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The Rough Guide to Portugal, 9th
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PRAGUE is the insiderUs handbook to the Czech capital. Features include: Entertaining accounts of all the sights, from the vast castle complex to the modern art museum - plus excursions outside the city. Extensive listings of the best places to stay, eat and drink, and the last word on the cityUs nightlife. Incisive background on PragueUs culture and history, ranging from new wave cinema to the story of the Velvet Revolution. Full-colour map section plus 20 other maps and plans.
560 pages, Paperback
First published June 28, 1984
67 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Mark Ellingham
50 books3 followersMark Ellingham was born in Wiltshire, UK, in 1959. After leaving Bristol University in 1981, he was unable to find an interesting job and decided to create his own, writing the first Rough Guide (to Greece). He secured a publishing contract – Routledge paying an advance of £900 ($1800) – midway through writing it. The book was an immediate success and Mark and various friends set to work turning the Rough Guides into a series, producing a dozen further titles over the next five years.
In 1985, Mark and a group of Rough Guide writers and editors, including current travel publisher Martin Dunford, bought the series from Routledge and became independent publishers. They developed more than 200 titles, covering travel and reference subjects as diverse as world music and pregnancy, before selling the company to Penguin Books, in 2002.
Mark (and Martin) continued to run Rough Guides’ publishing at Penguin, 25 years on from that first title, and created a new one-off “ultimate travel experience” series – 25s – to mark the anniversary.
Mark is also a contributing editor for the world music magazine, Songlines, a director of the travel magazine, Wanderlust, and co-publisher of Sort Of Books, which have published bestselling books by Chris Stewart and Tove Jansson, among others. He lives in North London with his wife, Natania Jansz, who co-wrote the first Greece book and now runs Sort Of Books, and their son, Miles. Mark says his interests and passions are charted by the titles on the Rough Guide list, ranging through music, film, football, literature and science. He is currently involved in campaigns to raise awareness of the impact of aviation on Climate Change.
Mark left Rough Guides in 2007 but continues to work as a co-editor on the encyclopedic Rough Guide to World Music. He is also a contributing editor at Songlines World Music magazine, and runs a green and ethical publishing list for Profile Books.
In 1985, Mark and a group of Rough Guide writers and editors, including current travel publisher Martin Dunford, bought the series from Routledge and became independent publishers. They developed more than 200 titles, covering travel and reference subjects as diverse as world music and pregnancy, before selling the company to Penguin Books, in 2002.
Mark (and Martin) continued to run Rough Guides’ publishing at Penguin, 25 years on from that first title, and created a new one-off “ultimate travel experience” series – 25s – to mark the anniversary.
Mark is also a contributing editor for the world music magazine, Songlines, a director of the travel magazine, Wanderlust, and co-publisher of Sort Of Books, which have published bestselling books by Chris Stewart and Tove Jansson, among others. He lives in North London with his wife, Natania Jansz, who co-wrote the first Greece book and now runs Sort Of Books, and their son, Miles. Mark says his interests and passions are charted by the titles on the Rough Guide list, ranging through music, film, football, literature and science. He is currently involved in campaigns to raise awareness of the impact of aviation on Climate Change.
Mark left Rough Guides in 2007 but continues to work as a co-editor on the encyclopedic Rough Guide to World Music. He is also a contributing editor at Songlines World Music magazine, and runs a green and ethical publishing list for Profile Books.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 13, 2025
The finest travel to a wonderful country
October 12, 2010
I combed through this book carefully, both before and during our trip to Portugal, and found it invaluable. I was able to identify the sites I wanted to invest my time in and eliminate others that have been overrated. While in the country I carried the book with me and constantly referred to it to learn about what I was seeing. The many detailed maps were invaluable. Thanks to John Fisher for helping me have a wonderful vacation!
May 17, 2017
To anyone who reads me regularly this will sound like a broken record, but whenever I travel to Europe I use the Rough Guides and Rick Steves. Not everyone will like them as some will consider them verbose. I, on the other hand consider them packed with information, which can only make a strange place seem slightly less so. Others won't like them as there are not as many pictures - but why waste space, argue I, with photos, when you will be seeing the real thing - what one wants is to know ABOUT what one is seeing - right? Of course I am.
This Rough Guide seems to me one of the best in a great series. The writers seem to really love Portugal, in addition to being able to describe it well. It is not difficult to fall in love with Portugal - I certainly did, but this booked helped me in that way too. If you travel to Portugal - and you SHOULD! pick up this guide - you'll be happy you did!
This Rough Guide seems to me one of the best in a great series. The writers seem to really love Portugal, in addition to being able to describe it well. It is not difficult to fall in love with Portugal - I certainly did, but this booked helped me in that way too. If you travel to Portugal - and you SHOULD! pick up this guide - you'll be happy you did!
September 22, 2016
One of the few up-to-date and thorough guides to Portugal I was able to find. This one stands out since it visits small towns and single item diversions.
March 11, 2019
I never before read a travel guide cover to cover. But since I set myself a reading challenge this year, I thought I’d give it a try as I was gonna read it at least partly any way.
I actually really enjoyed myself a lot! I found myself dreaming of hikes in the mountains and strolls along the beaches. Keeping notes of whatever places I really didn’t want to miss. I thought it especially great that the chapter about Portugal’s most visited region, the Algarve, was the last in the book. After reading all about the rest of Portugal, I suddenly found myself thinking; do I even want to go there, seeing as there is so much to see up north?
As travel guides go; this one I really neat. There is enough background info about many places, I also learned quite a lot about Portuguese history. I really liked the fact that there is info on how to get just about everywhere, even without a car. Would definitely recommend it.
I actually really enjoyed myself a lot! I found myself dreaming of hikes in the mountains and strolls along the beaches. Keeping notes of whatever places I really didn’t want to miss. I thought it especially great that the chapter about Portugal’s most visited region, the Algarve, was the last in the book. After reading all about the rest of Portugal, I suddenly found myself thinking; do I even want to go there, seeing as there is so much to see up north?
As travel guides go; this one I really neat. There is enough background info about many places, I also learned quite a lot about Portuguese history. I really liked the fact that there is info on how to get just about everywhere, even without a car. Would definitely recommend it.
April 24, 2018
So much great detail while still being concise. And practical tips too. Cannot wait to get there.
July 31, 2025
We used the Rough Guide to Portugal for our recent trip to the eastern Algarve. We were staying in Cabanas, a small holiday village town near more historic Tavira. The guide actually had a short entry on Cabanas which we found accurate, and we also used it for Tavira, the city of Faro and Vila Real de San Antonio (where I took the ferry across for an afternoon at Ayamonte in Spain). The guide was useful and pretty accurate in each place. We also find the language and broader contextual information useful in the Rough Guides even when they don't cover or cover much places that we are visiting.
July 4, 2021
Since I haven't been to Portugal, it's hard for me to rate this book. I do find the assertion that the cuisine is somewhat limited and repetitious strange. I'm not exactly sure what 'fine cuisine' is but I'm sure there's interesting fusion places as well as traditional that are a local's only secret. Good for an introduction to Portugal.
October 17, 2012
Przewodnik Pascal dobrze opisuje atrakcje poszczególnych regionów. Przy każdym rozdziale są umieszczone informacje o noclegach i gastronomii. Ja przeczytałam wydanie z 2003 roku (ale jest dostępne nowsze), ale przez Internet można bez problemu zaktualizować informacje.
September 9, 2008
clearly better than other guides. very informative, non-pretentious.
October 1, 2014
Helpful, but little point to a digital version if the maps don't have better resolution.
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October 27, 2014Used a later edition around 1999 for our trip to portugal
August 25, 2017
This guide was moderately helpful...just not quite as detailed as I would like a guide to be. I also had it on my Kindle, so maybe I felt some challenges with that. It totally worked though and got us where we needed to go!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews