Best Travel guide books?

Hi

I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations on which travel guide series
are any good?

I'm thinking about the eyewitness account ones since they combine many
cities in one book. I sometimes get the feeling that one book on one city
may be too much if only going away for a short break..

Are there any guides in particular that folks here swear by?

Any help appriciated before I buy one.

Best Regards
Mike

http://www.soundclick.com/bluemenagerie
"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams"

Mike Azzopardi wrote:

Hi

I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations on which travel guide series
are any good?

I'm thinking about the eyewitness account ones since they combine many
cities in one book. I sometimes get the feeling that one book on one city
may be too much if only going away for a short break..

Are there any guides in particular that folks here swear by?

Any help appriciated before I buy one.

I always find Let's Go guides useful. They do, I believe, do a limited
number of specific city guides. If you're near a library, check out a
few different companies- that might give you an idea of what you're
after- tastes and budgets for travel obviously vary- Let's Go is aimed
at budget conscious travellers.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

I think Time Out and Rough Guides are the best. Time Out only has
guides for individual cities, but they are aimed at locals rather than
visitors, so they are much better at pointing out interesting places
that aren't on the tourist trail. Rough Guides has the best all-Europe
guidebook, and unlike most guidebooks it is very good at telling you
which things are skippable or overrated as well as which things are
must-sees. Rough Guides is also much less common than Lets Go and
Lonely Planet, so the places it recommends don't fill up months in
advance.

Lonely Planet has some excellent guidebooks and some horrible ones -
the Europe on a Shoestring and Western Europe are in the latter
category. They tend to try too hard to cover absolutely every part of
a country or region instead of focusing more on places that are
actually interesting, and don't give nearly enough coverage of major
cities. Newsflash: people who want to cover lots of Western Europe in
1-2 months are going to spend a few days each in a couple of cities,
and are not going on long treks in the Dordogne.

Lets Go really sucks. The college students who write it aren't allowed
to say anything negative, so every single place is "spectacular",
"fascinating", "amazing", ad nauseum. If you want to stay in youth
hostels full of American potheads, eat in cafeterias and fast food
chains, and not actually experience any of Europe's history or culture,
then Lets Go is for you.

Fodors and Frommers are too stuffy and are aimed at older travellers.
They can be good for describing museums and historical sights, but are
very weak on nightlife, neighborhoods to explore, or interesting things
that don't fit into a conventional tourist itinerary.

writes:

Rough Guides is also much less common than Lets Go and Lonely
Planet, so the places it recommends don't fill up months in advance.

Yikes! Rough Guide is probably the most common choice for Britishes;
Let's Go are much less commonly found in bookshops over here.

[...]

Lets Go really sucks. The college students who write it aren't allowed
to say anything negative, so every single place is "spectacular",
"fascinating", "amazing", ad nauseum. If you want to stay in youth
hostels full of American potheads, eat in cafeterias and fast food
chains, and not actually experience any of Europe's history or culture,
then Lets Go is for you.

r.t.e Italy guru Barbara Vaughn speaks highly of the Italy one, at
least, for finding reasonable (non-hostel) accommodation, backed up
with a Michelin Green for culture.

The French _Routards_ are good, with the bonus that you keep bumping
into French touristes instead. And the Barcelona one was small and
light enough to fit in a jacket pocket, which was nice.

Des

I like the rick steves books for "best of" trips. they usally are
filled with descriptions and information; just ignore the idiotic
comments rarly made. Outside of the must see items are worthless, the
city books are better on this.

Lonely Planet do a so-so job on the best items and are good for not top
items, and lite on don't see unless you live in the area type items.

Frommer and fodors I use for long term stays in an area since they
cover everything. However they are lite on detailed information, and I
don't need all thoses restaurant and hotel descriptions.

eyewitness are good to look at when at home and pick an itenerary.
they are to heavy and lite on information to carry around.

Insight is another good one to read and iternary with but too heavy to
carry. however they have the best descriptions, information and
history type info I have seen.

AAA guides (spiral ones). Have only used one of these and it was
better then most. decent amount of history, still a little much on
hotels and restaurants.

Mike Azzopardi wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations on which travel guide
series
are any good?

Good for what? I just mean, it depends on your interests and the kind of
travel experience you like.

A key point for me was the realization that different guidebooks have
different personalities. Once you know what those personalities are, you can
draw on almost any guidebook to inform your planning.

Two series that I find especially useful are (1) Michelin Green and (2) Rick
Steves. Why? Because they are opinionated. They don't just blandly describe.
In fact, they rate things to see and do.

Their opinions are useful even if they don't agree with mine, because I know
what kinds of things will win three stars from Michelin and what kinds of
things Rick Steves likes.

Similarly, though I would be reluctant to plan a trip based on Let's Go for
various reasons, I would trust that source to tell me where to find the best
gelato.

Any help appriciated before I buy one.

Go to a library and check out a few guide books. See what you like, what
seems to speak your language, what seems genuinely useful to you and your
interests.

Based on that, buy one or two guidebooks--preferably ones that have been
revised this year (check the copyright) for your hard-core planning and to
bring with.

Have a great trip!

wrote:

[]
Lets Go really sucks. The college students who write it aren't allowed
to say anything negative, so every single place is "spectacular",
"fascinating", "amazing", ad nauseum. If you want to stay in youth
hostels full of American potheads, eat in cafeterias and fast food
chains, and not actually experience any of Europe's history or culture,
then Lets Go is for you.

It's certainly not my experience. For a start, they are more than wiling
to criticise- they do it all the time. They are excellent for finding
low-budget accommodation and food of course, but are also an excellent
source for low to mid price as well. We often go to the restaurants they
recommend, and have never been disappointed. Well, in one case the
restaurant had closed down, but that happens.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

Thanks to ALL for the ideas.
It certainly has given me lots of pointers
I love rec.travel.europe!

Best Regards
Mike

http://www.soundclick.com/bluemenagerie
"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams"

"Mike Azzopardi" wrote in message
news
Hi

I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations on which travel guide
series are any good?

I'm thinking about the eyewitness account ones since they combine many
cities in one book. I sometimes get the feeling that one book on one city
may be too much if only going away for a short break..

Are there any guides in particular that folks here swear by?

Any help appriciated before I buy one.

Best Regards
Mike

http://www.soundclick.com/bluemenagerie
"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams"

"It's certainly not my experience. For a start, they are more than
wiling
to criticise- they do it all the time. They are excellent for finding
low-budget accommodation and food of course, but are also an excellent
source for low to mid price as well. We often go to the restaurants
they
recommend, and have never been disappointed. Well, in one case the
restaurant had closed down, but that happens."

Maybe they've changed. I used their guide for my first trip to Europe
in 1997, and was very disappointed.

What I do when I need to buy a guide book is read some of the reviews
that are available online. I try to buy books that have been recently
published (so that the information isn't too old) and have somewhat
decent reviews. Also, I try to consider the type of trip I want to
take- will it be really low budget or do I want to splurge a little.
When I was a college student and for a few years thereafter, I
generally purchased Let's Go (mostly low budget information geared
towards youthful travelers). Thereafter, I mostly bought Lonely Planet
(low budget with some higher options available). However, all this
being said, for certain areas there are some books (and even writers)
that are not as well known but are excellent- i.e. Christopher Baker of
Moon Handbooks- I would buy something from him before I chose another.