Guidebooks ? which are the best for a traveler like me? (30, married, visiting multiple countries?.)
 

I want to go out and buy guidebooks for our trip to Europe. However looking at a ton of guidebooks at the bookstore, and the long list on the internet I have become totally overwhelmed. Can anyone give me a quick summary of the main guidebooks - as to which type of travelers they target. Or if you could suggest a guidebook that fits me I would appreciate it.

I am 30, and me and my husband are headed to Europe for about a month. He has never been, while I have been to France, Italy, England, Scotland, although it has been quite awhile.
Right now we are planning:
4 days Paris
4 days driving around Normandy (Dday beaches, Mont StMichel)
4 days Lisbon (and surrounding small towns)
2 days Madrid
2 days Toledo
2 days Granada
2 days Seville
3 days Barcelona
4 days either Rome or Florence
3 days Amsterdam
We both know relatively little about Europe, I am a bit more cultured on France as I have been there a couple of times. My husband is interested in the typical touristy things and anything historical. I enjoy that as well, but also the cultural aspect. So we?d like to know about the ?main? attractions, but also anything a bit out of the ordinary ? something that gives a feel for the city but is not all tourists. We would like well informed and thorough material, however I don?t want to carry around a ton of huge travel books.
We are young, energetic (for the most part!) and are ready for a busy and active vacation. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hi,

I am planning a trip too next year. I am 31, married and we are trying to make the most of our money. Have you looked at Rick Steves- Best of Europe? The nice thing about his books are that they give you the highlights of some of his favorite destinations. Sometimes you can get overloaded with information and it is hard to decide on sights, hotels, etc. His books are not going to have high end places though. Alot of people also like Lonely Planet so that could be another alternative.

I personally think you are trying to do too much in 30 days but thats just me. I would consider leaving off Amsterdam for sure and adding Venice instead to your trip or dropping Italy as well to concentrate more on Spain and France. Unless you are doing overnight trains from location to location you will find that you lose about a half day every time you move from location to location. A tight itinerary like this depends on transportation ease. Are you planning to train it? bus? fly, car?
I think that you may also find that after 2 or 3 weeks of travel like this that you might just like a day to veg for awhile.
To get back to your actual question it would be helpful to know your budget and tastes. Is food important? Are we talking hostels or Ritz Carlton? What time of year are you traveling? etc.

When is this trip? You should break this down into countries, and spend 2-3 weeks per country, bringing home one each of a half dozen major &quot;brands&quot; of guide books from your <b>local public library</b>. You'll find tat that different books will serve different purposes as you work your way through the planning process. The most pictures are best for getting yourslf inspired, and choosing destinations. But those are rarely he best for selecting lodging, for example. Then go to the internet, including here and you may find yourself scrapping parts of your &quot;sub-itineraries&quot; and it might influence which books you actually want to but, as you have become familiar with wht they have to offer.

I too, think that the last seven days are where your good sense falls apart. Spend all of the final seven days in Italy, or skip in Italy and stay within a 150 mile radius of Maastricht (NL) - - approximately where Belgium, Holland and Germany come together.

I think the eight days in France and 15 in Portugl/Spain are quite prudently apportioned.

Have a great trip, and come back here often as your plans evolve.

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

For a fast paced trip like yours, do check out Rick Steves (at least he has a sense of humor and his books aren't so dry). His &quot;Best of Europe&quot; will hit the highlights and you can check out some of his specific country books. You can then come back to Fodors and look up info and search on the Internet. If you don't want to spend much on lodging, his advice has worked well for me, as have many of his restaurant choices. I like to supplement with Fodors. One of Rick Steves' great tips is to rip (or copy) out the portions of the guide book you'll be using so you don't have to carry big books - toss as you go.

I like to read several guidebooks, including Rick Steves, Fodors and Frommers, and find information on the internet. Usually I buy one book, and check out the others from the library.

Then I combine it all into one or two pages per city, arranged by neighborhood. I don't like to carry a guide book with me, too bulky.

Just to clarify the last couple of stops on our trip...
We are going to Italy b/c my husband really wanted to go... we don't have enough time to see more than one city so we will just go to Florence or Rome. And flights are so cheap that it costs the same as taking a train ride... so I figured instead of taking a train elsewhere in Spain, we would spend a few days in Italy so at least he gets a taste of it. We plan to go back to Italy someday - but who knows when that will happen. (hence the few days on this trip)
The reason we are ending up in Amsterdam is because that is where we are flying home from. We are using frequent flyer tickets and this type of ticket requires us to fly out of a United Airlines hub city in Europe - all of which are up further north near Amsterdam. So no matter what we had to end our travels elsewhere than Spain or Italy.

And ... we leave for our trip Mid-July - I would love to spend weeks testing out different books, but unfortunately do not have the time for that. I have done a lot of research on the internet - but I work long hours and travel for work so my book-research time is limited. We are trying to stay on a budget - I'd like to spend 100$ or less a night on hotel, and eat reasonable meals. That being said, I expect we'll be spending a lot of money on museum admissions, souvenirs etc (I like to shop!).
I know that our time in Spain is a bit rushed - 2 days here, 2 days there. But I've spoken with several friends who have done extensive travel in Spain and it was them who suggested that itinerary.

Thanks for all of the input - I do appreciate it!

Given your follow up your itinerary seems reasonable.

Two posters recommended Rick Steves Best of Europe. This book has nothing at all on Granada, Seville, or Lisbon, three of your cities. This says more about Steves than about the cities.

The Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring and Fodor's Europe are superior in every way to Steves books. Michelin Green Guides are the best by far for the sights to see. They are thin and light but very detailed on museums and artifacts. The Michelin Green Guides do not include hotels or restaurants, but commentary on H&amp;Rs are usually the worst researched part of any guide book. Even Steves who claims to update his books every year is out of date and worse. DK books are also great guides to the sights/sites but are rather heavy.

Bookstores are loaded with Steves, Fodors, and Fieldings but rarely have any Michelins. I recommend that you go to Amazon.com and order the Michelin Green Guides for Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, and Spain to plan your sightseeing. Use Fodors Europe for upper scale H&amp;Rs if that is your budget, or Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring for lower cosr H&amp;Rs.

My best advice---look at the lease program for a Peuguot from Autoeurope.
Limit yourself to France, Italy and Iberia. Good luck !

I am not sure I understand this United Airlines issue. I fly UA and their partner airlines a fair amount and have used FF miles last year to fly abroad and am thinking about using them for Europe next year and I am pretty sure you can fly anywhere in Europe on the Star Alliance (Lufthanza especially) with an open jaw. As an example as I do not know where you are flying from; you can fly SFO to CDG via FRA and return from say Florence via FRA or possibly MUC. Is the issue ticket/destination availability on the days you can fly?
Guidebooks all have their weakness and strengths but for you I would probably look at the Lonely Planet books. The Rick Steve books would also be good for you but you would have to buy several to cover the same ground you are attempting to cover. You might be able to get these books used on the Amazon.

dbfrank,

Being in the same demography and addicted to buying guidebooks, I hope my input is helpful.
My personal favorite for both research and reading is DK Eyewitness.
I find that the Michelin Guides are helpful for hotels and restaurants.
I also really enjoy Knopf guides, Cardigan guides and Insight guides.

We've gone on crazy trips like that. We use the Michelin Green Guides for the areas we're visiting. The recommendatino for the Peugeot lease plan was an excellent one but you would have to spend time getting to Italy which means you would lose time somewhere along the way. I suspect your plan to fly cheap would be best.

I think I'd consider giving up one of the cities in Spain to spend the extra time in Italy. It's lots of fun, but you will be getting tired toward the end of your journey.

Off the beaten track guide would be the Lonely Planet. Spend a Saturday morning at Borders and check out a few of the suggestions above before you make your choices. You can have a cup of coffee there while you look.

Have a great trip. ((@))

Have you considered the Time Out guides for the major cities, you are visiting? I always use them - they are the best for cities, I think. I am 34, married and must admit that we go for hip hotels, cafes and restaurants, and that's what you get in TimeOut. If you like the sound of this you should also look into the StyleCity guides from Thames &amp; Hudson.
I know it's alot to carry around if you are going to buy them all, but you can also check out the time out webpage, www.timeout.com
have a great trip -

Hey CPH, I second your suggestions of the TimeOut and StyleCity guides. In fact, I just bought the StyleCity guide for Amsterdam. I've been restraining myself from buying the StyleCity guide for Barcelona as I've no plans to be there in the near future, and I own the guides for Paris and London.

StyleCity is a beautiful series, but beware of the rather bad binding. The cover of my Paris guide fell off after I flipped through the guide a couple of times.

mjs-
I have to use a standard award on United ? 80,000 miles a ticket (which is killing me!) Its because there were no saver award tickets left (except flying on odd days and having to make multiple connections). Had we planned a little earlier than I probably could have used a saver award.
I am flying from O?Hare. I would have much rather flown in directly to Lisbon/Madrid, and home from Italy, but it was not an option.
I was informed by multiple UAL agents that you can only fly on United flights when using a standard award, you may not fly on codeshare flights.
The advantage of the standard award is that we can change our flights without incurring a huge fee. We can change dates for no fee, and location for $75. I thought this was a really good idea for us, considering we are going to be gone for a month, you never know what could happen, and there is always the off chance that we?d need to leave early for a family emergency (that has happened to me more than once on vacation). So I guess the extra miles is worth that insurance.
I was told that if I flew on a saver award and used a partner airline, if I needed to come home early I would be stuck buying a new ticket.
Hence, that is the reason that I am stuck with few options.

Travel Guides, in order of preference:
1. DK/Eyewitness
2. Michelin Green Guides
3. Fodors
4. Lonely Planet
5. Frommer's

Go to your local bookstore, find an appropriate DK/Eyewitness book (Madrid, Paris, Rome, etc.), open to a random page and start reading. You'll see what I mean.

I like the &quot;Rough Guide&quot; series of guidebooks. They do not have a lot of photos and are a bit &quot;utilitarian&quot; for some, but they sure have solid, practical information.

The Michelin books are good also . . and you can't beat their maps if you are driving.

Have fun . . Rich

80,000 miles per person is &quot;worth&quot; a minimum of $1600 and could easily be worth $4000, if used (especially 20,000 miles at a time) for the right circumstancs when paid tickets cannot be had at a bargain.

I would recommend - - unless you KNOW that you have a short life expectancy - - that you BUY the tickets that really meet your needs. I would also recommend that you reduce the rip to 20 days or less and put money in the bank (if you have any left, after buying the air travel) towards the NEXTtrip. You are going to have a lot better idea of ways to enjoy Italy once you have BOTH been to Europe. Fly on bargain FF miles/redemption in the offseason and you will have your next trip for a song, and still have half of that huge FF mile balance to play with afterwards.

Slightly curious - - how did you get so many FF miles by age thirty, with so little international travel history? (nunna my bizness, I realize)

Wow rex, how did you come up with that calculation? I've always thought that 1 mile = $1 is a pretty good estimate. Maybe I'm the naive one. And I can never seem to use the miles for international travel anyway, so the value seems to me to be almost 0.

This is just a reply to Rex's question above. My brother-in-law travels from St. Louis to San Francisco on almost a weekly basis for his job, in addition to other work-related travel. He is 25 and has well over 80,000 miles because of this. Although it seems difficult to be able to rack up so many frequent flyer miles without traveling overseas, a lot of business travelers do get their miles this way.

Thanks!
Tracy