis, or they will not be WILLING to; I'm sure many people consider abroad tours just for the heck of it, i.e. backpacking--like myself. Hotels are nice, banquets are nice and the pretty sights are all nice, but I wanted more information on cost-efficient lodgings and fun, adventurous, & foreign Farmer's Market brunches, and most importantly, more tour sites. What meager sites that were mentioned, were told of by other numerous tour books thousand times over and more.

Other than these grievances, it was a moderate tour book with portable size and portable, brief info.

At least you could have printed the pictures COLORED!!

In case you have forgottan, the Earth is a very wonderful place. This book reminds you that there are still lots of places to visit and things to see!
However, like all lists you might not agree with the authors list of places to visit. Especially, if you enjoy the "road less traveled", you might miss the spirit of exploration in some of these places mentioned here. But well, there is a reason that lots of people go to see the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids. Obviously the best things cant be hidden. Moments of serene beauty off the beaten track, you wont find in this book, thats something you will have to find yourself. Again, its ok, you still want to see these 1000 places mentioned in this book.

-Simon

I have to say I was somewhat disappointed by this book. The main problem was one of emphasis on the superficial and little comprehension of major historic or cultural sites. I will give a few examples:

Patricia Schultz's method of organizing the 1,000 sites meant that entire cities were lumped as a site and she then clustered 10 suggested sites within that description. This resulted in major omissions. When discussing Madrid she gives the fantastic Prado Museum 2 sentences. When discussing Paris, she gives the overwhelmingly important Louvre only 5 sentences.

Golf clubs and 5 star hotels are given more coverage than major battlefields, homes of international figures, and museums. For example, the Amsterdam red light district is given almost as much coverage as the Rijksmuseum. The few maps were totally insufficient.

When discussing New Mexico, major sites such as Tent Rock National Forest or Bandalier National Forest are never mentioned. Alabama is not mentioned despite the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham which is directly across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church where 4 little Black girls were killed by a bomber.

There were a few good points:

Paestum's Temple of Neptune, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, India's Pushkar Camel Fair, Florida's Sanibel Island, and Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum were all well described.

Yet, we also had to read about Boston's Legal Seafood, a good restaurant that has many equals across the nation. Chez Panisse was given a page while the San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art was not mentioned. Oahu hotels get plenty of coverage but Pearl Harbor gets only 16 words! Central Park in NYC gets 2 sentences while Ten Thousand Waves Spa in Santa Fe gets a whole page.

A very uneven final product is the result of a collection too hastily thrown together.

My hat goes off to this sensitve traveler who spent a life time compiling her own favorite thousand places to see. Do we have to agree? No, but who couldn't find a few hundred suggestions to keep them busy for the next many decades? What's with those who complain about her hotel suggestions? The world's great hotels are always expensive - they are often historic, landmark palaces that promise romance and luxury. Too expensive? Then go elsewhere, but at least stop in for tea or an aperetivo to soak it all in and people watch. Her emphasis is almost always elsewhere - from festivals to ancient temples, and little known sites of natural beauty and open-air markets. Frankly I'm incredulous any one person could put it all together. No one else ever attempted such a feat - and successfully so in my book.

I received "1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List" as a birthday gift from a friend a few years ago and it has since become one of the most well-thumbed volumnes in our travel library.

It's fun to scan our green highlighted entries and remember with pleasure the places we've been, as well as review entries we've marked with stars as places we plan to visit.

I'm not sure how anyone can make the suggestion that the book is a 'grandpa list' with off the beaten track trips such as "a ballon ride over Masai Mara" and "the Tasman Glacier" listed right on the front cover. I don't see many 80 year olds on those types of adventures.

Although I agree that the Toronto Four Seasons listing is dubious when so many locations of interest in Canada seem to be missing, the food at the Four Seasons is actually quite fine.

I recommend this book as a good starting point for creating your own list of places to see before you die.

I hope I'm lucky enough to hit 100 of these places before I go, but no matter what, this book is a fun and educational read. I find the balance of the classic and well-known sites intriguingly balanced with places and things I've never even heard of.

Patricia Schultz has painstakingly gathered together an awesome list of places and events around the world - then tells us why they deserve our attention, when to avoid monsoon season (or high season rates) and how to get there or have it arranged by a specialist-outfitter if you don't have the time to plan it yourself.

Ms. Schultz' '1,000 Places' doesn't let you down. All the entries are organized by geography and they are further indexed by type, e.g., ancient worlds, culinary experiences, festivals and special events, unrivaled museums, glories of nature, etc., so that I could continue to 'plan' against a backdrop of alternatives to challenge my final choice.

A bit daunting, but useful even as information only

I must say that this guide was exactly what I needed, but also I must confess that another thing came up since I have been traveling to Europe for some time now. I didn't realize or wasn't even thinking about travel insurance?? I mean we all have insurance, that covers us while we are in the US, but not for traveling abroad. I recently planned a second trip to Germany, but wasn't sure if my insurance company policy would take care of minor details in my policy for things I am not sure I have thought about. I am not saying I might or might not be covered, but I need peace of mind when it comes to my family. I then called my HR to find out general things about traveling abroad and "What would happen if" scenario's. I wasn't going to read my lengthy policy, even if I did I wouldn't understand the legal double-talk anyway not being a lawyer and all.

My HR told me everything would be ok, and I shouldn't worry. But some thing in the back of my mind said call again and asked the same questions to see if the results would be the same from another Representative, to my surprise, it was. Ok then, not feeling a warm feeling of confidence in my HR responses. I didn't have much time to keep doing the research, so I looked up travel insurance and started to focus my attention on getting some basic package to cover me and family while we were abroad. There are a lot to choose from, but again this became confusing. So I came across [...] which had an aggregate of different well known insurance companies. I choose AIG with a basic plan and the rest was history. Also I didn't know you can insure your travel and luggage also in case of theft, flight cancellation etc. I thought I would share something from one avid traveler to the next. Overall a GREAT Guide and I have bought another copy for my friend.

Take care.
Carl>

There are too many High Priced resorts listed as "Places To See" in this book! I went to San Diego recently and I can tell you that the "del Coronado" hotel was not one of the places I wanted to see. I did rent a car from Hertz at the del Coronado, so I stepped inside to see why it was in this book. It was extravigant to be sure, but it was not really a place I had to see before I die!

What do I consider a place that I have to see before I die? I look for natural beauty, cultural or historical significance. I didn't see in the book, for instance:

1. Temecula Valley which is just north of San Diego. It is a beautiful area known for it's wineries AND was picked as one of the top places to retire in the United States!

OR

2. Balboa Park in San Diego, which contains the San Diego Zoo as well as Arts Centers and Museums. I saw the play "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolff?" at the Old Globe Theater, A theater in the round that is only three to four rows deep. It was a marvelous viewing experience.

I even got a kick out of seeing the HMS Surprise, the ship from the movie Master And Commander, which is now moored in San Diego not too far from the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier. Both were facinating to tour.

Let's face it, no matter how extravigant the hotel, most people use it to sleep and shower so that they can see the real sites in the area.

As for natural beauty, I would have liked to see listed destinations such as:

1. Clearwater Lakes in Canada, these two lakes (Clearwater East and Clearwater West) are connected to each other but were formed by two separate meteor strikes millions of years ago. They can only be reached via sea plane from Montreal. You bring your own camping and fishing gear. The lakes are so clear that you can see more than 60 feet down in the water -- hence their name.

OR

2. Manicouagan Reservoir in Canada which is a ring lake 40 miles in diameter formed from another meteor impact. The lake is actually only the very center of an impact site that is over 125 miles in diameter. The Manic 5 dam is the reason we can now see the ring lake from space! A trip to this lake requires a long trip on the trans-labrador highway which is mostly a dirt road (that far north dirt roads are actually safer than paved roads). Use your SUV and plan your fuel usage well!

I'd like to see this book redone with more destinations as mentioned above rather than resorts. It seemed as though the author solicited financial backing by advertising these resorts.

Some resorts should continue to be included such as the Greenbrier in West Virginia. This resort does have historical significance because it houses a bunker that would have been used by the President and Congress in case of a nuclear attack.

so they can dream too about visiting the wonderful places around the world the author describes. I've visited many of the US destinations and a few foreign ones and agree with over 90% of her recommendations.
I have one complaint, and for me it's large. The cost of most of the recommended accomodations are out of reach for most travelers except for the wealthy. I estimate the average hotel or resort will cost around $300 per night(rack rate). I subscribe to a business periodical whose subscribers have well above average incomes. Only 3% of them said in a recent survey that hotel costs are not a consideration. A notation that more moderately priced accomodations are available in a particular destination would have helped.
This is a great bedtime book. Sweet dreams.

Each person's opinion of the best places to travel will be different. So, everything in almost any travel book should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, this is only one person's view of the best places to see. That aside, I think you would have to be the author of a very successful book to be able to afford to visit more than a handful of the places in this book. Nearly all of the places in this book seem to be accompanied by an extremely expensive hotel at which to stay and an equally expensive restaurant at which to eat. In some cases the overly expensive hotel or restaurant is the place you should see. Given that there are expensive hotels or restaurants that deserved to be visited for historical significance or the like, this book definitely goes overboard.

Also, while traveling geographically around the world is a logical way to set the book up, one tires of reading about an endless stream of restored English castles-turned-hotels that eventually blend together into a monotonous mess. This not to say the author's individual descriptions are not excellent, but there are only so many ways that you can describe the same type of place. This blending of the individual destinations into one another happens in various other instances as the author describes many places in the same general area that are very similar. For this reason the book is perhaps best referenced from the multitude of indexes at the end of the book.

Altogether, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is interesting in the fact that it is a well-described list of one person's favorite travel destinations. It touches upon many destinations that people will recognize. One such is Stratford-upon-Avon, the hometown of Shakespeare, who wrote plays such as Romeo and Juliet. However, many destinations are high-priced and very similar within each region. Also, every reader will inevitably ponder the inclusion or exclusion of certain locations. I would give this book two stars.

After reading many of the reviews for this book, I've noticed that most people either seem to love it or to hate it, with a few in between. I don't subscribe to either party, since the book certainly has its flaws - and yet it is still a worthwhile volume for the traveler to own. I'll explain why.

It's a mistake to look as this book as the end-all book on travel destinations. Don't think that the places in it are the only ones visiting (they're not). Don't think that you have to see them all if you want to think of yourself as well-traveled. Don't use it as a checklist, checking off each place that you've seen and looking forward to the next ones you can check off. In order to see everything in this book, you'd have to have lots of time and money as well as an adventurous spirit. It's not the last word in traveling. It's only one view of the subject. It can't please everyone. Adventurous travelers will find it lacking; so too will shoestring wanderers and vagabonds; and so too will the idle rich. The mistake may be in the book, but I think that it's rather in the reader who expects too much.

The best way to view this book is as simply another guidebook, albeit one that as a larger scope and a different approach than most. Like other guidebooks, it has two purposes in this regard.

1) It can provide ideas for trips. Many people would not think of climbing Mt. Kiliminjaro, but this book shows that it's really not so out of reach. Thus, this book can give the reader ideas for future trips that he may not otherwise think of.

2) It can be used as any other guidebook - to give some guidance to the traveler. If you're going to be spending a week in Paris, for example, flip to the Paris section and see what tis book suggests. It's quicker, easier, and more effective than trying to sort through three hundred pages of a guide that's only about Paris. It can thus be very useful for a 'highlights' trip. This is where the hotel, restaurant, and tour recommendations come in.

As some readers have pointed out, it can also function as bedside reading. It wouldn't be my first choice for this - an actual travel narrative is probably better - but if you like reading a page about how you can go to the North Pole for $16,000, this book may be for you.

I give it four stars. Is it worth the money? Probably, unless you have a great aversion to tourism and even travel in general. I recommend it to anyone who plans on doing lots of traveling in the future. Just remember that its not the Bible of traveling, and that you're best off using it as a source of recommendations. If the hotels and restaurants don't fit your budget, ignore them. If you're frightened of the sea, ignore the sailing and diving sections. Take from it what you can use, and you'll find it a worthy volume.

Patricia Schultz did one outstanding job in painstakingly putting together a travel guide for just about any type of traveler. From the not-so-well-known destinations, to the phenomenal sacred sites, where to dine, incredible beaches, contact information, phone numbers, museums, you name it, this book has it.
Whether you are planning a honeymoon, want to organize a trip or retreat to sacred sites, take your family on an incredible vacation, or see just one place you have always wanted to visit, you will find everything you need in this magnificently organized book.
As an avid international traveler, I can tell you Schultz brings you the best destinations, no matter what your budget, along with everything you need to know once you get there.
An OUTSTANDING Book!

Barbara Rose, Ph.D. author of Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to Being THE ONE and Know Yourself: A Woman's Guide to Wholeness, Radiance & Supreme Confidence

This book has a catchy title, and that's about it. More honestly, it would have been entitled "1000 Places to Spend Money Before You Die".

Like many of the glossy travel magazines, this book makes it appear FAR more expensive to travel than it really is. I fear it will actually discourage those who don't know any better from getting out and seeing the world.

I expected an ode to all the wonderful natural places we could see, all the great people we could meet, and all the fun things we could do while exploring this giant, multifaceted world of ours.

Instead, we get a list of all the expensive hotels and restaurants we could spend money in. It's obvious that the author rarely, if ever, has to pay her own expenses; and I have to wonder if she actually got kickbacks (or at least lots of freebies) from the expensive places and tour groups she mentions.

According to the author, there is very little worth seeing in the world that doesn't cost a lot of money. It also appears that you don't get credit for having SEEN a city unless you've dropped a bundle in its finest hotels.

In all, a very disappointing book.

I was looking forward to reading this book because 1)I love travel, 2)it's been on every top 10 travel book list for a couple years now, and 3)I own a travel agency and thought I might get some new, creative ideas for my clients that want to go/do something out of the box.

First, 1000 things to do/see is a lot, however, when talking about the global travel picture, how can you narrow things down to 1000? This was a very difficult undertaking.

Although I don't agree with many of the author's inclusions in the book, I like the format, the layout, and I feel the information included on each location is sufficient to determine if I should research further as a destination I would like to visit. I think the way she tackled large cities is excellent.

The book is heavy on hotels - I'm not sure why. As an adventure/outdoor person, I would have liked to see more destinations with active outlets.

Overall, I would recommend this book. Perhaps not for reading cover to cover, but for getting ideas, conducting research, and another interesting travel perspective. Patricia Schultz is certainly well traveled.

If you want to discuss further, the Travel Book Club in Grand Rapids, MI at Barnes & Noble will be discussing this book on Tuesday, 2/24/09 from 6-7 pm.

Jodie -- Cruise Holidays of Grand Rapids, [...] , [email protected]

This book has a catchy title, and that's about it. More honestly, it would have been entitled "1000 Places to Spend Money Before You Die".

Like many of the glossy travel magazines, this book makes it appear FAR more expensive to travel than it really is. I fear it will actually discourage those who don't know any better from getting out and seeing the world.

I expected an ode to all the wonderful natural places we could see, all the great people we could meet, and all the fun things we could do while exploring this giant, multifaceted world of ours.

Instead, we get a list of all the expensive hotels and restaurants we could spend money in. It's obvious that the author rarely, if ever, has to pay her own expenses; and I have to wonder if she actually got kickbacks (or at least lots of freebies) from the expensive places and tour groups she mentions.

According to the author, there is very little worth seeing in the world that doesn't cost a lot of money. It also appears that you don't get credit for having SEEN a city unless you've dropped a bundle in its finest hotels.

In all, a very disappointing book.

Patricia Schultz has taken on an almost impossible task in trying to create a traveler's life list of places to visit. Its not clear how many of these places Schultz has actually visited. She says she did seven years of research but never actually describes any of her trips. I'm pretty well traveled and have only been to about 10% of the 1,000 places.

In fact, that is the problem with the book. Though clearly a very personal list, you get very little insight into the author through reading it. The descriptions of the locations are generic and the information provided is superficial at best. I would have preferred to hear more about Schultz's experiences at the places she's visited and what led her to to include the ones she hasn't. Her more obscure places, like Superdawg in Chicago, are the most fun. Having a better feel for the author's likes and dislikes would be a big help in deciding which of her suggestions to investigate further.

That being said, its lots of fun paging through the book and thinking about the wide world out there just waiting to be explored.

I read this one from cover to cover - took a while but enjoyed it.

Obviously, these sort of lists are highly subjective so one could always discuss the merits of an inclusion or omission but someone has to be make one and kudos to Ms. Schultz.

That said, I can still give my opinions having been to >100 of the places she listed:

- museum list is very uneven: outside of the top 20-ish, there's got to be a thousand of fairly comparable museums in terms of quality and it puzzles me how some were selected. Aside: I am very happy that the marvelous science museum in Munich is there.

- over emphasis on USA and Gr. Britain but considering that is a book written in English, I suppose that this is expected

- the extremely expensive places can be rather meaningless. If you've got $10 000 to spend for just one day, there are plenty of extremely unique and memorable experiences one can have (presumably anyway - but if someone wants to sponsor me, I can do a bit of research...)

What I would love to see is a series of books with more focus: e.g. top Western art museums or top nature sights of S. America etc. Anyone? :)

All I have to say is that I feel that there are a number of places listed in the book that the author never visited and got from a traditional travel guide. I have been to nearly all of the places listed in the United States and much of the listings in Europe and I was surprised at the gaps. For example: Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, etc are all separate entries but are almost always visited together (as they are next to each other and I will add - totally worth the visit) but the author missed the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, which in my opinion, is worth a visit as it invites one into the local culture and nuances of the area. The Netherlands as well has a short list of museums to visit, but none of the true treasures are mentioned. True, the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum are certainly worth a visit, but there is so much more to the Netherlands than the museums. The concept of the book is good but I think that the author overextended and missed some really amazing aspects of each culture. You can probably do better with an internet search, however, if you don't know where else to start the book may help with that.

The idea of the book is great while the execution of this idea is OK at best. What I find particularly dissatisfying is that the author's main intentions with this book appears to be product placement. Almost one quarter of the reviews are about a spa/hotel/restaurant, usually extremely expensive ones. I am sure the author got plenty of grease for this product placement from the establishments she mentions.
While there may be a dozen (or two dozen if you are generous) exceptional properties that may warrant inclusion in such a book. However, surely not as many as mentioned in the book.

This is a must have book for the seasoned traveler, the unseasoned traveler, and the dreamer. Patricia Schultz does an admirable job aggregating the "travel wonders" of the world. She covers Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia-New Zealand-Pacific Islands, the United States-Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean-Bahamas-Bermuda.

Having traveled extensively in my adult life, I cross-checked the places I have visited with Shultz's experience. One could nit-pick here and there, but overall, she has done a remarkable job. She validated my experience and opened up my eyes to many more places that I must see before I die.

Ms. Patricia Shultz should stick to things she knows best, things "Made in Italy." If I took her advice to see all 1,000 places before I died, I'd die of boredom, plus I'd be bankrupt from staying at all the 5-star hotels listed as "destinations."

Her LIMITED travel experience outside Europe and the North America is painfully obvious - take the laborious 213 pages devoted to North America and 339 pages on Europe, and compare that to the 96 pages for all of Asia, and you'll see that Ms. Shultz was lazy enough to elaborate ad nauseam on things close to home. Either that or she didn't think there was very much worth seeing outside of the western hemisphere.

This book is informative and tremendous fun, but its title is misleading. This is not all about wonders of the world that you will see and feel fulfilled (or die wishing you hadn't passed them by); it is more of a general fantasy travel book.
For example, in Europe alone (about 38%) of the book's entries, I counted 87 fancy hotels and almost as many megabucks restaurants, costing an average of $285 a night for a room in the low season and $75 for dinner. I like a great hotel as much as the next person but, no, I am not more fulfilled if I stay in them, and I don't need to see all 87 before I die (and that's just Europe; I gave up calculating after that).
Patricia Schultz has done a great deal of homework; there is contact information, including websites, for almost every site she names, so it will be easy to find out more on your own. However, as much fun as it is, I would rather have had more emphasis on natural and man-made wonders than in fancy bedlinens and exotic appetizers.

To read more of Carole Herdegen's book reviews, click on [...]

When I first became aware of the New York Times Best selling book, "1,000 Places to See Before You Die", I immediately thought: "So much to do - so little time!" And, now they want me to add "1,000 places" to my already lengthy list of "things" I seriously intend on doing before time runs out! Impossible!

However, my curiosity took over when I read the small print "On and off the Beaten Track", because I am truly an "off the beaten track" kind of adventurer.

So, after venturing into the book, I soon formulated a completely different mindset. First of all, I realized that I had already seen some, if only a few, of the 1,000 places mentioned. Then, I realized that this was not an assignment but that I could simply pick and choose from a listing of 1,000 places, some of which would be of most interest to me. Of course, no two people share exactly the same interests in destinations; however, this book magnificently paints a picture of what one can expect if one should intend to visit, for example: the Heidelberg Castle in Germany or the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam or the Oldest Tourist Route in Europe - The way to the Cathedral of Santiago De Compostela in northern Spain or even New York City. Add to this small listing another 995 world destinations.

I found this book absolutely fascinating because it took on the mantle of being my personal guide to many, many, many places I may have heard about but have never seen and may never actually visit. It became my destination encyclopedia and most certainly increased my knowledge of world geography many fold.

Even to a person who won't or can't travel, this book will provide a wealth of information about 1,000 diverse, interesting, amazing and truly unique world destinations. .

Along with my collection of National Geographic magazines, I plan to keep "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" handy as a mandatory reference book before I embark on another adventure, be it domestic or overseas. By doing so, I know I will ensure that I won't be overlooking an important highlight just waiting for me right in the vicinity of my travels.

With a general overview of 1,000 of the world's most interesting, important sites, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is an excellent place to start trip planning. This is the first book we bought when we first decided to travel around the world and it helped us narrow down the regions we wanted to visit. But, 1,000 Places offers only general information, so you'll need to get more specific travel guides once you choose your destinations. Worldtoddler.com.

Passionately written and chock full of information to enhance any journey. Arm chair travelers too, will delight in the terrific picture Ms. Schultz creates. Best of all, there are new hotel and restaurant recommendations for any budget. Busting with new information and places.
Just looking at the plentiful table of contents makes me excited to hit the road.
Bravo Ms. Schultz !!!
Happy Trails to all-

I should have spent more time browsing this book before I bought. The title is a fascinating idea but it's a misnomer. It should have been " My Favorite Expensive Hotels." Schultz goes to the Pyramids and talks about the hotel. She goes to Yellowstone and talks about the hotel, and so on and so on.
If you followed her guide to Britain, for instance, you'd spend 75 or 80 nights in different hotels averaging $300 a day.Some days would cost several times that much. In a couple of months in Britain you'd spend $25,000 and never meet anyone but hotel and restuarant staff --unless you chitchat with the other tourists. She almost always mentions who else has stayed at the hotel. Does she mean that Madonna, Prince Charles or Jacques Chirac is likely to share a cup of coffee with me in the lobby?
Schultz's travel style seems incredibly shallow. For me, lodging is a place to sleep and shower before I go out and see the place. If it's safe and sanitary that's all I ask for.
I've been to some of her places and couldn't disagree more. She says Jackson, Wyoming isn't "Aspenized," and that the Million Dollar Steakhouse is a place to meet locals. I found the downtown pretty touristy. It seemed everyone who wasn't a tourist was from California or Brooklyn. Those were the "locals" at the steakhouse. There was better food at a much better price a block or so south of the square. It's a 24 hour cafe where ranchers, cops, tourists, and "movie people" all eat. I even saw an actual movie star there.
On the Outer Banks she stays at the resort at Duck. Ocracoke is a few miles south, more reasonably priced and has guys who get on boats every morning, who go out and fish, then sell what they catch. Just like real life.
I went to high school in Key West. The last place I'd recommend is the private island resort for $700 a night. You'd be better off to rent a condo for a week, then walk or bicycle around town. If that's too strenuous, rent a scooter or golf cart.
The book's title promises but doesn't deliver at all.

Expensive hotels? Well, yeah, sure. But detractors should be kept more than busy with the other 900+++ entries that make up a remarkable roster of museums, festivals, sites of natural beauty, gorgeous beaches, far-flung islands and, well you get my drift. But in the cornucopia of must-experience places and events, who wouldn't want a glimpse of the world's most historic, romantic and wonderful hotels to hang your hat and escape from the world in perfect isolation? Who's unrealistic enought to think that a 16th-century castle with an award-winning restaurant, champion golf-courses and countless amenities isn't going to cost more than the average Holiday Inn? For the author to have avoided a few dozen of the world's best and most pampering hostelries would have been a blatant and ignorant disservice. In my book she has covered everything. She also happens to be human, or maybe she's holding back a few for a sequel - one can only hope. Some of these reveiws that follow floor me. I say, let them draw up their own list.

Warning: Do not read Patricia Schultz's "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" until you get your passport in order because I guarantee you, you will be packing your bags by the time you've turned your second or third page. You might be heading off to ride a snow-white horse amid flocks of pink flamingoes in the Camargue region on the coast of Southern France or to sit blissfully transcendent as cherry blossoms kiss your upturned face on Yoshino Mountain just south of Kyoto, Japan but trust me, you will definitely be off somewhere, filled with wanderlust and inspiration. Many guide books tell you this and that about exotic and often expensive places but Schultz's book will remind you that travel opens the eye and offers the soul the chance to meet the world afresh. A must-read for the experienced and novice globetrotter alike.

If you have no idea of where to go, this book can give you some ideas. I would recommend this book only for primary ideas on where to go. After you get an idea, go and check out a Lonely Planet book on your intended destination, as this book offers up only the slightest taste of what an area has to offer. To me, this book is what I would characterize as a "white bread" travel book; not much substance to it at all. I've done a considerable amount of traveling in the United States, Canada, South and Central Americas, Southeast Asia and some a limited amount in the South Pacific. When I compared where I have visited in the above areas with what the author offered to the reader, I found she came up lacking. I prefer to get off the beaten track and do it on the cheap, seeing more than just the tourist areas, getting a flavor of the local culture. I buy a roundtrip ticket and put my trips together as I am on the move. I find that I get my very best travel tips from like-minded travelers once I am in my destination country or in a nearby country. While some of the destinations shown in this book are worthwhile visiting, I found that most of them (the ones with which I am familiar) are not even the best places to visit in that vicinity. This book offers up itineraries where you will essentially visit highly touristed areas, where you get to share your travel experience with other tourists, not the locals. This might be good for inexperienced travelers and those who like to feel at home where ever they go. I prefer to have the feeling of being in a foreign country when I am on the road. This book did not offer up much in the way of getting off the beaten track, as the book's cover otherwise indicates. Or maybe what is off the beaten track to the author is mainstream to me. Either way, for my tastes in traveling, this book is too mainstream. I believe this book can give some good ideas to the type of travelers who set up their trips through travel agents. For the more free spirited, I'd say "pass" when it comes to paying for this book.

I know that in order to cram 1,000 different places in the world into one book, you are going to have to be as brief as possible, but still present enough details so that people reading the book might be interested in visiting a particular location. Well--the book gives great ideas for places to see, but just not enough information to keep you from having to go other places to do more research for your trips. Overall--not great, but not terrible either.

I picked up this book hoping to be able to add a few more places to my "need to see" list. I will admit that I was able to do so; however, it frustrated me that this author seemed more focused on the expensive hotels in certain areas than on why one should actually go there. Personally, I could care less whether I see or stay in some $500/night hotel in, I don't know, Rome, as long as I get to see the sights and experience the culture there. That said, she did bring up some places that I now wish to see, but all in all, I wasn't too impressed with this book.

I love to travel so I grabbed this book as a perfect tool for planning trips. Unfortuntately, while it's certainly interesting for the arm-chair traveler, it's pretty useless if you actually want to see 1000 places before you die.
In fact, many of the listings are little more than press releases for expensive hotels and restaurants. For example, out of 13 listings in Argentina, nine are hotels and one is a restaurant, leaving only three authentic sites to visit. This pattern is throughout the book, in every chapter I examined.
I guess if you want to stay in expensive hotels around the world, then this is the book for you. But if you actually want to SEE and EXPERIENCE the place, I'd look elsewhere.

The problem with publishing a travel guide to the 1000 Places You Must see Before You Die is establishing a fundamental criteria as to what constitutes a "must see" sight. Is it historical relevance? Natural wonder? Intrinsic beauty? World renown? You get the idea.
How you answer that question goes a long way to determining what sort of book you will have. The problem with Schultz's book is that she never clearly addresses that question and, therefore, has aggregated a series of recommendations that, in trying to fit all audiences, never succeeds in fitting any particular audience.
There has been much criticism in previous reviews of her focus on hotels/resorts, restaurants and "obvious" tourist attractions. Obviously, these folks have a very much narrower view of what constitutes a "must see" venue than does Schultz.
This is the factor that drastically limits the utility of this book-in trying to be all things to all people it serves the interests of very few people.
Frankly, it seems obvious to me what is needed is a series of "must see" books based on narrow criteria, such as "The 1000 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die" or "The 1000 Architectural Marvels....." or the "1000 Best BBQ Places You Must eat At....", and so on.
Having said all that, this tome does indeed provide, for certain geographical areas (primarily North America and western Europe) a decent generic guide to key attractions along a very wide continuum of choices. That is to say, this would be a good starting point to plan out a trip, but should not be considered a good `sole source" as a travel guide. If nothing else, it can help you narrow down how you view what constitutes a "must see' venue when traveling.

I've done a lot of world travel, and I most certainly do not agree with many of the author's choices. Almost half of the destinations are in the United States, and certain countries in Africa and Asia are completely overlooked! Luckily I just borrowed this from a friend and did not waste my money.

My advice: If you are a true blue world traveler and don't like the typical touristy stuff - you will be disappointed with this book.

I enjoy traveling, and was expecting to find a book about amazing man made structures and natural wonders. I was expecting to find things that you would contemplate planning a trip around. I had high hopes for this book, and came away disappointed.

The main reason I was disappointed was that the author seems to LOVE hotels and restaurants. I didn't count how many, but I would guess about 30% of the things to see are hotels and restaurants. Personally, I don't care enough for hotels to believe that they account for 30% of the must see things in our world. I would prefer that the author lists sites to see, and then give recommendations for where to sleep and eat.

Another thing I found disappointing was the structure of the book. It was not laid out very well. Sometimes, the thing to see was very big and should have been broken out more. For example, the things to see in Hawaii were listed as Maui, Kauai, Lanai, Oahu, and the Big Island (basically all of the major islands that comprise the state of Hawaii). It is like saying the things to see in the United States are Illinois, New York, California, Florida, etc.

If you plan your trip around hotels, this is the book for you. If you do not, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

I've long been a fan of Patricia Schultz's terrific book...in fact I still have my 2003 original. It's great for flipping through for inspiration. It's organized by continent (Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Australia-NZ-Pacific Islands, US & Canada, Latin America, Caribbean-Bahamas-Bermuda) so you can dip into any section and make that wish list of places you'd love to visit. I like that for every city/country listed in this book, you get a selection of must-see spots, so you get a good overview of the major sights without being overwhelmed by the choices.

Why upgrade? Well, I love that this edition includes color photographs. I pretty much ignored the black and white photos in the 2003 edition because they were usually small and tricky to make out. Since this is a book for people who want to travel, having nice clear photos is definitely a plus. More practically, I wanted up-to-date information on all the places to stay suggested in the earlier edition. Also, this revised version includes countries left out of the original (like Ghana, a country on my wish list.) All in all, this book is a keeper!

This book is the "real" deal, as indicated by the multitude of authors who mimic even just the title! It is well researched, well written and an awesome undertaking by Ms. Schultz. The destinations chosen are what I, as a traveller, dream of seeing and experiencing.The factual tidbits about each of the locations satiate the curious. How the Grand Tetons were named, for example, or that the "Medieval Europeans popularly believed it (Iceland) to be the threshold of the underworld.." are interesting facts that required research and outstanding editing.
1,000 Places to Go Before You Die is an excellent resource for planning a trip. Bravo, Ms. Schultz!

Each of the 1000 "sights" is accompanied by a resumee. The first section of these is entitled "What" (others are "How" etc) - time and time again the entry is "Site and Hotel". Have the Hotels paid to be mentioned? I know not but even the most magnificent Natural and Cultural sights seem to get associated with a hotel!
If you want to see the world a la Conde Nast then use this book as your bible. If not then start your lifetime plans with the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Despite its undoubted "Western bias" it gives Africa and Asia a better shout than this book.

Whether you are an avid traveler or someone wanting to learn about different places, or if one is just looking for ideas for future trips, this book really has it all. And it covers the whole world. There are vivid descriptions that (for me anyway) sparked serious wonderlust. Each entry tells exactly why it's essential to visit - then comes the nuts and bolts. I see why it's a best seller.

Some of the negative posts are confusing a menu with a meal. The book is the former and is used to pick a trip, not plan one. But what many say is true, the 5-star rating can't be given because of the book's ridiculous overemphasis of hotels and resorts and because of its overemphasis of North America and Europe. Sure, no two people would agree on all 1000, but having been to about 250 of hers, I think I can safely judge that any list that picks the Litchfield Hills in Connecticut over the Serengeti or Pike Place Market in Seattle over the Karnak Temple in Luxor or Fatephur Sikri in Agra is indefensible. Hopefully Ms. Schultz will read these reviews and eventually make a second edition that trades some spas for lesser known but fantastically compelling places in non-Western countries. And considering its overemphasis of the USA, its omission of the summer concentrations of grizzlies at Brooks Falls or MacNeil River is truly puzzling. But until there is a better book in its class it remains a must-own.

I have owned books like this before. Some have just boring predictable suggestions for places to visit (Paris, Rome, Sydney etc,) while others have a bland guidebook type of narrative.
Schultz's compilation is a tightly researched work with fascinating trivia about the places he recommends, and there are plenty of places you wouldn't have thought about, and its got pictures to speak for themselves!
Makes for quite a handy gift item too, which is why I bought it initially, but liked it so much I decided to keep it for myself. Delectable!

I checked out the book's recommendations for two regions with which I'm familiar: Alaska and Massachusetts. In the case of Alaska the author recommends a couple of places that any 80-year-old on a cruise would be likely to visit. She does not mention Katmai National Park (where you can get up close and personal with bears catching salmon) or any of the other places that an Alaska resident might recommend. In the case of Massachusetts she recommends Legal Seafoods. This is a chain restaurant and if you're hungry in Washington National Airport it is a fine place to eat but it is hard to see how the various branches of Legal's qualify as one of the 1000 top places in the world.

Unfortunately I waited a year before buying this book, deterred by a few misguided reviews posted on the store that for some reason feel that the appearance of the world's best hotels in this remarkable travel book somehow compromise the book's integrity. In my eye, they only augment the book's varied but balanced list of places and destinations -- but even so, did they bother to read the other 90% of the book??? I've been around the block, but am always looking for new (and timeless) suggestions, and Patricia Schultz has comprised a list like no other. Add to that her very charming, while informative and professional, text that has me already booked on the next flight to Capetown South Africa. Who knew there was a wildlife safari park and world-ranked wine region within minutes of each other? Oh, yes, and I'll be staying in one of those gorgeous safari camps she recommends. Let the other nay-sayers stay in scrappy boyscout tents.

I was really excited to get this book a few years ago. I love travelling and I hoped this book would help me find some places that were must sees. As I read through it though, I discovered that a large majority of the places listed were hotels. It was a huge disappointment. The hotels aren't even ones that most people could afford to stay in (much less a military family with 4 children). I've had the pleasure of visiting many of the locations listed in this book and I must say that looking at the exterior of a hotel in whatever town I was in was the last thing on my must-do list.

There's something in this book for everyone, whether you're a regular business-class traveler who just wants a little sightseeing on the side, a jetsetter who enjoys enjoy the traveling high life of expensive cruises and hotels but wants to see something out of the usual touristy stuff, or anyone looking for a casual vacation. Schultz explores the expensive luxury trips AND great, interesting, fun low-priced or even free attractions in out-of-the-way places. Lots of fun just to read.

If nothing else this is a pretty fun book to read and flip through. This was given to be as a gift and I immediately picked up a highlighter and started marking off the places I've been, which was suprisingly a lot. It also acts as a mini-travel guide. This is a fun book to have for anyone who travels a lot and while I do scratch my head at some of the selections in this book, there are still many other wonderful places listed.

This is a fun book to browse listing many interesting places around the world. Since there are so many places listed, you will most likely find one or more in your own "backyard." All in all I found this book to be quite frustrating. Due to the large number of places provided there is a minimal about of detail on each place. I would have preferred 500 places with twice as much detail on each place. I think that would have been a better balance.

This is the perfect book to flip through on a rainy day when you are thinking of far off places you would love to visit. While personal preference plays a large part in the places one should visit, this book provides a great starting point for each country. The information is both up-to-date and detailed. Learn about exotic places you would never had added to your list or read about places in your own backyard. Highly recommended.

The book does its best to live up to its title, and by and large manages to. It serves well as inspiration, reference guide or starting-off point. As others have written, it is best used in conjunction with more detailed travel guides to a specific destination.

Reviewers have complained about too many hotel and restaurant listings, but many (maybe most, I'm not motivated enough to catalogue them) of these are in conjunction with specific places or events to see. This is a travel book after all.

The amount of research is extensive, certainly worthy of a solid travel writer, and Patricia Schultz manages to maintain a good balance. There's the world-famous (Eiffel Tower, Maui's beaches, Taj Mahal) and the lesser-known (The Marquesas, Willi's Wine Bar, The Ghats of Varanasi). There are monuments, events, cities, bazaars, adventures of all sorts. In short, the world is a vast place of sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and the author covers a huge array. Contrary to what some reviews would lead you to believe, while there are plenty of hotels for the Bill Gates' of the world, the book does contain listings for the less well-heeled. And there is always google.

The thing that soured the book for me is the authors blind-eye to certain political realities in some countries. The most glaring is Burma, a country who's government has built most of its tourist infrastructure on the slave labor of its citizens. I would have hoped that there would be at least a small reference to this, so that people who were thinking of visiting could at least make an informed choice. It is reputed to be a beautiful country, but under current conditions people sensitive to human rights have opted to wait for change.

Obviously a reduction of the world to 1,000 places is going to have bias, and this book has bias toward "canned travel" suitable for the upper middle class American family.

At least 200 of the "places to see before I die" are hotels, which blows my mind. I figure maybe 10 or 20 hotels are historic enough to really warrant being destinations in their own right.

Fully 3/4 of the pages of this book are dedicated to Europe and US/Canada. Obvious slumming in the US: Vail, Telluride, and Aspen are all listed while the entire countries of China and India get about 15 listings each (including hotels).

Patricia Schultz calls this book on and off the beaten track - 1,000 Places to See before You Die, yet focuses on the most expensive accommodations and resturants in the World. Concentrating in California, she recommends The Golden Door, in Escondido, CA, "the Spa of all Spas", where you can have breakfast in bed, a personal trainer and in-room massage for a mere $6,275. per week, per person. In San Francisco, she recommends The Ritz-Carlton ($380) and dinner in Yountville, CA at the French Laundry, a restaurant where dinner runs about $150.00 per person. While in Napa stay at Meadowood in St. Helena, Ca that will only put you back ($425). Let's see 5 days in Escondido, 1 day in San Francisco, a dinner in Yountville and 1 night in St. Helena roughly comes to $7,230.00.
Gee Patricia, I guess I'm going to miss a lot of places because I don't have $1000.00 a day, plus change to spend on your recommendations. This book has a great title but does not deliver the goods. Hugh Disappointment.

It took the author 7 years of painstaking reaseach to finally present this ambitious book, and I must say she did a great job in giving us a broad yet detailed overview of the world. Reading this books makes me humble, knowing there is so much more out there to see, to experience, and a lifetime may not even be enough! This book provides excellent resources, it includes basic travel info, special events, and some personal choices of places to dine and to stay. It may not have as many varieties as a regular travel guide, but imagine, if the author is to list them all, this book will have compete in volume with the encyclopedia! I appreciate Ms. Schultz bring to life such an inspiring work that encourage us to explore our world, and to enrich our lives.

I couldn't agree more with Sung Kim's review. I got this book as a gift and not knowing what to expect immediately checked the section devoted to Poland. Not to mention that there is a lot of beautiful, breathtaking places to see, but Patricia Schultz wrote about only three of them. Well, I am disappointed not finding anything about its heritage and the unique sites. I wouldn't say anything if the book wasn't named like it is. Suffice to say the author hasn't been to all the places and what she describes, her book does not deserve the title.

If you don't know what to do on your holidays, just buy it. In other cases get a book that is all about the country you're going to visit.

Treat '1,000 Places...' as a thick pamphlet.

A very creative book that is categorized for convenient searching and locating.
Most folks understandably, won't have the ability to visit many of these places because of the lack time and a lack of funds. For those with time, the most valuable commodity we humans have, they may find a few of these beautiful places and be able to experience them.
For the average American who is alloted only a two-weak "vacation" per year, they will get to scrape the surface with a short-term sound-bite package-tour at best. For the rest, their experience of these awe-inspiring places will remain limited to the coffee table.

This book is fun to read, but I don't know how practical it is for the average person.
While the title says 1000 places to see, I dont' know how many places in her book I would actually want to go to! The author includes a lot of expensive hotels and a lot of overseas touristy destinations. Most people are lucky to afford a few trips to places like that in their lifetime, not a thousand! This book is an interesting read for all, but NOT a guide for those travelling on a budget.
That being said, I found the book to be pretty fun and I do hope to visit some of those places before I die! She mentions dozens of gorgeous locations, tons of nice hotels and if I had the opportunity I would love to see them all!
I gave the book three stars because while it is an interesting read, it's not practical. Most people cannot travel to all those locations. Also, the author wrote about a lot of locations that may have been fresh and new many years ago, but are now pretty worn out. This is a good "bathroom" book or coffeetable conversation piece.

Alright after reading the review for this I figured I'd get a mix of the two, some touristy things that any vagabond (like myself) would avoid like the plague but also a few very great ideas to branch off from, like the titles says "On and off the beaten track"; I figured it was merely a mix of intent on the way to use the book, as a way to plan your next vacation versus backpacking, well I was sadly disappointed to find that this is worse than any pamphlet you'll find in the airport. First off, I can udnerstand if your going on vacation or planning a splurge for a special occasions, you'll want a nice hotel, fine I can deal with that, but if she wants to put "and off the beaten path" in the title I don't think that every single one of these should be that way do you? I was severely peeved when reading about the great pyramids of giza as half way through the description she goes on about the best hotel near by that has an 18 hole golf course, because when I think about seeing the last of the intact ancient wonders of the world, I immediately worry about how it will press into my short game.

Then, as a born and raised New Yorker I was more than pleased by her description of our city, only to have any respect I had grown for her dashed by her horrid list of "must sees". I'll go to the museum of natural history for a high school field trip, not for seeing one of the greates cities in the world thank you very much. Every thing she listed was the absolute biggest tourist trap I have ever heard of. She lists tons of over priced and over rated hotels, that I myself have never stayed in but I have eaten at several. Let me tell you this, I payed $22 for a chicken ceasar salad that was possibly the worst I have ever eaten. Yet if she had looked into it thoroughly ennough maybe she could mention that you can get the best homemade deserts in the world in Little Italy for next to nothing, and can get authentic chinese dinners (either the stereotypical stuff you can get at any take out place or what the real chinese eat) containing huge portions of food in China Town. Maybe she could have mentioned that you could make out like a bandit shopping with a few haggling skills while walking down the fashion district, or any street consisting of street vendors (I got a silk chinese bag for $2 the other day merely because the button to close the flap was missing, I don't even miss it and anywhere else I may have payed up to $30).

I won't be completely harsh though, there are definately a few gems in here, but there is simply so much crap that you have to sift through to get to them it barely seems worth it. I think she set her goals way too high by trying to reach 1,000 places, making this a book of large quantity but little quality.

This is a slanted politically-biased listing with gaping omissions that are simply shameful and unacceptable. For instance, it lists no sites worth seeing in Lebanon, a country that contains 6 of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites; by comparison, for instance, the list includes 10 sites in Israel, a country that contains 6 World Heritage Sites as well (counting the one in Jerusalem as being in Israel, which is disputed still). I frankly can't think of a reason for the glaring discrepancy other than political bias. You'd think a fair and balanced list (not ala Fox News) of 1000 must-see sites would at least include the World Heritage Sites (the total of which is 851 properties "forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value").
I recommend instead the gorgeously photographed "Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die" or Lonely Planet's far more comprehensive "The Travel Book".

I just gave this book as a graduation gift, a Father's Day gift, a 50th Wedding Anniversary gift - and the list goes on. In other words this book is the perfect present for the well traveled and not, the young, the old, those with deep pockets and those on a shoestring budget. Those who were misinformed enough to call it elitist should go home and read the 900+++ destinations that are as far removed from elitism as one could hope: museums, cultural festivals from Newport R.I. to Morocco's Atlas Mt., driving the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia or America's Pacific Coast Highway. Yes there are expensive hotels, but they are the world's most special - and if you're not considering one for your 40th birthday splurge in S. Africa's stunning Wine COuntry as I am, then go for the top-ranked wine and gorgeous scenery and stay in a lovely colonial B&B. Poor Ms Schultz - I guess readers expected her to be everything to everybody. She'll never please everyone all the time, but I've never come across a travel book that almost succeeded with such grace, heft and mind boggling research - and a hearftfelt love for travel and appreciation of the world's magic. She gets a thousand (and then some) thanks from this insatiable traveler.

Not only did this book take me to so many wonderful places, obviously many of which I will never visit, but it did so in such an easy, enjoyable, informative way I don't really mind not actually going to them.
The author has a wonderful style of writing and presents entries in a full but concise, very digestible way. She has included an amazing array of items - something for everyone's taste, location and budget.
Not only does she include the usual reference index in the back but she has also created another fabulous, very useful gloabl index categorized by special interests such as biking, sacred places,music festivals, etc. It inspires the reader and also helps give an interesting overview other than the list of contents - check it out first!
I never need another travel book - this will keep me entertained and busy for years! I am giving it to everyone on my christmas list.

I really enjoyed reading through this book. If you want suggestions to general "most-famous" places all over the world, this is the book for you. However, I would probably just use this book as a starting point and then move to another travel book that covers more specific topics regarding your intended destination. Certain places, such as the middle east, are hardly covered at all. However, overall a fun book and a great gift.

What a wonderful resource for local and world travelers! Schultz gives us enough information to make you want to head for the computer or pick up the phone to make reservations. "1,000 Places to See..." will take you to places you've never visited and make you consider vacations you never thought you'd take.
One caveat: Learning about all these fantastic locales, then looking at your bank account and the amount of time you probably have left"...Before You Die," will mean prioritizing. But, what an excellent source of information to help you do just that.

I have had a wonderful journey with my original "1,000 Places" book which is dog-eared from use. As a busy executive, without time to thoroughly research a destination it provided me new and inspiring ideas in a quick and easy reference. For example, I once found myself with three free days in Bangkok and after consulting "1,000 Places" I booked a recommended river cruise and felt very blessed to have had such an enjoyable experience. The beauty of the first book was not only that it was convenient, but also that I could trust the author's discerning eye implicitly. The latest edition has kept all that I loved about the first book and improved upon it. The color photos are inspiring and the itineraries put the places in context which will help with planning. But best of all, I am very enthused about all the new destinations, which have been included. The author has given us a gift in helping us sort through where to go in the many areas of the world which have opened up for tourism since the original book was written. In short, this book well-deserves my "New and Improved" label. If you only own one travel book, if you travel from your armchair or if you are a consummate road-warrier, this is the book for you!

As author of , I can say this book presents excellent information on the locales and landmarks you need to see when you travel. The rebvised edition adds even more places that were not present before. If you are planning to travel around the world and need a concise guide on more places than you can see, this is for you!

Ignore the gloomy title and buy it anyway! There will be places where you will disagree with the author (with 1000 places it would be hard not to...) but for travel buffs anywhere a book like this is invaluable in telling you both where you do want to go and where it is vital NOT to, along with all sorts of fascinating places that you had never even thought of. Christopher Catherwood, author, traveller and writer (most recently of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE, Zondervan, 2003)

This is a good book to leaf through. You don't have to read it from cover to cover. It is enjoyable for people who have visited many of the places it mentions and are looking for new ideas, and also good for people who only dream of this kind of travel.

I was really excited to get this book a few years ago. I love travelling and I hoped this book would help me find some places that were must sees. As I read through it though, I discovered that a large majority of the places listed were hotels. It was a huge disappointment. The hotels aren't even ones that most people could afford to stay in (much less a military family with 4 children). I've had the pleasure of visiting many of the locations listed in this book and I must say that looking at the exterior of a hotel in whatever town I was in was the last thing on my must-do list.

There's something in this book for everyone, whether you're a regular business-class traveler who just wants a little sightseeing on the side, a jetsetter who enjoys enjoy the traveling high life of expensive cruises and hotels but wants to see something out of the usual touristy stuff, or anyone looking for a casual vacation. Schultz explores the expensive luxury trips AND great, interesting, fun low-priced or even free attractions in out-of-the-way places. Lots of fun just to read.

If nothing else this is a pretty fun book to read and flip through. This was given to be as a gift and I immediately picked up a highlighter and started marking off the places I've been, which was suprisingly a lot. It also acts as a mini-travel guide. This is a fun book to have for anyone who travels a lot and while I do scratch my head at some of the selections in this book, there are still many other wonderful places listed.

This is a fun book to browse listing many interesting places around the world. Since there are so many places listed, you will most likely find one or more in your own "backyard." All in all I found this book to be quite frustrating. Due to the large number of places provided there is a minimal about of detail on each place. I would have preferred 500 places with twice as much detail on each place. I think that would have been a better balance.

This is the perfect book to flip through on a rainy day when you are thinking of far off places you would love to visit. While personal preference plays a large part in the places one should visit, this book provides a great starting point for each country. The information is both up-to-date and detailed. Learn about exotic places you would never had added to your list or read about places in your own backyard. Highly recommended.

The book does its best to live up to its title, and by and large manages to. It serves well as inspiration, reference guide or starting-off point. As others have written, it is best used in conjunction with more detailed travel guides to a specific destination.

Reviewers have complained about too many hotel and restaurant listings, but many (maybe most, I'm not motivated enough to catalogue them) of these are in conjunction with specific places or events to see. This is a travel book after all.

The amount of research is extensive, certainly worthy of a solid travel writer, and Patricia Schultz manages to maintain a good balance. There's the world-famous (Eiffel Tower, Maui's beaches, Taj Mahal) and the lesser-known (The Marquesas, Willi's Wine Bar, The Ghats of Varanasi). There are monuments, events, cities, bazaars, adventures of all sorts. In short, the world is a vast place of sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and the author covers a huge array. Contrary to what some reviews would lead you to believe, while there are plenty of hotels for the Bill Gates' of the world, the book does contain listings for the less well-heeled. And there is always google.

The thing that soured the book for me is the authors blind-eye to certain political realities in some countries. The most glaring is Burma, a country who's government has built most of its tourist infrastructure on the slave labor of its citizens. I would have hoped that there would be at least a small reference to this, so that people who were thinking of visiting could at least make an informed choice. It is reputed to be a beautiful country, but under current conditions people sensitive to human rights have opted to wait for change.

Obviously a reduction of the world to 1,000 places is going to have bias, and this book has bias toward "canned travel" suitable for the upper middle class American family.

At least 200 of the "places to see before I die" are hotels, which blows my mind. I figure maybe 10 or 20 hotels are historic enough to really warrant being destinations in their own right.

Fully 3/4 of the pages of this book are dedicated to Europe and US/Canada. Obvious slumming in the US: Vail, Telluride, and Aspen are all listed while the entire countries of China and India get about 15 listings each (including hotels).

Patricia Schultz calls this book on and off the beaten track - 1,000 Places to See before You Die, yet focuses on the most expensive accommodations and resturants in the World. Concentrating in California, she recommends The Golden Door, in Escondido, CA, "the Spa of all Spas", where you can have breakfast in bed, a personal trainer and in-room massage for a mere $6,275. per week, per person. In San Francisco, she recommends The Ritz-Carlton ($380) and dinner in Yountville, CA at the French Laundry, a restaurant where dinner runs about $150.00 per person. While in Napa stay at Meadowood in St. Helena, Ca that will only put you back ($425). Let's see 5 days in Escondido, 1 day in San Francisco, a dinner in Yountville and 1 night in St. Helena roughly comes to $7,230.00.
Gee Patricia, I guess I'm going to miss a lot of places because I don't have $1000.00 a day, plus change to spend on your recommendations. This book has a great title but does not deliver the goods. Hugh Disappointment.

It took the author 7 years of painstaking reaseach to finally present this ambitious book, and I must say she did a great job in giving us a broad yet detailed overview of the world. Reading this books makes me humble, knowing there is so much more out there to see, to experience, and a lifetime may not even be enough! This book provides excellent resources, it includes basic travel info, special events, and some personal choices of places to dine and to stay. It may not have as many varieties as a regular travel guide, but imagine, if the author is to list them all, this book will have compete in volume with the encyclopedia! I appreciate Ms. Schultz bring to life such an inspiring work that encourage us to explore our world, and to enrich our lives.

I couldn't agree more with Sung Kim's review. I got this book as a gift and not knowing what to expect immediately checked the section devoted to Poland. Not to mention that there is a lot of beautiful, breathtaking places to see, but Patricia Schultz wrote about only three of them. Well, I am disappointed not finding anything about its heritage and the unique sites. I wouldn't say anything if the book wasn't named like it is. Suffice to say the author hasn't been to all the places and what she describes, her book does not deserve the title.

If you don't know what to do on your holidays, just buy it. In other cases get a book that is all about the country you're going to visit.

Treat '1,000 Places...' as a thick pamphlet.

A very creative book that is categorized for convenient searching and locating.
Most folks understandably, won't have the ability to visit many of these places because of the lack time and a lack of funds. For those with time, the most valuable commodity we humans have, they may find a few of these beautiful places and be able to experience them.
For the average American who is alloted only a two-weak "vacation" per year, they will get to scrape the surface with a short-term sound-bite package-tour at best. For the rest, their experience of these awe-inspiring places will remain limited to the coffee table.

This book is fun to read, but I don't know how practical it is for the average person.
While the title says 1000 places to see, I dont' know how many places in her book I would actually want to go to! The author includes a lot of expensive hotels and a lot of overseas touristy destinations. Most people are lucky to afford a few trips to places like that in their lifetime, not a thousand! This book is an interesting read for all, but NOT a guide for those travelling on a budget.
That being said, I found the book to be pretty fun and I do hope to visit some of those places before I die! She mentions dozens of gorgeous locations, tons of nice hotels and if I had the opportunity I would love to see them all!
I gave the book three stars because while it is an interesting read, it's not practical. Most people cannot travel to all those locations. Also, the author wrote about a lot of locations that may have been fresh and new many years ago, but are now pretty worn out. This is a good "bathroom" book or coffeetable conversation piece.

Alright after reading the review for this I figured I'd get a mix of the two, some touristy things that any vagabond (like myself) would avoid like the plague but also a few very great ideas to branch off from, like the titles says "On and off the beaten track"; I figured it was merely a mix of intent on the way to use the book, as a way to plan your next vacation versus backpacking, well I was sadly disappointed to find that this is worse than any pamphlet you'll find in the airport. First off, I can udnerstand if your going on vacation or planning a splurge for a special occasions, you'll want a nice hotel, fine I can deal with that, but if she wants to put "and off the beaten path" in the title I don't think that every single one of these should be that way do you? I was severely peeved when reading about the great pyramids of giza as half way through the description she goes on about the best hotel near by that has an 18 hole golf course, because when I think about seeing the last of the intact ancient wonders of the world, I immediately worry about how it will press into my short game.

Then, as a born and raised New Yorker I was more than pleased by her description of our city, only to have any respect I had grown for her dashed by her horrid list of "must sees". I'll go to the museum of natural history for a high school field trip, not for seeing one of the greates cities in the world thank you very much. Every thing she listed was the absolute biggest tourist trap I have ever heard of. She lists tons of over priced and over rated hotels, that I myself have never stayed in but I have eaten at several. Let me tell you this, I payed $22 for a chicken ceasar salad that was possibly the worst I have ever eaten. Yet if she had looked into it thoroughly ennough maybe she could mention that you can get the best homemade deserts in the world in Little Italy for next to nothing, and can get authentic chinese dinners (either the stereotypical stuff you can get at any take out place or what the real chinese eat) containing huge portions of food in China Town. Maybe she could have mentioned that you could make out like a bandit shopping with a few haggling skills while walking down the fashion district, or any street consisting of street vendors (I got a silk chinese bag for $2 the other day merely because the button to close the flap was missing, I don't even miss it and anywhere else I may have payed up to $30).

I won't be completely harsh though, there are definately a few gems in here, but there is simply so much crap that you have to sift through to get to them it barely seems worth it. I think she set her goals way too high by trying to reach 1,000 places, making this a book of large quantity but little quality.

This is a slanted politically-biased listing with gaping omissions that are simply shameful and unacceptable. For instance, it lists no sites worth seeing in Lebanon, a country that contains 6 of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites; by comparison, for instance, the list includes 10 sites in Israel, a country that contains 6 World Heritage Sites as well (counting the one in Jerusalem as being in Israel, which is disputed still). I frankly can't think of a reason for the glaring discrepancy other than political bias. You'd think a fair and balanced list (not ala Fox News) of 1000 must-see sites would at least include the World Heritage Sites (the total of which is 851 properties "forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value").
I recommend instead the gorgeously photographed "Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die" or Lonely Planet's far more comprehensive "The Travel Book".

I just gave this book as a graduation gift, a Father's Day gift, a 50th Wedding Anniversary gift - and the list goes on. In other words this book is the perfect present for the well traveled and not, the young, the old, those with deep pockets and those on a shoestring budget. Those who were misinformed enough to call it elitist should go home and read the 900+++ destinations that are as far removed from elitism as one could hope: museums, cultural festivals from Newport R.I. to Morocco's Atlas Mt., driving the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia or America's Pacific Coast Highway. Yes there are expensive hotels, but they are the world's most special - and if you're not considering one for your 40th birthday splurge in S. Africa's stunning Wine COuntry as I am, then go for the top-ranked wine and gorgeous scenery and stay in a lovely colonial B&B. Poor Ms Schultz - I guess readers expected her to be everything to everybody. She'll never please everyone all the time, but I've never come across a travel book that almost succeeded with such grace, heft and mind boggling research - and a hearftfelt love for travel and appreciation of the world's magic. She gets a thousand (and then some) thanks from this insatiable traveler.

Not only did this book take me to so many wonderful places, obviously many of which I will never visit, but it did so in such an easy, enjoyable, informative way I don't really mind not actually going to them.
The author has a wonderful style of writing and presents entries in a full but concise, very digestible way. She has included an amazing array of items - something for everyone's taste, location and budget.
Not only does she include the usual reference index in the back but she has also created another fabulous, very useful gloabl index categorized by special interests such as biking, sacred places,music festivals, etc. It inspires the reader and also helps give an interesting overview other than the list of contents - check it out first!
I never need another travel book - this will keep me entertained and busy for years! I am giving it to everyone on my christmas list.

I really enjoyed reading through this book. If you want suggestions to general "most-famous" places all over the world, this is the book for you. However, I would probably just use this book as a starting point and then move to another travel book that covers more specific topics regarding your intended destination. Certain places, such as the middle east, are hardly covered at all. However, overall a fun book and a great gift.

What a wonderful resource for local and world travelers! Schultz gives us enough information to make you want to head for the computer or pick up the phone to make reservations. "1,000 Places to See..." will take you to places you've never visited and make you consider vacations you never thought you'd take.
One caveat: Learning about all these fantastic locales, then looking at your bank account and the amount of time you probably have left"...Before You Die," will mean prioritizing. But, what an excellent source of information to help you do just that.

I have had a wonderful journey with my original "1,000 Places" book which is dog-eared from use. As a busy executive, without time to thoroughly research a destination it provided me new and inspiring ideas in a quick and easy reference. For example, I once found myself with three free days in Bangkok and after consulting "1,000 Places" I booked a recommended river cruise and felt very blessed to have had such an enjoyable experience. The beauty of the first book was not only that it was convenient, but also that I could trust the author's discerning eye implicitly. The latest edition has kept all that I loved about the first book and improved upon it. The color photos are inspiring and the itineraries put the places in context which will help with planning. But best of all, I am very enthused about all the new destinations, which have been included. The author has given us a gift in helping us sort through where to go in the many areas of the world which have opened up for tourism since the original book was written. In short, this book well-deserves my "New and Improved" label. If you only own one travel book, if you travel from your armchair or if you are a consummate road-warrier, this is the book for you!

As author of , I can say this book presents excellent information on the locales and landmarks you need to see when you travel. The rebvised edition adds even more places that were not present before. If you are planning to travel around the world and need a concise guide on more places than you can see, this is for you!

Ignore the gloomy title and buy it anyway! There will be places where you will disagree with the author (with 1000 places it would be hard not to...) but for travel buffs anywhere a book like this is invaluable in telling you both where you do want to go and where it is vital NOT to, along with all sorts of fascinating places that you had never even thought of. Christopher Catherwood, author, traveller and writer (most recently of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE, Zondervan, 2003)

This is a good book to leaf through. You don't have to read it from cover to cover. It is enjoyable for people who have visited many of the places it mentions and are looking for new ideas, and also good for people who only dream of this kind of travel.

It's a great book for "quick reads" on foreign locations. I just thought I would be more inspired.....The premise is more interesting than the book itself. I guess I was expecting hidden treasures in far off lands or more of an "off the beaten path" type approach. There were jewels, but mostly the same tired attractions. Perhaps this is too ambtious of an idea.

I love this book as it made me read the front and back covers before I bought it! When I got home with it-I definitely started reading with the intent to dislike it. After the tenth page or so-I was hooked. This is a very good travel book-it may presenting the information differently, but at least it gets people reading and thinking! I was hoping to see what the author thought of Aruba ! My wife and I went for our honeymoon... We had a BLAST!!! Lovely Book!!!

When I got this book I was pleased about most of the places it listed. However, the author left a lot out (though I know you can't please everybody) and put in too many expensive hotels. If we're supposed to do all 1000 things before we die, how are we expected to afford all of it if we're staying in all the expensive hotels? *sigh* oh well.

I did find a lot of the descriptions inspiring and encouraging, and left me wanting to visit them.

Christmas, graduation, anniversary - everyone on this globe, well traveled or nervous beginner - deserves this hefty tome on their beside table. So what's with all the warped reviews? Ms Schultz is not saying these are the only places to see on this big, wide, wonderful planet, but just her own personal lifelist that she eagerly and gladly shares with us -- and how lucky are we?!?. There are 1000 x 1000 x 1000 possibilities out there, but as far as I know - and I think I've paged through every travel book ever published - she is the first brave list-maker to take a noble shot at compiling an inspiring "short" list of things great and humble, serious and fun, in the USA and waaaay abroad, that should get us going and encourage even the most lethargic of us off the couch. I agree wholeheartedly with the 98% of the myriad critics on this site (I've never seen an the store title get so much response) who give her 5 stars. Can I arrange for a 6th?

I've found it. For the last dozen gifts or so - and for countless occasions to come - I have found the fool-proof gift. The gift of magic and romance and adventure and fun that world travel promises - no, guarantees. Here's the beauty of this book: it is for everyone. Old, young, well-traveled, neophyte adventurers, the wealthy, the shoe-string budgeters, the daring, the daunted. The author has done what I consider to be an unprecedented job of research, and has put it all between two covers for us to utilize on a rainy day, or when those two precious weeks of vacation close in. Oh, the possibilities are endless!!! Thank you Ms Schultz. I want your job.

From Laos to the Seychelles - Schultz's voice is insightful and informative and I am impressed at her choice of destinations and their diversity. This is one individual's personal life list - not a democratic encyclopedia of the globe, nor something done up by a team for Frommer's or Fodor's. She includes highlights from Borneo to Tasmania and Namibia - with lots of special places in Europe and the US for those times when time and money call for something less extravagant.

I didn't find it to be a bad book, but I wouldn't recommend it for planning a trip or vacation pasttimes of any kind. It's good for giving ideas and has some interesting information, also a nice spread of places around the world. It's true though that all the hotels and restaurants mentioned in it are obscenely expensive (another reason not to use it to plan for anything). There are much better books out there for planning a trip, most of which you can find in the travel section of any major bookstore.

I was prepared to really dislike this book, if for no other reason than because it takes one of my passions -- travel -- and reduces it to a kind of grocery list. Travel, I have always thought, is about experiencing a different culture and its history and not about checking the most important cathedral or museum in a city off a to-do list.
But I must admit this small-but-thick book intrigued me. Most of the criticisms of something like this will be of specific choices the author makes: How could she overlook X? Or what was she thinking when she included Y? And while I admit that I scratched my head at a few curious omissions and chuckled at some of the choices that did make the cut, I must say that overall, the selection is very good. Every traveler or would-be traveler will find selections of interest on its pages, whether they are looking for luxury or natural beauty or history or art or culinary masterpieces or thought-provoking journeys.
But I think the real strength of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is author Patricia Schultz' lively writing. Ms. Schultz has a real gift for description, and her love and enthusiasm for the places she writes about at once manage to excite the reader about the place being described and to give him or her a small taste of it before even diverting the eyes from the page.
All that said, I would be disappointed to scan someone else's copy of this book and see places that have been already visited crossed off in red ink or to discover that future trips were being planned to maximize the number of the 1,000 places that can be visited in a short time. I don't think the book should be used like that, but rather as a means to provoke thought and conversation regarding the best of what the world has to offer us by giving us the views held by one person (albeit someone who is extremely well traveled and with unusual writing talent). We'll all come up with our own lists in our heads, lists that may or may not overlap with the contents of this book. And that's something worth being passionate about.

At first I was a little disappointed that there was only 20 pages on Eastern Europe, as compared to 200 for Westen Europe. But then I thought I should thank Ms. Schultz for leaving out one of my favorite places, after all I'll have less crowds to contend with than in places like Italy to which she has dedicated 50 pages.
I wonder what other places with rich culture, history, scenic beauty and diversity she has left out. How do you leave out a country with at least a half dozen UNESCO Heritage sites, which include the best preserved Roman Palace, and has 8 National Parks, 10 Natural Parks, and over 1,000 Islands with some of the best sailing in the world (Homer would attest to that, as would Shakespeare and Goerge Bernard Shaw who said "on the last day of Creation God wanted to crown his work, and thus created the Kornati Islands out of tears, stars and breath").
Oops!!! I just gave away my little secret. Thats O.K., were do you think all the Italians go when their beautiful country gets overtaken by turists?
My advice to any one who buys this book, don't make it your traveling bible, you will miss out on some incredible places if you do.

1,000 Places to See Before you Die by Ms. Patricia Schultz is one of the most inspiring travel books. I highly recommend my friends and travelers of the Silk Road Treasure Tours to read this wonderful book to discover fascinating destinations of the world including Central Asia and Silk Road Destinations. Zulya Rajabova, president of Silk Road Treasure Tours

I have to reinforce what others have said. This books tends to stress 5 star hotels and fancy restaurants. One of the entries for Dublin is to go to a fancy french restaurant. I can see having a pint in a Dublin pub as a thing to do, and she has recommendations for that. But for fancy french food, I think I would go to France.

I was extremely disappointed by this book and the very anglo focus that it has. Nearly 100 pages are devoted to Britain, Scotland and Wales. Same for the U.S. While I agree there are some very interesting things to see in both places, the world has other more interesting places.

Perhaps the author could have devoted a few additional pages to asia for example at the expense of the endless inn's and gardens in England. For example, the author overlooks Nikko, Japan which is a World Heritage site. Also no listings for anything in Korea, a country of amazing heritage, food and art and yet nothing!

Better off buying a lonely planet guide and going from there.

I was prepared for this book to be personal, even quirky. Any such "1000 best places in the world" list would have to be. It was well written and many of the entries are interesting whether or not you plan to visit Oaxaca's market or sail the Grenadines. My only complaint is that there were way too many expensive hotels included in the list, and too much prose wasted describing smooth sheets and superb staff. Certainly there are more interesting wonders in the world beyond deluxe accommodations.

Yes, there are far too many hotels included in this book. Even if you like to stay in luxury hotels, The Cipriani on a good day does not rival the real wonders of Venice. And yes, it's Eurocentric. But ignore the hotels if including them troubles you and supplement your reading with other books if you are traveling in Asia. The book by and large hits the big spots and others that are missed by most guidebooks, and the practical information is excellent. If you travel a great deal or would like to, this is a fun and informative book.

This book is a little bit of good and a little bit bad. I read future reviews about it and they all said that it had to many hotels. I thought maybe they were exaggerating so I got it. After reading the first couple of pages you knew they were telling the truth. The book was great and it was full of some sites. At least one half of the places it mentioned were about hotels. And seeing as I want to see sites and not hotels I was a little pissed off. It was set up really good though.

My husband and I adored this book..it was so inspiring that we made up a top ten list of where we wanted to go in 2004. She writes in a fun, exciting way that makes you want to get on the first plane out! Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. I hope to see more travel books from this author.

Finally a travel book for all the right reasons, on a recent trip to Mexico we decided to change our itinerary and follow Ms Schultz's recommendation's, we stayed at a charming family owned hotel that was well within our budget,we also took her suggested tours which we found to be fascinating we have been

to Mexico several times but this past trip was like visiting it for the first time,we look forward to planning our next vacation

with A 1000 Places as our guide, well done Ms Schultz.

This is the first review I have ever written for the store, because I found a negative review to be so misguided and misleading I had to put in my two cents' worth. Elitist? Have those few displeased with the book even read it? If the Uffizi Galleries, the Masai Mara, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Amalfi Coast Drive, Connemara and Belize's Barrier Reef are "elitist" then let me join those who subscribe to this rarified echelon of travelers. I join those led by Ms Schultz who find something of the world's beauty, romance and pleasure in these and 900+some other such designations that Ms Schultz spent 8 yr of her life putting together between two covers for the sheer pleasure of us "elitist" types. This is one of the est travel books ever written.

You can't please everyone with an ambitious book of this nature - it is one person's personal Life List. She is not writing it to please her readers but rather to share her favorite places around the world. You'd be hard pressed not to find a few hundred remarkable places to keep you busy for the next many years!

(This is the third copy I have purchased because it makes a great gift for the travelers in my life)

1,000 Places to See... gives you a very broad overview of places to see, but that can be the inspiration you need to do a little more research & to get yourself moving. I haven't read it cover-to-cover, but have been going thru sections of the book in areas that I have an interest in. Also good if you are just looking for something to do in your own area -- I discovered things that I had either forgotten about or never knew were there.

I have been to over 90 countries and I thought I had visited a large share of the wonders of the world. In fact, I have been to many of the 1000 places but I still have a lot more to go. The selections are great and their descriptions are always correct! It is a great resource to select where to go and to decide on what to see !!!! I am sure this book belongs in the shelf of all the Frequent Travelers as well as in the hands of those looking for a once in a lifetime fantastic experience.

I was very disappointed with this book. The author did not include travel information that was very helpful. I thought there would be much more detail about the actual locations. Most of the entries were spent on which hotels are the nicest (and most expensive) at the location. If you are looking for a travel guide describing what's interesting and unique about various locations, I would not recommend this book.

As a California historian,columnist for the Old California Gazette and author of the history/sightseeing book: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MISCELLANY, I vote this book to be one of the top five on anyone's (and everyone's) reading list. Even if you cannot visit the places advised in this book... the reading is inspirational, entertaining and informative.

You could eliminate about half of this book and make it "500 Places to See Before You Die" by taking out the references to the posh Hotels around the world that you should visit. It seemed more like a book that was written as a result of the comps that the author received than an actual travel book. (T'ain't the way I travel.) I bought the book expecting more and eventually sold it to a used book store.

This is a great book of places to go to but you can never really feel the scope of anything here because the pictures are so small and in black and white. This book needs to be coffee table sze, huge!!! big!! and too heavy to carry around. At this size and layout it is missing its potential.

Honestly you will not learn anything about any "off the beaten track" places. This book gave me the impression that it had been written by someone using a stack of travel guides and magazines as references, not a real traveller. Nothing original, it is a compilation of all the world's tourist traps and overpriced hotels. A crappy, overrated, uninteresting travel guide written by someone clearly obsessed with Spas and hotels. It is blatant that the author of this turkey got kickbacks and free hotels stays by mentioning some names... Sorry lady, a Spa is not a "place to see before you die."

She neglected to put the National Palace Museum in Taiwan in the list. The National Palace Museum contains the imperial treasures collected over 500 years. The Nationalist Chinese took China's greatest treasures with them when they fled to Taiwan (Thank God otherwise Mao would have destroyed them). Anyhow, the National Palace Museum makes the Shanghai Museum (which is listed) look like a flea market.

China. I know China. This book, almost 1,000 pages, gives China how many? Ten. Ten pages. For a country the size of the United States, (almost identical in size and almost the same East to West) with four times as many people and a history that goes back thousands of years. The section for the US is 18 times longer. 183 pages.
Beyond that, the China section includes the obvious (Forbidden City, Terra-Cotta Warriors, Three Gorges) and the totally should-not-visit-- Li Family Restaurant (overpriced an ordinary food in a city of thousands of better restaurants, 95% of them much less costly), the Hotel Intercontinental (in HK, not really in China proper), Tea at the Peninsula.. What the??? I can write a three week non-stop itinerary in Beijing alone. This book is ridiculous and not the least bulletproof. More properly called A Hit Or Miss Guide To Some Very Good Places And Some You Never Need To Visit With Many Of The Most Important Places Completely Missing.

If you love to travel like my wife and I, then this is the book for you. I'm 45 and I hope that I can get to all of these wonderful places. A great buy!!!
Dr. Michael L. Johnson author of "What Do You Do When the Medications Don't Work--A Non-Drug Treatment of Dizziness, Migraine Headaches, Fibromyalgia, and Other Chronic Conditions".

342 pages on Europe.

45 pages on Africa.

As many have pointed out, the list is so skewed and biased as to be insulting. The writing is often not useful, or focuses on misleading aspects of an area. Why talk about the hotels and not the sites?

The other review I find useful is that this focuses often on things to see, not things to do. Besides, as another reviewer pointed out, it simply isn't adventerous: often discussing going to locales to see a place, instead of the expereinces of traveling and actually engaging in areas.

And just to reiterate:

342 pages on Europe.

45 pages on Africa.

Not only covers the exotic foreign lands, but our own American backyard. But who's-to-say what are the 1000 places to see? Everyone has their own idea of that special dream vacation. This book is a good source to consider maybe some place never dreamed of before.

I heartily agree with all those who were taken aback by all the posh hotels included while cultural and recreational events and sites were not included.

Gotta say, though, that it's the paperback format that really detracts from this book. It's too darn heavy to be so small! By page 35, my wrists were exhausted! And, what was the publisher thinking by using such small margins. It was so tightly bound that I frequently had to "split" it open - and the margin around the edges where the user holds the book - well - I spent more time shifting my fingers so they wouldn't cover the text than I did reading.

Finally, there should be a all inclusive checklist that the reader can mark those places he/she has visited.

Would not purchase this unless you've got REALLY strong arms.

1,000 Places to See Before You Die gave me a lot to look forward to in planning my vacations. The places mentioned are unique, and of course not every single tourist attraction needs to be mentioned. That is what the local hotel and tourist information is for. I love this book as a resource for places to visit, and unique places that I did not know existed before I bought this book. If you love to travel as I do, then this book can be a great help for far away places that capture imagination and intrigue.