I have the Rick Steves Paris guide, and in it he has itineraries broken down by each day, depending on how long you are there.<BR><BR>Has anyone followed these itineraries? Are they worth it? Do the allow for leisure time too?<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>Lisa

I tend to think following a pre-arranged itinerary is too rigid and not suitable for me. I do like guidebooks and choose what interests me.<BR><BR>The exception might be if an itinerary points out a short cut. For example, a visit to St. Paul's in London followed by a visit to the Tate Modern makes sense. ...or visiting the Tower of London then taking the DLR to Greenwich.

I followed it but added bits and pieces from other guidebooks.He has very good itineraries.<BR>Enjoy

Walk any place in Paris and you see something, assuming you are in the so-called tourist areas.<BR><BR>But even strolling along some of the byways of the 14th around Place d'Italie and Denfert Rochereau can be interesting.<BR><BR>I do find his quick and dirty guide to the Louvre to be useful. If you see those highlights, and everything in between, you will have had a pretty good tour. <BR><BR>

Dear Littletraveler:<BR><BR>I have followed Rick Steves walking guides and have found them very helpful. However, I would double the time he recommends. For example, if he says it is a 10 minute walk, double it to twenty minutes. He must be a fast walker!!

I agree on adding time to his walks. I used his walk thru Montmartre and the Marais and his Louvre guide (just rip out the pages so you don't have to carry the whole book. I wanted to see the highlights and then stepped into areas not listed. I can't spend hours in one museum. Another walking guide is Steinbicker's France Day trips (another time I took his Montmartre/Maris walk).

OK, I think the best word to describe me is ANAL. But I end up with detailed schedules and never follow them. It's great to pre-plan. Just be prepared to alter them as you go.

Thanks everyone. Like Patrick, I like to try to maximize my time by planning things out, but I definitely allow for the possibility of straying from the plan if something catches my eye or I want to linger elsewhere. I also cannot stay in a museum for hours on end.<BR><BR>I like his itineraries though as a starting base. I will remember that bit about allowing extra time for actually walking! LOL! <BR><BR>Thanks again!

littletraveler: I use Rick's guides on every trip to Europe, but as an outline rather than the final word on what to see and do. He groups sites logically so that one isn't back-tracking and wasting time. He does a good &quot;quick&quot; job on describing what is worth seeing and what is not. I always suppliment his guides with other more detailed guides. And, of course, we always take enough time to wander from &quot;the schedule&quot; or even ignore it if the mood strikes us or an opportunity presents itself. I do believe, however, that Rick provides a very useful tool in his guides.

His &quot;one, two, or three days&quot; itineraries are described as &quot;busy&quot; which is an understatement. If one has only three days or fewer, better to choose the corresponding number of itineraries required from his &quot;five to seven days&quot; section. Needless to say you don't have to follow his ideas in the order suggested, but can mix and match to suit. <BR><BR>As he offers plans for the morning, afternoon, and evening of each day, you might want to consider deleting the plans for one time period (for us it was the evening) and substitute leisure time. <BR><BR>We found the walking tours and museum tours to be good introductions, except for the Versailles tour, for which we substituted a paid guided tour at the palace (worth it.)

Last week in Paris we used his guide as a loose framework-we did parts of some of his itineraries. Worked well for us.<BR>He gives practical advice and his remarks are entertaining. He is not my only resource but is generally one of the two guides I take on the trip. I carry one, my husband the other so neither of has to carry all the paper.

Just back from our trip and wanted to update anyone who is interested. We ended up doing his &quot;historic Paris walk,&quot; his &quot;Rue Cler walk&quot; and his &quot;Marais walk.&quot; All three were easy to manage and we had plenty of time for deviating and strolling, people-watching, etc.<BR><BR>Thanks to everyone for your help, we had a great trip!

His walks and museum tips are usually pretty good. I do try and stay away from most of his hotel and virtually all of his restaurant suggestions. I think he affords first time travelers to Europe the confidence to try things on their own, which is a good thing.