Guidebooks to use-not backpacking!
 

Hi fellow Fodorites :)

My inlaws are coming to London to visit us and we're thinking of going to Munich and explore Bavaria for 1 week and including day trips to Salzburg and Innsbruch within that week. Which guidebooks would be great to use to plan/research this trip please? We won't be backpacking so Lonely Planet/Let's Go guidebooks are out.

Thanks in advance!

Hi miss,

Have you considered the Fodors guides?

Why do you think Lonely Planet guide books are for backpacking? They have the most comprehensive information out there as they include costs, opening times, transportation options and other things that many books do not mention.

I guess I would suggest that you go to your local bookstore and browse through the guides to see what you would like if Lonely Planet isn't what you are looking for.

Other options include Frommers and obviously also Fodors.

<font color=#990033>~gnr~</font>

I think that LP are geared towards backpackers as I've used them when I was backpacking. Now I think I have 'graduated' from the backpacking scene and would like to have a guidebook that reflects that.

I prefer to use Time Out City guides-but they don't have one for Munich. Not only I'm interested in the cultural scene, I'm also interested in the shopping scene of Munich and its surrounding areas. Not many guidebooks outside of Time Out publications do this side of things.

I like the Eyewitness series. They have one entitled <i>Munich &amp; The Bavarian Alps</i> by Izabella Galicka and Katarzyna Michalska. If you do a search for this book at www.amazon.com , you can view the table of contents and also view the inside of the book.

Eyewitness also has a book on Austria.

I don't know Munich, but a quick search on Amazon shows there are Munich guides from other series of guide books that I like. DK Eyewitness and Eyewitness top 10, Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich, and Munich at Your Door. What's nice about Amazon is without even going to the bookstore you can often browse table of contents, index and other sample pages to see if they are your style. Also, these days I find starting an internet search can often lead to more current and more fun ideas than books. Start with &quot;munich&quot; &quot;tourist&quot; information&quot; search or &quot;munich&quot; &quot;shopping&quot; search and just follow links you find. Have fun planning!

Had a reason to look for something else and found www.muenchen-tourist.de (yes, you can click on the picture of the British flag and have it in English).

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions!

I like the DK Eyewitness series but ALSO the Rough Guides which are pretty thorough as well.

I go to a bookstore with a couple particular questions in mind and look them up in each guidebook I'm considering. Partly to see if the information is included, but also how &quot;user-friendly&quot; the layout, table of contents, maps, etc. are as well.

Actually I found Let's Go incredibly appropriate for Amsterdam, although I was definitely not backpacking. I think it's a matter of matching the style of the person, the city, and the guidebook series.

I love Eyewitness guides too, however, they are very heavy. Don't know if that's a consideration for you but thought I would mention it. They are wonderful for visiting cities in particular, have pages of each area of the city and the points of interest in that area, as well as cutaway diagrams of churches, castles, buildings of interest, with arrows indicating what's inside. Small section of suggestions for hotels/restaurants/bars, etc.

I'm an Eyewitness fan as well. Frommers and Fodors are also quite good. Actually, I'd recommend going to your local bookstore and reading up on as many as you can get your hands on. They all have pluses and minuses, and you can skip the accomodations sections in ones like Rough Guides, for example, if you are not interested in that.

Eyewitness guides are full of pretty pictures but don't give anything like enough background - you know, what are you really seeing; why it's there, etc, etc. Lonely Planet are good even if you are not a backpacker. Rough Guides are the best. Footprint also. Depends if you want the light entertainment chat show or the in depth documentary!!

i agree with Alice. I was briefly impressed by the DK Eyewitness guides until i actually tried to use one. at best, they should be used along with a more in-depth guide...at worst, they are just a very heavy set of worthless architectural plans for cathedrals and monuments.

I am much more interested in real insight and background of the places i'm visiting rather than cut-away diagrams.

I like eyewitness books too. From where I'm sitting, I can see 8 on my shelf right now.

I'd never use any guidebook for hotel or restaurant recommendations though - most guidebooks aren't reprinted that often. Eyewitness is a great way to learn about places, to make sense of what you'll find there and around. But then I leave them at home. For details, logistics, walks, etc. it's LP and Rough Guide. I don't backpack.

Apparently Alice13 and walkaround missed the whole front section of the Eyewitness Guide, where there are pages and pages of history of the country, as well as datelines. I don't know what more anyone could want in that regard. I'm not an Eyewitness salesperson, just wanted to set the record straight.

I like my Lonely Planet due to the maps. My LP France has dozens of them that are to scale and detailed.

Eyewitness has almost no maps, and like Fodor's, the ones they have are &quot;cartoon&quot; maps that don't have many streets shown and the scale seems off.

missm - I also find Time Out guides to be just about the best - particularly if used in tandem with Michelin Green Guides.
T.O definitely have the best shopping/eating/drinking/clubbing recomendations.

I'm asuming you've found the on-line Time Out Munich Guide (www.timeout.com/travel/munich)

Have a good trip!

Dr D.

Thanks again for everyone's replies-will definitely pop into Borders or Waterstones and see what's on offer :)

For planning trips I find Rough Guides (for public transportation and budget accommadations for non-backpackers)and Michelin Green Guides(places of interesting)most helpful.