giovanna

Hello it's me giovanna.My fiance' and were wondering.Is there a internet site that they can send you free brochures or Pamplets on Paris and Italy.What I mean is the Major attrations, sightseeing Tours, or to do your own walking Tours.And also on Restaurants to eat at. I hope someone can help us out. <BR> <BR>giovanna

Rex

Giovanna, <BR> <BR>You and your fiance are doing yourself a big disservice if you do not buy at least one major guide book (start with the eyewitness guide series?) for both Paris and Italy. A major library near you may have them if you want to see them before buying them (over the internet, if you can't find them anywhere else). <BR> <BR>But you can get some good info from the official tourist information boards of both France and Italy. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR> <BR>

Howard

Rex has given you good advice about buying some guidebooks. <BR>Second bit of good advice: Go to the search function of AOL, Yahoo and/or others, and simply type in "Tourist sights in Paris" and "Tourist sights in Italy." You will discover a treasure trove of websites from which to gain more information than you'll ever need!

Shayne

Definitely get at least one guidebook that covers France and Italy (Fodors, Frommers, Let's Go, Lonely Planet, etc.). You will find it invaluable (maps, hours attractions are open, dining suggestions, public transit maps, etc, etc.). I can't tell you how many times we looked in ours on our honeymoon last year! <BR>

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

The web site you want is www.amazon.com where you can the Eyewitness Guide for both countries--that is 2 books. It will be the best investment you can make for your trip.

elaine

giovanna <BR>My files on Venice, Florence/Tuscany, and Paris have <BR>many many websites for information on each, including the tourist information offices for the countries and various cities <BR>If you'd like to see them, email me

Carol

http://www.desteo.com/ <BR> <BR>Just be careful how much you ask for, you WILL receive tons. Have fun

Jane

I recommend a web site www.anamericaninparis.com He also gives you personal help via e-mail. Tremendously helpful. We did all our planning through the one web site.

Linda

Another good one is World Wide Brochures at www.wwb.desteo.com. I've gotten lots of brochures through there, and it doesn't take too long to arrive.

Linda

Sorry, forgot to add this (my finger was too quick on the mouse): You have to be careful which you choose; many are only for commercial establishments. But there is almost always a tourist office offering.

Kay

I called the French Tourist Office in NY (it is listed - I lost the #) and they sent me free maps of Paris and some good brochures about museums and 3 free 5 minute telecartes! <BR> <BR>Also, I am a student on a budget - so I just take the guidebooks out from my local library. I figure if I lose them I'll buy new ones for the library. <BR> <BR>Have a great trip.

Christina

The best place for most general information (maps, sightseeing) is a city or country's tourist information office. I know you can get brochures from the France National Tourism Office (www.francetourism.com), they have a button to click for that. Paris is www.paris-touristoffice.com, but I don't know what they have on their site, or maybe the France National Site will provide brochures for Paris, probably. Most other things (walking tours, etc) are small, private concerns and you have to write or call them directly for brochures. Frankly, there is so much online now that that is often unnecessary. Paris tour companies are www.parisvision.com, www.cityrama.com, www.parisapied.com, and a few others for walking tours. There are tons of places for info on restaurants, but a general office will probably not be of use there, you need specific guidebooks or sites dedicated to that: www.zagats.com is one. Any guidebook website that has content will often list some hotels and restaurants, such as Fodors does. So does www.frommers.com and my favorite for everything (sightseeing, hotels and resaurants, entertainment) is www.timeout.com, you can just about print an entire guidebook from their website. Rough Guides used to have a lot online also. Any general city tourism web site will list major attractions--www.paris.org has tons of info like that, it's good for the major attractions and some other stuff, so does the Paris touristoffice above. I don't know as much about Italy. I used to know some website that did distribute lots of free travel brochures but I forget it. They were mainly commercial, anyway. I agree you should get a good basic guidebook, such as Frommers, which is not too expensive and pretty good overall. I personally don't think typing in a generic phrase like "tourist sights in Paris" etc to a browser will be useful, you'll get tons of stuff but probably nothing very good like I've suggested above. Also, go to www.paris-anglo.com, they have lots of good online info.

Howard

I'll have to disagree with Christina. Typing in "Tourist sights in Paris" can result in an unending stream of sources. I've followed this approach (and others) successfully for many destinations including Paris, Italy (twice), Yosemite and Arizona in the past three years. I might add this anecdote: In researching my first trip to Italy this way, I came across an incredible website that gave me literally hundreds of other websites to search. When I was in the Italian Tourist Office in NYC and mention it to them, they said they had never heard of the site and asked me to pass along the information to them. <BR>