Bookstore: Recommended Reading - Travel in Austria, Germany, Switzerland

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Travel Books: Austria • Germany • Switzerland

In association with Amazon.com and Amazon.de, we offer the following recommended books related to travel and life in the German-speaking countries. These titles can be purchased directly from our bookstore. See the various book categories below. Also see our section for Books in German (Bücher auf Deutsch).

NEW! Kindle Wireless Readers - Both the 6-inch and 9.7-inch Kindles also work in Europe!

GERMANY

General Germany

Eyewitness Travel

Daytrips Germany - 60 One Day Adventures - Bavaria and the Rhineland
By Earl Steinbicker. Paperback.
A favorite guidebook for adventurous travelers who prefer to make their own tours. Each of the 60 one-day adventures is complete with a do-it-yourself walking tour, a map, full travel directions, time and weather considerations, restaurant suggestions, background information, and concise descriptions of all worthwhile sights.

Germany Eyewitness Travel Guide
DK Publishing. 608 pages. The Eyewitness guides are well illustrated and highly reviewed by travelers.

Frommer’s Germany 2011
Completely updated every year, Frommer’s Germany features gorgeous color photos of the dazzling baroque architecture, picturesque villages, and beer gardens that await you.

Fodor’s Germany 2011 (Gold Guides)
Fodor’s 2011 guide to Germany. 768 pages.

German Survival Guide: The Language and Culture You Need to Travel with Confidence in Germany and Austria
By Elizabeth Bingham. Paperback. 192 pages. This information-packed mini-course concentrates on preparing readers to travel in Germany and Austria in a limited time by focusing on what is most useful or interesting to travelers and cutting out unnecessary vocabulary and grammar.

The German Way
By Hyde Flippo, Passport Books/NTC. Paperback. Cultural and practical information related to Germany and other countries in German-speaking Europe.

Rick Steves’ Germany 2010 (with map)
Avalon. Paperback. 500 pages. The best of Deutschland, from the otherworldly castles of Bavaria to the rowdy beer halls of Munich. Rick covers the must-see sights of Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt, and also includes a healthy dose of little-known destinations in the Black Forest and Mosel Valley.

Rick Steves’ Germany - Austria - Switzerland (Maps)
These folding maps highlight choice destinations throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, from the shore of the North Sea to the towering Alps. Cuts the clutter: While big cities are left for navigational purposes, this map is otherwise stripped clean and filled in only with places that matter to travelers.

When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do
The Clued-In Guide to German Life, Language, and Culture
By Hyde Flippo, McGraw-Hill. Paperback. Flippo’s latest book about life in Germany makes a good companion to his earlier cultural guidebook (above).

The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Germans
By S. Zeidenitz and B. Barkow. Oval Books. Paperback. 96 pages. The Xenophobe’s Guides are “an irreverent look at the beliefs and foibles of nations, almost guaranteed to cure xenophobia.” Biting humor is definitely there, but sometimes the truth will set you... laughing! Find out about the Germans with at least one chuckle or guffaw on every page, and usually more! From The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Germans: “Virtually all Germans have health problems, and if they don’t, there must be something wrong with them... Most of what ails them is stress related. No nation was ever more stressed, but this is understandable. After all, running Europe can take it out of you.” - Also see The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Austrians and The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Swiss.

Need a cell phone for Europe? See Das Handy - Cell phones in Germany and Europe

Kindle Wireless Readers - Both the 6-inch and 9.7-inch Kindles also work in Europe!

Bavaria and Munich

Fodor’s Munich & Bavaria, 1st Edition: Plus Salzburg
Fodor's. 288 pages. Oktoberfest and beer halls, fairytale castles atop green mountains, and lost-in-time medieval towns are just a few reasons why Munich and Bavaria remain GermanyÕs most popular areas.

Munich, Bavaria & the Black Forest (Regional Guide)
Lonely Planet. 360 pages. Includes new chapters on the Black Forest and walking in the Bavarian Alps.

Frommer’s Munich & the Bavarian Alps
Frommer’s. 256 pages. Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

The Land of Ludwig II: The Royal Castles and Residences in Upper Bavaria and Swabia
By Peter Kruckmann. Prestel. Paperback. 128 pages.
Reader Comment: “A very nice illustration of the best sights in Southern Bavaria including world-famous Castle Neuschwanstein. Always the perfect present on my journeys...” An illustrated guide to the 'mad king’s' castles.

Munich & The Bavarian Alps (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
DK Travel. Turtleback. 324 pages.
The Eyewitness guides are well illustrated and highly reviewed by travelers. Reader comment: “If you're planning on spending just a few days in Munich, then this compact little guide will be indispensible in locating the famous beerhalls and tourist sights. The maps are more than adequate and the walking descriptions to each locale are precise and accurate.”

Kindle Wireless Readers - Both the 6-inch and 9.7-inch Kindles also work in Europe!

Berlin

Berlin City Guide
By Andrea Schulte-Peevers. “The best guide to the city - as stylish as Time Out, but more reliable” - as road-tested by The Independent.

Berlin (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
DK Travel. 352 pages. : “I just returned from a visit to Berlin with this wonderful book as my travel companion. The pictures are great, the descriptions wonderful, and there is a lot of good, practical information to help one get around in the city. There are a series of maps in the back which covers the whole city in sections...”

Lonely Planet Berlin Encounter
By Andrea Schulte-Peevers. Lonely Planet. 200 pages. Discreet in size, but generous enough on page count to provide a fuller city experience minus the hefty guidebook load.

Streetwise Berlin (Map)
Laminated folding pocket-size travel map with integrated metro map including S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines & stations.

Time Out Berlin
Time Out. 320 pages. The eighth edition of Time Out Berlin covers all aspects of life in the capital city, from festivals and nightlife to avant garde arts. The home of over 150 museums and 50 theatres, Berlin is the third most visited tourist destination in Europe.

Also see: Biography - Culture - History for more Berlin books.

KINDLE WIRELESS READERS

Kindle • Kindle Touch • Kindle Fire

6-inch Kindle Wi-Fi: The $79 Wi-Fi Kindle (with special offers) with high-contrast E Ink screen reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room. At less than 6 ounces, it's lighter than a paperback and fits in your pocket. More...
6-inch Kindle Touch (Wi Fi): The $99 Kindle Touch (with special offers) has advanced E Ink display, with multi-touch. Its New sleek design is 8% lighter, 11% smaller, and holds up to 3,000 books. It's the nnly e-reader with text-to-speech, audiobooks and mp3 support. The Touch's built in Wi-Fi let's you get books in 60 seconds. EasyReach touch technology lets you read easily with one hand. New X-Ray feature lets you look up characters, historical figures, and interesting phrases. Amazon Prime Members can choose from over a hundred thousand books to borrow for free. $99. More...
6-inch Kindle Touch (3G + Wi Fi): The Kindle Touch 3G (with special offers) is the same model as above, but with free 3G cell phone connectivity in addition to wi-fi. $139
7-inch Kindle Fire: The Kindle Fire has a full-color 7" Multi-Touch Display. Choose from 20 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books. Thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more. Amazon Silk offers ultra-fast web browsing over built-in Wi-Fi. Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content. Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle. Fast, powerful dual-core processor. Favorite children's books, graphic novels, and magazines in rich color. $199. More...
More Kindle choices...

GERMAN CULTURE

The Bauhaus

Bauhaus - Taschen The Bauhaus: 1919-1933
By Magdalena Droste. Paperback. 96 pages.
Today, more than 90 years after its inception, the Bauhaus style still emanates vitality. As a school that strove to combine applied art with both the fine arts and technology, the Bauhaus movement has outlasted all other trends in architecture and design.