Best all around guidebook??
 

My wife and I will be traveling to Southern France in June for two weeks. We will be in Provence for a week and then along the coast for another week. I would like to purchase one guidebook for the trip. Any recommendations on the better guidebooks that are out there? Thanks in advance!

I tend to prefer Rick Steves books... Frommers are good also but I find alot of their recommendations tend to be on the higher priced end.

For touring, the Michelin Green Guides. Especially for France!

Best is Michelin Green Guide, then Cadogan and/or Eyewitness

Fodors of course! :) But I do luv Eyewitness.

Great, thanks everyone. I have heard that the Michelin Green Guides are sometimes good to supplement other guide books. Or do they provide a little historical background, interesting sightseeing, hotel/food recommendations and can be your one stop travel guide?

I like Lonely Planet or the Rough guide for general information and Michelin for Restaurants and Hotels.

Rick Steves is the one I always buy. I also use Frommers, as it has destinations not covered by Rick.

When I'm trying to get an visual of what I really want to see, I buy Fodors.

I prefer Cadogans and Frommers. I like Michelin for in-depth maps of city centers and historical advice, but I don't find it that useful as a sole guidebook. The problem is that it is simply arranged alphabetically, not by geography. It's really a reference book, but you have to know what city/town you want to look up and then find it alphabetically. Also, it isn't always clear where alphabetically certain things will be (like mountains or park areas, or just geographical areas in general). Sometimes it might be under "m" for mont or sometimes under "g" for gorges or "v" for valley, etc.

They have some good touring maps in the front to give you ideas for itinearies, also.

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

Caadogan-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

Michelin Red-They do know France.

Cadogan for me, too.

Hi philibin,

i too like cadogan and Michelin, both green and red - red for driving in towns particularly as they are very good at helping you get in and out, and the green for sight-seeing. they also have excellent driving tour routes.

the trouble is that my green guides are generally VERY old, so i like to supplement with cadogan which is more up to date.

the DK ones give you TOO much info, IMO - i just get confused by all those pretty pictures.

chacun a son gout, as they say in Rome.

regards, ann

My pick would be the Eyewitness guide for the photos and general info (but note, for paperback guidebooks, they're heavy).
After that, I would customize my own guidebook with printouts focusing on my itinerary plus a few options...the most helpful and relevant threads here, articles from the New York Times travel section online and other web sites, then staple them together or have someplace like Kinko's spiral bind them.

We used Rick Steve's guide to Paris, and it was extremely helpful. We also use Frommers for every trip.

Another favorite for great visuals has to be the DK guides. They have maps of all the city sectors with scale drawings of the buildings. It makes navigating so easy! Also, it's a great souvenir of your trip once you get home. I get one for every trip to a new city.

I should have added that I use the Eyewitness Guides mainly for planning - I don't normally lug them along with me.

Thanks so much everyone. This is all helpful information. Will post details of the trip when we return!

Rough Guide for all those travel details, history and culture and Eyewitness guide for what to see.

I have a small collection of London guide books, and my newest addition is ACCESS London. I find it very informative and well-organized, with lots of information on shopping and restaurants. The brief introductions to the various neighborhoods are interesting, too.

I wouldn't throw out my old books, but for a person who already has a basic familiarity with a city, the ACCESS guide offers new insight. (IMHO)

i use lonely planet at home but never take it with me
we take the eyewitness..i like the way its set out and its a nice souvenir of your travels with the colourful photos