I have bought a few books( fodors:france, london, and the netherlands) that I have also used in the USA: Fodors; LA, Miami, New York, but are these books enough for Europe...are there better ones? <BR> <BR>let me know. <BR>

Like with almost everything, it depends. In this case it depends in the type of travel/traveller you are. Fodors offers very good basic information regarding main sights, dining and lodging for the independent traveller. If you are a student/right out of college looking for budget tips, Let's Go Europe is a better travel book for you. I understand Karen Brown's are also for the independent, not-much-on-a-budget type. If you like to use a home city and take side trips, there are travel books just for that. <BR> <BR>I'll say Fodor's is a good start for ideas and to start drafting your itinerary. As you start getting a better picture of your trip, supplement with more specific guides.

Paul <BR>It depends on what you want from a guidebook, and what sort of a trip you would like to have. <BR>Judging by your umich.edu domain, I'm guessing you might be a student with a more limited budget. Me too, well limited finances anyhow. <BR>The ones I have used personally are Let's Go, Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. Here's my take on the first two: <BR>Let's Go is written by a bunch of Harvard Students and is updated yearly, so the info is always fresh. However, they tend to recommend lots of "Americanized" places and the information is usually quite superficial. I like them for their maps which have been a bit better than LonelyP's and because they include options for vegetarians in their food listings. <BR>Lonely Planet is a much more detailed endeavor. They provide tons of historical and cultural information along with where to get help from local agencies and where the best budget eats and sleeps are. In my opinion the biggest drawback is that the updates are only done every 2-3 years. In quickly changing areas this isn't enough. Also, they don't always include information on travel times between points. <BR> <BR>Hope that helps.

If you are planning to spend at least, say one week, in a major European city, Time Out city guides are hard to beat : comprehensive, very up to date, catering to all kinds of budget, well organized. They cover, if I remember well, Paris, London,Dublin, AMsterdam, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona... go check on their web site to have more information.

Paul, as the above posters have said, there are many different guides and it all depends on what you are after. I like the Rough Guide series for the in depth background information. I like the Eyewitness guides because they have great pictures, lots of maps, walking tours, and loads of info about the sights (the major disadvantage is they tend to be thick, and printed on glossy paper. They are HEAVY to pack and carry). I like the Access Guides for their street layouts and loads of hotel, restaurant and shopping info. <BR> <BR>Fodor's is definitely a good place to start. You might stop in your local library and check out some of the others to see which one's appeal to you.

For each city I use a combination of Time Out guides (for reading about history/culture/neighborhood descriptions) and Access Guides to carry around with me (for their GREAT maps and ease of locating sites/restaurants/etc.).

For museums and historical sites *only* the "Blue Guide" series is the best. Also check-out the "Streetwise" maps for the major cities you're traveling too. They are detailed, compact, and plastic coated. Regards, Walter <BR>

I like Rick Steve's guides. They tend to be more personable and his listings are budget to moderate. They also have a funny quirkiness to them. You may want to check out his website www.ricksteves.com

I find Fodor's very American and only own one- the Caribbean; but it's very useful there becuase the others are so limited in content. <BR> <BR>But the Rough Guide Series is an excellent introduction. the new Lonely Planet Guide to Scotland is the only one that series I have and if the others are as good it won't be the last. <BR> <BR>The Insight series is excellent for indepth background, culture and history but is limited on the practical side. <BR> <BR>Choose the type which suit your needs and mix and match

You could spend your whole travel budget just on the books! As suggested above, see first what's in your local town library. This is one subject where town libraries tend to be better than university ones. If you get to France and read French, the Routard guides are good for more budget-minded travelers.

I like the Eyewitness Guides, but as stated above they are very heavy and you could regret carrying them with you. You could always photo copy the pages of interest and carry them, tossing them when you are done. The guides have many color photos and ideas for your trip, as well as the usual items found in other guides.

On a recent trip to London and Paris, I found the Eyewitness Guides to be outdated (and I had a supposedly brand new one) My husband likes the pictures in Eyewitness, but I swear by Fodor's and have planned many trips using their guides (Maine, New Mexico, Colorado, France, Amsterdam, London).

I'm a travel book nut - I buy everything I can get my hands on before I go to a country. In addition to the ones already listed, IMO Frommers lists some very good shops. I love Karen Brown for the hotels, and Rick Steves has some good tips. Fodors is good, of course. The Rough Guides often describe off the beaten track sites that are interesting. Michelin also puts out some very descriptive green books, that show maps of towns and pictures.

I'm a travel book nut - I buy everything I can get my hands on before I go to a country. In addition to the ones already listed, IMO Frommers lists some very good shops. I love Karen Brown for the hotels, and Rick Steves has some good tips. Fodors is good, of course. The Rough Guides often describe off the beaten track sites that are interesting. Michelin also puts out some very descriptive green books, that show maps of towns and pictures.Baedacker (Sorry - I've forgotten if that's the correct spelling) does this also, and includes a pretty decent full size map. <BR>Just curious - my parents used to live by the Fielding guides - has anyone seen one recently?

I used Frommers: Paris on $70 a day when I went in March. It had all the necessary information, and it came with a free pull out map. It had top ten sites to see that were free or very inexpensive. I was able to get around very easily using this travel book, and I kept within my budget. <BR>

Paul, <BR>A basic truth regarding guidebooks is that no one guide will completely satisfy your needs or interests or your budgetary constraints. For example, if I want a quick overview of a country, region or city, I'd check the Insight Guides for superb photographs and reading material in an informal, humorous vein. For more specifics, I'd go to Baedeker's guides and Michelin guides which detail sights to see and give some historical or artistic background of the sights. For explicit information about museums and their contents and historical sights, I'd go to the Bue Guides. I'd supplement all of these with a Michelin atlas or individual maps of countries or areas by Michelin or Hallwag. I'd further that research by contacting national, regional and local tourist offices once a tentative itinerary had been established. For background reading, I'd look to books such as Blake Ehrlich's London on the Thames, Chaing Yee's A Silent Traveler in Paris or V. S. Pritchett's A Walk through Spain or anything by Jan Morris relevant to my travel plans. For accommodations, I'd trust to the internet or forums such as this one.

Paul, You need 2 kinds of guide books <BR>for different purposes. Use the Fodors <BR>or Baedecker or Eyewitness or whatever <BR>for your homework and planning. But, <BR>most of these are too big to carry with <BR>you as you travel---That is where the <BR>Michelin Green book comes in. I can stick it in my pocket and keep it handy. <BR>Plan with one, travel with the other.

Paul, <BR>No matter what travel book(s) you decide work best for you xerox the pages of things/places you are interested in and take only those pages with you - you can toss them after you've seen/visted the place of interest. Don't drag around books to Europe.

Paul, <BR>No matter what travel book(s) you decide work best for you xerox the pages of things/places you are interested in and take only those pages with you - you can toss them after you've seen/visted the place of interest. We do this when we travel and it really works out well. With your umich.edu address I'd say you were at the University of Michigan, and whether student,faculty or staff you are used to books ... take my advise tho (I work at a University!) xerox what you need and only take that. What I do recommend is a good map of each city you plan on visiting and you can often get them from that cities tourist bureau. Have fun planning.

I would agree with all of the above. You need to find books that work well for your style of travel. In planning, I use Rick Steves, especially for hotels which provide a wide range of options since we prefer smaller hotels in well placed locations. He is opinionated but that is what I was looking for. This is supplemented by research on the web, here and other sights and the Michelin Green books. Also, since we drive, the Michelin Europe Atlas is always there for planning and trip tics from cw.lease, and resources from Tourist Boards. Planning is half the fun! The best resources are the ones that work for you and facilitate what you want to accomplish or experience on your trip. Have a great time!