The New Edition of the Rough Guide to Wales

The Rough Guides are distributed worldwide by the Penguin group and include recommendations from shoestring to luxury, covering more than 200 destinations around the globe, including almost every country in the Americas and Europe, more than half of Africa and most of Asia and Australasia. The team of authors and photographers is spread all over the world, particularly in Europe, the USA and Australia.

The Rough Guide to Wales has a new edition published less than a month ago. This is the fifth edition.

As in any good Rough Guide you can find here information about the best places to see as well as about what to avoid in Wales, the most "beguiling" parts of Britain.

In the top of the attractions compiled by the Rough Guide to Wales, you can find the south Wales valleys. Newport's transporter bridge is placed on the third position by the authors. The interesting part is that the British version of the guide book has the same opinion and describes the valleys as an "interesting and distinctive" corner of Wales. There are a lot of people saying that the area's success is due to the people who friendly and supportive and to the picturesque countryside and they bring they own experience in the area as a proof. Others are saying that what made the valleys the top attraction is the rich heritage and history of the valleys and some are thinking that the regeneration of the road networks was "ruining the area's natural beauty".

Mike Parker and Paul Whitfield, the authors of the fifth edition of the Rough Guide to Wales, are also presenting the disappointing part of Wales. Criticized parts of Wales were the town centre hotels which are "often just rooms above a noisy bar”. Other descriptions found in the guide are the "loud and lairy" Newport, the "breezy and resurgent" Swansea and the "crowning glory" of north Wales - Snowdonia.

Another point made by the authors and not to be ignored by the visitors is the warning that "The worst thing you can possibly do is call a Welsh person English". The Rough Guide to Britain also claims Welsh people are "resentful of English dominance".