Best guide book for Sapin?
 

Hi everyone!

There are so many guidebooks out there for Spain. Do you guys have any reccomendations? My fiancee and I are budget travelers that love to feel (and taste) the culture and go where the tourists generally don't...

Any suggestions?

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 is excellent for Madrid and Barcelona

And don't forget Maribel's guides which you can download for free.
http://www.maribelsguides.com/

Fodors Spain 2008 is terrific!!!

All of the ones listed by other posters are really great. Fodors is wonderful (and getting better all the time!) and so is Rick Steves. But I think with regard to your specific desires for budget travel and "off the beaten path" experiences, I would go with Lonely Planet.

I found that Lonely Planet had the most options for budget travelers AND it had the coolest, quirkiest, most memorable walks and ideas for heading away from touristy spots in Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo. The only thing I noticed was a few of the small streets were missing on their maps of Toledo, but that was remedied by getting a map from the TI by the cathedral. Overall, I love the smart-ass, liberal tone of Lonely Planet, and I feel like it's one of the best ones out there for unique budget traveling. And I've had to do some <i>serious</i> budget traveling when I was younger. LP always served me well.

Here's my trip report to give you an idea....I have a section on the guidebooks in there.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35009267

cheers! M

Hi...Given the price of the euro, we are almost all budget travelers. Just returned from a month in Spain and Portugal. If limited to two, I would pick Rick Steves and the Michelin Green Guide.

I spent a month in Spain this past Sept. and researched for about a year. Maribel's Guides is without a doubt the best most current information you can find. I was in Platja d'Aro on the Costa Brava, Barcelona, San Sebastian and Madrid. If you want &quot;taste&quot; then I recommend Green Spain which doesn't get the hoards of tourists and the Basque people and food were memorable.

Thanks everyone! I think we will go for the Timeout and lonely Plant. Oh, and of course Maribel's guides! :)

IMO, the most comprehensive guidebook on Spain is Penelope Casas&quot; &quot;Uncommon Spain&quot;. It takes a more &quot;local&quot; approach. surfacing things you won't find in other books.

It' s real strength is local restaurants - no book can touch it. She doesn't climb on the bandwagon of the latest and hottest but rather points up the local places which are tried and true.

She doesn't spend mcuh time at all on lodging -usually only the top of the line establishments. But that's what the intrnet is for.

If you are looking for a serious book on Spain and like the &quot;off the beaten path&quot; experiences, this is the book.

I have Baedecker's Guide books for Madrid, Barcelona, the Costa Brava and Portugal; and a Berlitz Guide book for Sevilla. Spain is a huge and diverse Country and it would be difficult to cover it all with a single Guidebook.
I also bought a few good maps. For local areas, like Rias Bajas (Galicia) I try to pick up guidebooks at the Renfe Station. I found some excellent ones at Renfe Vigo (at the Newsstand).

Penelope Casas' 'Uncommon Spain' is a good recommendation; but if you're going to visit Barcelona or Madrid in depth, those Baedecker Guidebooks are pretty good. Most include maps; but I suggest you buy a Map of Spain.