Rob

I'm looking for the skinny on the major travel guides out there (i.e, Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Let's Go, Blue Book ,etc). What do you find are the strengths and weaknesses of these books, and to which age group does each appear to cater to? I'm looking to purchase one for Europe and would like insight from people who have used them.

Wes Fowler

Rob, <BR>Comments about the various guides available can be nothing but subjective. Here, nevertheless are my opinions. One of the best introductory guides to a city or country is the "Insight Guide to….", APA Productions. They're written by natives or individuals with long experience in the country or city. They deal extensively in the history, customs and idiosyncrasies of the place, written with style and interlaced with humor. They do not stress information on accommodations or restaurants but do address major sites of interest. Each is beautifully illustrated. They are geared for all audiences. The "Let's Go" Guides, published by Harvard Student Agencies are geared for the young, back-packing, budget minded hosteler. The Lonely Planet and Rough Guides appeal to the same budget minded audiences, predominantly. So, too, in many instances, do the Rick Steves guides. Two excellent guides, comparable in content are the Michelin Green guides and the Baedeker Guides. The former is extremely comprehensive, provides a brief historical background of its subject, lists and describes sites to be seen and rates their significance by a one star -three star system. It also offers recommended excursions from key cities with mileage and descriptions of interesting sights. The text is complemented with black and white illustrations. Festival dates, museum opening and closing times are also indicated. The Baedeker guide is quite similar with the added advantage of color photos, and extremely accurate, detailed, easy to read large scale fold out country or city maps. It gives an extensive listing of hotels and restaurants by price range, lists typical foods and restaurants as well. The guide's size is conducive to slipping into a pocket or purse. The Blue Guides are without a doubt the most comprehensive. Truly encyclopedic. (The Paris Guide is 1,600 pages in length and devotes over 150 pages to who's buried where in Pere Lachaise cemetery for example.) It is primarily geared to the person interested in art, architecture and history. If I were planning a trip, I would begin with the Insight Guide supplemented by the Blue Guide. Once I'd decided on a tentative itinerary, I'd then look to Baedeker or Michelin to firm up details. I'd supplement the guides with information from national and regional tourism offices and various bookmarked websites. <BR> <BR>There are any number of guides geared to specific interests, all of which I've drawn upon at one time or another. Examples are "On the Rails around Europe" Thomas Cook Touring Handbooks; "Phaidon Cultural Guides"; The Berlitz Travellers Guides, "Great European Itineraries", Europe's Wonderful Little Hotels and Inns"; Earl Steinbicker's "Day Trips Guides", "The Great British Bed and Breakfast Guide, coupled with travel books (not guides) such as V. S. Pritchett's "London Perceived", Blake Ehrlich's "Paris on the Seine"; Jan Morris' "The World of Venice", "Oxford" and "Cities" among others. Your interests, age and budget will dictate which guide is best for you. <BR>

Richard

Rob, The straight skinny is there IS no one guide for Europe. Each person has their own priorities, my wife enjoys cathedrals and churches, I could spend days exploring fortifications. Visit your library, sneak a peek at the book store and most importantly let us (Fodor's responders) know where your interests lay.

Donna

Agree that there is no definitive guide. All have their strengths and weaknesses. But, most are highly reliable and well worth the price. I think I own every guide book ever published for Paris. Each had several valuable tips or references not included in any of the others. I think that if you are going to spend all that money to go, you may as well stock up on good tour guides and educate yourself. The more you know before you go, the more you'll save in the long run and the more enriching and enjoyable the experience. I've spent many a lunch hour with a tour guide, highlighter and pad of tiny post-its. And, I cannot imagine a finer way to spend a few hours than in the cafe at Barnes & Noble or Border's perusing the latest selections. I love the Eyewitness Guides (for the photos, walking tours, detailed maps of the attractions by neighborhood) and the Access Guides (for shopping and dining). I also like the Cadogan Guides for the different "take" on everything. But, there are so many fine guide books these days that you must have a first hand look to determine which ones most appeal to your preferences and sensibilities. Good maps are also an excellent investment. The time you spend familiarizing yourself with the lay of the land before going will pay off hugely once there. Also invaluable is a good phrase book. My favorites are the Barron's "At A Glance", because unlike many others, phonetic pronunciations are included, along with lots of other useful and valuable information.

marilyn

We used something called a Routier guide for a trip to England. You could equate it with Triple A Tour Guides for here. It was comprehensive for hotels and restaurants by location. We picked a country house hotel out of that guide--the Carnarvon Arms in Somerset--which was absolutely perfect. They waited on you hand and foot, some of the other guests looked like Miss Marple, and everyone else at this 25-room hotel seemed to be British. The staff was always asking how we found them. Not expensive or fancy, but just gave you the best pampered feeling. So using that kind of guide seemed to get us the best place to stay.

Brian in Atlanta

An all-Europe guide can be helpful in deciding where to go, but won't have the detail you'll need when spending a few days in a city. For cities guides I prefer the Time Out and Access guides. Time Out has the most detailed info and insights into the culture and city life and history (from a British point of view) and has lots of photos (it is very heavy, though). Access Guides, while not as in depth, are by far the easiest to use with great maps by neighborhood and easy location of restaurants/hotels/sites/shopping. <BR>

elaine

<BR>In my experience I would not buy one huge book for all of Europe. As mentioned above, it won't have the detail you need for some places, and you won't want to carry it around with you on your daily outings unless you are ruthless about tearing out what you don't need. <BR>Even among the guidebook series, some are better for some locations than for others. For example, I found the beautiful Eyewitness guide for Venice to be outstanding, but not very helpful for Florence. For Paris, I like Fodor's, Eyewitness, and the hard-to-find Travel and Leisure guide. The latter is not updated very often, but it is lightweight and has excellent detail on historical and cultural sites without being boring or overwhelming. <BR>Frommers books seem to me to cater to budget travel and they do have good tips sometimes. Most of these mass-market <BR>guides seem to mention most of the same hotels and restaurants. For more unusual information, check out websites for newspapers' travel sections, magazine articles, etc. You might also like Gustafson's Cheap Sleeps... and Cheap Eats... guides for various cities which I have found absolutely reliable. Not a tourist trap in the bunch! <BR>elaine

becky

In case you don't want to buy all the different guidebooks mentioned above, may I suggest borrowing them from your local library? Before I went to Italy last year, I checked out several guidebooks (including Fodors, Lonely Planet, APA, Let's Go, Michelin and Eyewitness) and perused all of them. The prior posts were right - each guide book had its own distinctive qualities and a lot of valuable info. <BR> <BR>I photocopied certain pages from certain guidebooks and put together my own comprehensive guide (which was free!). It was quite helpful. <BR>

joel

Rob, I've learned to rely on the Michelin Red Guide for solid restaurant price, quality, ambiance, specialties, and much other info. Absolutely reliable in my opinion. Their system of 3 stars is more meaningful to gastronomes inasmuch as a one-star restaurant is already at a very high level. Two star restaurants are better than most of us will ever see, and three star restaurants are those few classified by many as the world's best. For info on thousands of restaurants in one small book, go Michelin Red Guide. <BR>For info on sights, the Michelin Green Guide series focuses on absolute accuracy, but many folks want color photos, etc. in their guide and that's not Michelin. If unerring accuracy is your goal use the appropriate Green Guide, otherwise I like Fodor's and Baedeckers. <BR>