loisco

We want to travel light for our 7 week trip to France so my husband and I are "having discussions" on what guide books if any to take.Need some advice. He is taking his PDA.


Green Michelins for each area?...can we get them in France in English or better to buy here? That would mean taking 5 or 6 different ones?

I want to take one guide book..say Frommers or Fodor??

French dictionary or phrase book?

I have a Marling Menu Master from 1971..need a new one?

A friend insists we need the Red Michelin.

Michelin maps????

Thanks for all your help. It has paid off as we now have Paris hotel reservations...and ordered luggage..it's a start.

StCirq

My favorite guidebooks are the Michelin green (and red, but I don't take that on trips - I use it for planning), the Eyewitness Guides, and the Cadogan Guides.

No, I wouldn't count on being able to buy the Michelin guides in English in France. For the Eyewitness Guides, if you don't want to carry them, you can always xerox the pages you'll need.

Underhill

you might be able to find the green michelin guides in english once in france--especially if you're in a large city--but i'd advise getting them here to be safe. the red michelin is very useful for city maps, although you could invest in the michelin atlas on your arrival. the maps you will need here for planning purposes. for other guidebooks, i second st-cirqs' recommendation of the cadogan and eyewitness guides. if you'll be spending time in provence, get the fodors guide for the region.

Robespierre

There are several good e-Books that include every country, city, and language (dictionary and phrasebook). Here's a few thousand to get you started:

http://usa1.ebooks.com/subjects/browse.asp?SID=332

You can also put your maps in the PDA with Microsoft AutoRoute.

loisco

Thanks Rob...now I have ebooks to go with my ebags. Seriously, this is quite a website. I will have to take time with this one.

loisco

Rob...that Microsoft program wont work on our PDA ...sigh! Ours is for a MAC. Thanks anyway.

nonnafelice

Rough Guides has a new series of "Directions" guidebooks that come with CD Roms. The CDs include the book as a PDF with a password that allows you to download a free text version for your PDA (either Palm or Pocket PC). Or you can download the PDA version alone from the Rough Guides web site (roughguides.com).

I have not used any of these, although I have looked at them in the bookstore and thought they looked pretty good. I do plan to order one for our next trip.

Note that the CD included in the book is the small size, which means you can use it only if your computer has a tray-loading (not slot-loading) CD drive.