dewet

Does anyone know whether Michelin publishes a Red Guide France in English? If not, will a French edition be usable? (I do not speak any French at all). I checked on Amazon and Michelin websites but do not seem to find an English edition.

nytraveler

I have Michelin green and red guides for sections of France. Have not seen red for the entire country but only for Paris and one or two of the departments/major tourist areas. Paris was English and I think the others may have been French, but I can bumble along in it. You might also want to check Barnes & Noble or also the British Amazon (used to be separate, not sure if it still is.)

StuDudley

They published an English Red Guide for France about 5 years ago - but that was the last (and only) one in English (except for Paris). The only thing you won't be able to read in the 2014 Red Guide are the descriptions of the hotels & restaurants. Address, phone #, web site, days closed, prices, ratings (stars & knife/forks), maps, info about the city, are understandable.

There are English descriptions on the www.viamichelin.com web site .

Stu Dudley

Christina

It will be usable to the extent that you can find places they rate, I guess. I thought you could do that online for free, though. And it has the little icons about amenities, etc., which maybe you could figure out without the key, or you could at least use a translator for those few words (the key). Days closed won't be understandable if you don't know the words of days in French, but you can look those up, also.

I would never carry one around with me on a trip, anyway, because they are too heavy. Why don't you just look online on their website for the places you are interested in while planning? You can even see photos online, sort by distance or price, etc., and you can read it in English online. Then you can take notes or print stuff out you are interested in. Here's the website, the search box is on the left side

http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Restaurants

This is the Paris area http://travel.michelin.com/web/desti...is/restaurants

I really like the Gayot guides also for hotels and restaurants in France, you can see that online for free also
http://www.gayot.com/

StuDudley

I always carry the Red Guide with me when we spend 2 months in France each year. I don't use it that much for restaurants (I print out descriptions, etc from Viamichelin), but for the Guide's city maps that show one-way streets, parking lots, major access routes, and specific location of restaurants. I used it once to locate a hospital when I had a medical emergency. The maps in the Green Guide aren't very useful - except for locating tourist spots.

Stu Dudley

nytraveler

Um, figuring out the days of the week takes about 3 minutes even if you have no French at all. And if someone is really put off by having to learn that much I think they might be happier with a tour than independent travel.

Naturally you can't learn a whole new language (or several) every time you go on a trip - but it's always a good idea or pick up at least the most limited basics: polite phrases, important phrases (where is the toilet?), directions, numbers/times, days of the week and key menu items. That can easily be picked up in a week or so with a small phrase book before you leave.

And days of the week are especially easy - since they are directly related to the gods: in romantic languages days of the week are related to the roman gods and in germanic languages - like english - they are named are the nordic gods (as in Thor's day, Freya's day, Wotan,s day etc).

dewet

Thanks all. I ordered the Red Guide (IN FRENCH), and probably should manage. And am busy teaching myself a few basic French terms and sentences. And a tour will definitely not work for us. Hate bus tours. Been on a few and it is hell.
Thanks Stu for your invaluable advice re. itineraries and do's and dont's. Followed your recommendations to the T.