debbspero

seeking recommendations for good guide books for spain. thanks so much!

Aduchamp1

Frommer’s and Fodor’s-Good on restaurants and hotels, poor on history and culture, small town recommendations non-existent

Rough Guide and Lonely Planet-Opinionated and edgy, good on history and culture, terrible on restaurants and hotels

Cadogan-specialized for a specific areas. Quietly helpful

Eyewitness and National Geographic-Like stereotypical models nice to look at but little else.

Rick Steve’s-I would rather be lead by a blind man

Michelin Green-probably the best for sites.

Time Out-Good for large cities

Christina

I think Fodors Spain guidebook is one of their best, actually. Sometimes I prefer Frommers but for Spain, Fodors is better. I don't like Cadogan for Spain at all, although I did for France.

For the city of Madrid (I am planning a trip there so have actually looked at abot 6 diff. guidebooks), I like both Time Out and Lonely Planet. I don't know if LP does a Spain one, if so, it's probably good.

I don't like Eyewitness guides at all, I thikn they don't have much useful information in them (very poor restaurant or hotel recommendations and info) and are organized poorly.

I did actually like the National Geographic Madrid book quite a bit. It is far superior to Eyewitness IMO.

Pegontheroad

I always take a Rick Steves guidebook as well as a Frommers. I like the Fodors guides that contain pictures for ideas when planning beforehand, but it's a bit heavy to carry when en route.

Aduchamp1

We xerox just the pages we need from our guides and put them into a lightweight three ring binder which we carry with us.

There are many Lonely planets for Spain inclduing specialized guides for Madrid, Barcelona and the South.

We liked Cadogan for northern Spain, even if it was a bit dry.

Christina

I was mainly looking at the Cadogan guide for Madrid and for the capital city, it only had a couple pages, it was probably the worst guidebook for Madrid that I saw. I was surprised, actually, as I did like their guide to Provence.

libra5556

whats wrong with rick steves?

Rastaguytoday

Try going to www.abebooks.com for some inexpensive books.

They might be a year or two old, but the sites haven't changed.

I pick up a lot of books from the UK through this site. Usually there is no or little shipping charge.

Robert2533

I like Maribel's Guides myself. They offer limited coverage, but are still free.

Aduchamp1

I do not want to get into a full blown war about Steves, These are examples I have cited before.

He includes Santillana del Mar in his book which is a beautiful and worthwhile stop but omits Santander just a few miles away whem the two towns are often mentioned in the same sentence and is a beautiful beach town.

This is a disservice to anyone who goes out of the way to visit that part of Spain. It is lazy writing.

He calls Velázquez the photojournalist of the court. This shows abject ignorance of how important and influential Velázquez is to western art.

He portrays the dress of pilgrims who have completed the Camino de Santiago in clownish and sterotypical terms.

I stopped looking for other examples.

If someone is writing a trip report or is a casual visitor to Spain these are minor greivancee, but he is supposed to be a professional travel writer.

nytraveler

Michelin green is by far the best for overall sightseeing. For more general things have a kook at Fodors, Michelin red (hotels and restaurants) and whatever else they have at your local library.

As for Steeeeeves, I won;t touch his with a barge pole - since this is just not the way we travel - and he spends far too much time discussing markets and cheese shops (both of which we have here and I see no need to chase around and find while on vacation).

Granted, local foods are excellent - but I enjoy them in restaurants, well-cooked in the local style. Not staring at displays of them being pawed over by local housewives.

Cowboy1968

I like the little things in his articles, like the one on Barcelona's Columbus column... With the famous explorer pointing towards the sea.. Which Rick says will show you the way to the New World/ America.. Just that Columbus is pointing towards North Africa as Barcelona is on the east coast of Spain

Or that Ramblas means stream while it means (mostly dry) river bed or wadi which can be used as a road most times of the year.

Nothing really exciting or important.. But somehow you'd expect that such a famous writer has his stuff proof-read a dozen times before it goes on print..

330east

We buy a Fodors and a Frommers and cross reference.

Aduchamp1

Before I started posting Fodor's I never purchased a Fodor's and always bought Frommer's and something else.

I use the places I know as a guide to which series I will buy for a trip. I also have a collection of guide books including some from places we intended to visit but did not.

I would buy a Frommer's/Fodor's and Michelin Green if avaialble for you trip.

Aduchamp1

Cowboy writes:
I like the little things in his articles, like the one on Barcelona's Columbus column... With the famous explorer pointing towards the sea.. Which Rick says will show you the way to the New World/ America.. Just that Columbus is pointing towards North Africa as Barcelona is on the east coast of Spain
_____

The last time I was in Barcelona I wanted to see I could get some Catalans and maybe could turn that baby around. In fact, someone was more specific than North Africa and said he was pointing to Libya.

marigross

In general, I think that Fodor's has the most useful overall guidebooks. Lonely Planet is also informative and well balanced.

I stopped using Frommers quite some trips ago, I find that it seldom has unique recommendations and focuses on hotels and restaurants. I rather use internet resources like Chowhound and Trip Advisor for that.

Maribel has NEVER led me wrong

However, the Michelin Green Guide is the top book for me. I always take it with me, as opposed to taking a few photocopies of the other guides.

I got the Fodor's Spain 2012 as a freebie for being quoted and like it with a few caveats. The older version I had included lots of more walks and itineraries. For example, in the Barcelona section the Sarria and Gracia walks have been eliminated, though they are now included. The Costa Brava itinerary is rather blandly described. But still, a very good book overall. (Including quite a few of Cowboy's quotes!)

While researching for the upcoming trip, (20 days to go!!!!!)I got recommendations for Penelope Casas' Discovering Spain and loved it, though it was published in 1992.

The book that has me drooling and wanting to stay in Spain forever is Eyewitness' The Backroads of Spain. It has 25 driving itineraries and I just cannot wait to do each and every single one of them, though we only hav time for 3 of them on this trip.

HappyTrvlr

I additon to Fodors, Dk Eyewitness and Cadogan, we found Penelope Casas' books quite helpful.

chapla

I never buy guide books,just get them from the library or do research on line.When I get to Spain, my first stop is at the tourist office! Spain has the best tourist offices and the info is wonderful/upto date and FREE!
The books are just too cumbersome to carry around and the tourist office info has just want I need.
In Madrid, the tourist office in the Plaza Mayor is strictly for the city of Madrid and the one near near Las Cortes, behind the Westin Palace hotel is for the community of Madrid. All the other provinces in Spain have offices in Madridtoo.

Aduchamp1

The only trouble with Penelope Casas is that it has not been updated in many years.

Basically a guide book is obsolete upon being completed. Hours at sights change, hotels and restaurants change hands or close. So although Casas book has wonderful descriptions it is far out date.

debbspero

thanks so much to all of you for your help!