Has anyone used Time Out Guides for travelling (the books, not the magazine)? Good, bad, likes, dislikes?

Yes, I love Time Out!

The book fits neatly into a purse and I love the numerous sidebars filled with information with a touch of humor.

The info is well laid out and I like the pictures as well.

They have become one of my favorites guidebooks to use.

Hope that helps

They're great for restaurants and bars - something severely lacking from most guides.

I generally use them in conjunction with another guide that gives better historical detail.

They're the ones I tend to use these days -- very good in terms of restaurants, as Kate mentioned, and just general stuff regarding what's going on in a city.

Also they're good in terms of cultural information and current affairs for the places you're visiting.

I was reading their Naples book just this morning. I like them a lot. Good prose style, and just the right depth of information to be practical.

More than anything else I've always noted that their restaurant and bar listings seem much more "locals favorites" than the well known places found in all the other guide books. I like that a lot.

They're the ones I go to first. I've used them repeatedly, particularly in Asia, and their nightlife, restaurant/bar recommendations have been spot-on-plus they have really good pictures as well.

As for Europe-I particularly recommend the Budapest Time Out Guide-excellent.

They are at the top of my list of preferred guide books. I've used them in Paris, London, Athens, and Rome. The Athens one was particularly useful. The separate eating and drinking guides to London and Paris are terrific.

I love 'em. Fits the purse, like the overview maps - "maps"

I guess I'll be the first person here to say I don't like it.
The restaurants and shops section is good, but the attractions and sights section is rather lacking.

I also find it too heavy.

Check them out at your local bookstore and see if it fits your style.

FWIW I also like their website, especially the accommodation sections. The reviews appear to be candid, are clear on budget & usually contain links direct to the Hotel websites, which is very convenient.

Jim

No guidebook is perfect, but I like TO better than most for European cities. However, the quality varies from year to year. I thought the Paris guidebook they put out a few years ago was more complete in some ways than the most recent.
The only thing I don't like about TO as a whole is their somewhat condescending attitude toward older travelers. To say a place is favored by the middle-aged is one of their favorite put downs.

Actually as I mentioned, the front sections provide pretty interesting reading. There's usually a section on what's been happening in terms of current affairs over the past year or two, a nice history section (usually with a chronology, etc.).

I don't usually have time to read this stuff, but I learn a lot just from a casual skimming.

As previous listers have mentioned, their guides to restaurant and bars are excellent. However I tend to use them in conjunction with other guidebooks. I find their tone can be quite sneering and condescending in comparison - less enthusiasm and more cynicism. Maybe it's a British thing, but especially so with the Budapest Time Out guide that we used last year (sorry Spygirl!). So now I photocopy their restaurant recommendations and take another guidebook with me for the sights.

AAh, but I think that's what's so good about them - their honesty. There's nothing I can't stand more than a guide that presents everything in glowing terms - it's just not truthful. But then, perhaps they appeal to my British cynicism.

I've to agree to some extent -- it's fun reading what their biases are. Some of the restaurant reviews are pretty telling and honest -- I wish I could give some examples, but I can't think of any right now.

Most guide books take a more neutral tone.

I bought Time Out's "Cheap Eats in London" and their "Pubs and Bars" guide for London. I haven't used them in London yet, but I like how they are organized by area, and each establishment is clearly marked on a map. The Cheap Eats book is small enough to carry around. The Pubs book is a little bigger, but still pretty light.

Yes, the reviews can be a little sneering, but I guess that's the Time Out style. I see a lot of the same kind of writing in Time Out New York magazine.

I love them, but admit that they skew to a demographic younger than mine .