Hi everyone,

I'll be visiting Paris (and bits of the Loire valley) in mid-June for 11 days, and I guess I'll be posting a few Paris questions over the next few weeks.

Here's the first question. Which guidebook should would people recommend? I almost always use Lonely Planet guides and I have been happy with most of them. However the reviews in Amazon for their Paris guide (5th ed, Nov 2004) don't look too great. What do people recommend?

I won't be looking for hotels as I'll be staying with people. Restaurants (budget to moderate), sights, to do, day trips, transport, food, culture tips, general information etc, not too bulky-- these are what I'll be mainly looking for in a guidebook.

Does anybody know how the Lonely Planet France compares with Lonely Planet Paris?

Has anyone used the Lonely Planet "Best Of" series? There is a slimmer Lonely Planet Best Of Paris (2005), by a different author, no readers' reviews.

How do the Fodors guides compare, especially the "Gold" series? Is the target audience people with larger pockets?

Thanks in advance!

I've been reading the DK ("Dorling Kindersley&quot Eyewitness Guide to Paris and find it's fabulous. Lots of photos and explanations of things. Definitely one I would bring along.

Enjoy your trip!

I used Paris for Dummies and found it very helpful. It is clunky sized, however, so it got heavy when we did museum hopping.

For budget dining ideas, check out Rick Steves' France 2006. He also has a Paris stand-alone book. I enjoy reading his take on sights and things to do. I cross-reference his book with my other favorite, Frommers. I usually take the Rick Steves' book and photocopy or tear out pages from my Frommers.

Hi

I too love the Eyewitness series. However the book can be a little bulky to carry around. So I bought the Eyewitness Travel "Top 10 Paris". Not a lot larger than pocket size. Very useful and a lovely memento of your visit.

The tourist office puts out an excellent handbook that lists all the Paris sights, open days/times, address, metro stop, etc. If that is all you order, it's mailed free. It's a nice booklet, about the size of a 'Readers Digest' if you know what that is, and is very lightweight and easily carried in your daybag/purse.
They usually throw in the 2006 France Guide for free, too (so don't ask for it).
www.franceguide.com

Another cool book is the Rough Guides 'Directions' which includes the entire book in .pdf format on a mini-CD.

Be aware that virtually all guides are out of date by the time they're published. Restaurant recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt (!) except for those appearing in the annual Michelin Guide.

The Zagat Guide seems to garner a fair amount of praise.

Travelnut - I looked for free Paris publication on the website you referenced and can't find it. I find several for France, but none that are strictly Paris. Have you ordered one recently? Thanks!

Just checked too -- if you click on brochures you get a list for France in general, then select "Paris" from the list of places at the left and you get a selection specifically for Paris. Now I just have to decide which one to order!

Thanks for this link, Travelnut.

I really like the Access Guide (in addition to Eyewitness and Top 10) because everything is organized by neighborhood (rather than seperate chapters for dining, shopping, etc.). The listings for landmarks and buildings are especially useful and interesting - in addition to restaurants and shops.

Another vote for the "EyeWitness Guide To Paris" and even more useful if you are going to the Loire is their guide on France which incorporates Paris.

djkbooks, what exactly is the "access guide" you refer to? Most of the other guide books are somewhat familiar,but this I've never heard of before.
Thanks in advance

My favorite Paris guidebook is the TimeOut guide and the Michelin Green Guide for the Loire Valley. The newest TO guide was published in Feb. 2006, so it will be more up to date than the Lonely Planet guide you mentioned.
I didn't care for the Access Paris guide. I found it boring to read and there wasn't anything in it that I hadn't read elsewhere in other guidebooks. I find the Rick Steves guides much too limited--they cover only what HE thinks is worth seeing.

However, no one guidebook will ever have everything you want.
I have several Eyewitness guides to various places in Europe and they're handy but tend to be somewhat limited in their scope (not nearly as limited as Rick Steves, though) and they are kind of heavy to carry around. The Top 10 guide from Eyewitness is a good suggestion.

A second vote for Time Out (there is a regular Paris one and a walking tours Paris one, both of which I used in 2004 and loved). It is more on the "hip" side but with a range of options in every category from luxury to budget. They also have a website with more current tips such as event calendar. www.timeout.com

I like both the Eyewitness and Access guides. Eyewitness' pictures of "neighborhoods" orient me best

cls2paris - in case you missed it, your answer to getting the Paris brochure was provided by molloy95, a couple posts down from yours...
it is a great little booklet for carrying in the pocketbook.

Thanks Molloy and Travelnut-I can't believe I missed the next link! I ordered a couple of brochures - to different addresses so they are all free!

I thought I had heard the Access Guides had been discontinued. I liked them to, but found they weren't updated frequently enough.

For cities, I always use Time Out Guides.

Thanks for your inputs.
The like suggested by Travelnut is very interesting, and they seem to have a lot of interesting brochures/guides one can download and print out.

The Eyewitness guide looks quite interesting, but it seems a bit bulky. But probably I'll get it anyways. Their website has another smaller "magazine format guide" of 96 pages called

oops, clicked the post button by mistake. Once again,

Thanks for your inputs.
The like suggested by Travelnut is very interesting, and they seem to have a lot of interesting brochures/guides one can download and print out.

The Eyewitness guide looks quite interesting, but it seems a bit bulky. But probably I'll get it anyways. Their website has another smaller "magazine format guide" of 96 pages called Thanks for your inputs.
The like suggested by Travelnut is very interesting, and they seem to have a lot of interesting brochures/guides one can download and print out.

The Eyewitness guide looks quite interesting, but it seems a bit bulky. But probably I'll get it anyways. Their website has another smaller "magazine format guide" of 96 pages called "Paris for Visitors"-- has anyone tried it or know about it?

So I gather no one here has used Lonely Planet or Fodors guides for Paris or France?