michelin guides
 

I've never used them and have not been out of the country in more than 10 years. Red? Green? What's the difference?

Are they really so great?

The Red Guide is published for a particular country (e.g. France, Germany, Italy etc) and rates hotels and restaurants therein, giving current details on each.
The Green Guides are tourist guides to a particular country (e.g. France) or a particular region (e.g. Burgundy, Provence). The Green Guides are heavy on historical background and scenic attractions, and less good on specific advice on how to get around a region, or where the laundries are, or like that.

thank you adeben, I had heard of them but had never seen one. Are they available in mass market bookstores or should I go to amazon, do you think?

my biggest complaint about the Green Guides is they are organized alphabetically rather than by region or location. It can be hard to find things, or figure out where they are. Which is funny for a book purported to be a guide for drivers.

but they do have good historical background and information.

I have had no trouble finding the green guides in places like Borders or Barnes&Noble. I occasionally find the red guides as well, though less often.

china_cat, I agree with your point about the alphabetical listings in the Green Guides. It is particularly frustrating because they include towns, villages, cities and areas in the alphabetical arrangement. So, if you have the guide for Provence and you want to know something about two towns, say Viason-la-Romaine and Gigondas, how do you know that the former is listed in the Vs while the latter is listed in the Ds under Dentelles de Montmirail? I know, the answer is to look in the index first, but I find the Green Guide indexes are sometimes incomplete.

However, I love the Green Guides despite their idiosyncracies. They are lighter than some of my other guide books (I find the Eye Witness guides brick-like) and are easy to pack and tote around.

I have a particular interest in history and architecture, and they are ususally excellent in that regard. They also recommend very good touring routes.

Anselm

Hi
Yes the alphabetical listings are a drawback for some, but their knowledge and especially the driving trips they offer make it worthwhile. I always look forward to looking at the Greenqyide. Their trip routes have been good also. We've followed or modified them in the past.

The Michelin Guides's strengths lie in the combination of recommended sights, shown on maps (some sights are given 1, 2, or 3 stars), and driving itineraries. The newer guides also have some hotel and restaurant recommendations.

The red guide is invaluable for researching hotels and restaurants in advance. Those for France are in French, but there's an English summary at the beginning, and the symbols make deciphering the recommendations easy.

The red guides also have excellent city maps indicating the routes from various main roads.

I note that the red guide for France is in French because someone on the amazon.com site bought a copy and was infuriated that it was in a foreign language.

hah!

THANKS FOR THE TIP.

Forewarned is forearmed.