Katie_H

Where are you heading UA20U? Only asking because a slew of our new guides are coming out at the end of this month; but perhaps you're heading over for this semester before then.

For instance, we just received the new London guide from the warehouse and it looks great--totally revamped with tons of maps and recommendations that span the $$$ spectrum (guess those should be pound signs actually).

Best of luck to you on your semester away---there's a fair number of threads here from other college students planning for study abroad. I spent a year in England after I graduated from college; Europe's low-cost airlines really came in handy.

I'd also recommend looking around news stands when you arrival for magazines targeted to local expats like Time Out for show listings and the like.

missypie

For deciding where to go and what to see, I love the DK Eyewitness Guide. It is typically my first purchase when considering a location. The pictures are beautiful.

I buy the Rick Steves guide if is available for the city I'm visiting. His walking tours of musuems, churches, etc. are perfect for our family....short and humorous.

I do all of my hotel and restaurant research here and elsewhere on the internet.

audere_est_facere

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the editor - Time Out isn't aimed at ex-pats. It's aimed at us locals. It is very useful though, and has a lot of money-off coupons in it.

Pegontheroad

It really depends on the individual traveler, as some have said.

I like DK Eyewitness guides for the visuals but would never take one with me because they're too heavy. I have Fodor's guides also.

However, the two that I always bring with me are Rick Steves, which I enjoy reading as much for the amusing little asides as for the info, and Frommers.

One of the reasons I like Rick is that he lists laundromats and internet cafes.

caroline_edinburgh

Agree with FSM. When I need a new guidebook (either a new destination for me or I decide my old book is too old), I spend a couple of hours in the best local bookshop for travel, going through all the relevant ones (which can be a couple of dozen), making brief notes, then decide which one or occasionally two to buy.

I have been caught out by using an old book as even at major tourist attactions, opening hours and days can change.

I probably have more Time Out guides than anything else. I bought Fodor's for Venice 2 years ago but it's just too big & contained too much stuff I didn't need. I gave up on Rough Guides a few years ago after a couple of hotel recommendations that were just, er, too rough for me now.

And although I do makes notes from the internet, I find a not-too-large guidebook more convenient to carry round than sheaves of paper, which I leave back in rthe room.

CAPH52

Katie, just wanted to say that I'm very glad that Fodor's guides are now putting more emphasis on, as you put it, "recommendations that span the $$$ spectrum". I've always felt that Frommer's did a much better job of recommending lower budget options. But Fodor's is definitely catching up! The last couple of Fodor's guides I've purchased have had a much better mix.

LJ

For the poster who was looking for a site for second hand travel books, my personal favourite is Betterworld.com. (They support world-wide literacy.)

I am a huge fan of travel books for armchair planning, fine-tune via the internet and coming here and then bring my downloaded notes and ONE brand new guide-book .

And I would like to add that, in gratitude for this Forum, that one book is now ALWAYS a Fodors. I say that more out of respect for effective brand marketing and because they are good guides both as a beginning and the end point: it is the middle point of the planning process that has changed with the ease of booking on-line.

Katie_H

No offense taken audere... goes to show that I certainly wasn't a true local! =)

My favorite thing to do when traveling is to try to do things that I would normally do at home. I'm always up for live music here in New York so I do my best to get a dose when I'm on the road too.

Thanks for the nod LJ. I should have mentioned on my earlier post the obvious---this forum (and your contributions) makes for a great guide too. We're getting the ball rolling on our end to make it easier for you to organize helpful threads.

I agree that great guide books are not one size fits all. I recommend thumbing through guides in person at your local bookstore to get jazzed about a trip. Guides do vary by destination---even within a book guide company. I recommend thumbing through many to get a sense of the differences in coverage.

littlejane

I like the new Rough Guides Directions series (mini Rough guides for cities / smaller destinations).

I bought 2 recently both were great, one for Lisbon and one for Mallorca. Slim and easy to carry, lots of "top 10" type features at the front (e.g. top 10 viewpoints, top 10 beautiful buildings / museums etc).

The Mallorca one came with a free CD Rom which I didn't use but I'd imagine is very helpful if you want to book hotels etc as it has weblinks to all the recommended places.

I was also surprised by the list of hotels - I had assumed they would have lower budget places only but a lot of the top hotels we were considering were there too as well as some nice lower budget options.

I had done a lot of independent research into hotels in Lisbon and the places I had concluded were the ones for me were all listed in the Lisbon guide. For some reason I found these new directions guides much easier to use than the old Rough Guides.

UA2OU

TO EVERYONE- You've been tons of help! THANKS

llamalady

Cadogan for me - but I look at every
guide I can find to flesh-out the
locale.

Gina_07

We have used Frommer's most often. However, for some places with lots of attractions, like Rome, DK Eyewitness is great because it's easier to find what you are looking for. We usually pick a guide and supplement it with information from online sources and pages from other guidebooks.

As for maps, we take those that come with the guidebook and purchase only those that we need for driving. I like to use the maps that I get from hotels or Tourist Info offices. They are light and have most of the attractions marked. I don't care if I lose them.

chatham

Lonely Planet
DK Eyewitness
Fodors

karens

I read a ton of travel guidebooks before I travel - I get most of them at the library. I do purchase a lot of older copies at different library used book sales - I have quite a travel collection at only .50 - $1.00 per book.

On our recent trip to England, I brought both the fodors and frommers book, and I found more helpful info in the fodors book. Really.

In Rick Steve's, I always seem to notice an attraction or two not mentioned - not major ones, but ones that I would have liked to know about.

NeoPatrick

Incidentally, one of the things I've noticed renting many apartments in Europe. They nearly always have a stack of guidebooks available there. Most are probably left by former renters. This summer we seemed to hit the jackpot is all our places with a wide variety of guide books and maps, as well as books like "Walks in Paris", and even things like Zagats, Hardens, and other restaurant guides.

cmt

I usually like Cadogan and Michelin (green) best. For certain purposes I like Blue Guides, DK Eyewitness, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet and whatever catches my eye. I don't like the Rick Steves guides at all, and I don't remember ever using or carefully checking out he Frommers. But if I had to pick two without carefully looking through each book before buying, I'd feel safe buying Cadogan and Michelin (green) guides.I always prefer the specific regional guides rather than the general guides that cover an entire country.

FauxSteMarie

But you cannot count on getting English language guidebooks with your rental, can you? I sometimes leave guidebooks behind on home exchanges. I left my exchangers 3 guidebooks this year when I departed Vienna. My girlfriend, with whom I shared the first two weeks of the trip, brought over a library of guide books. I didn't want them and left what she did not want behind. They got Fodor's Vienna, a book of walks in Vienna (or around Vienna; I never used it) and a book on Bratislava that was very poorly written. I also left them a German phrase book for English speakers.

I always tell my home exchanges, yes, do research, but they do not need to bring guidebooks to my home. Since I have a tour guide license in Washington, DC, I have about 50 guidebooks on the area. Yes, I do cull them from time to time.

I just like having a guidebook to read because the internet is not the same thing as a good guide book. Also, when you are trip planning, do not neglect to read books about where you are going. I read a lot of history and even some novels to prepare me for the trip.

GSteed

Caution: check the publication date.

L84SKY

The publication date usually doesn't matter to me for Europe, the history hasn't changed.
Once I figure out where I'm going and what I want to see and do, I use the internet for opening times and days. Also to see if there is anything special going on in that place while I'm there.

I'm sure travel must have been full of interesting and fun surprises before the internet.

robjame

I guess the versatility of Moleskine City Guides hasn't caught on yet - they are made for Fodorites.