twoflower

Different guidebooks suit different ways of travel. Frommers are good for driving itineraries, if a little too filled with esoteric descriptions of architecture for most people's tastes. Fodors is more balanced and perhaps more easy to use. Lonely Planet is a young person's guide and sometimes a bit smart-arsed. Eyewitness, AA and DK are colourful but lack substance, and AA suffers from the same fault as Fodors - it thinks all we're interested in is architecture. Rick Steeves is very good, but as someone already said, he makes the selections for you - nevertheless they are good selections. Cadogan and Rough Guides are very readable. Blue Guides are scholarly. My approach is to browse through several and pick the eyes out of each, then hone in for finer detail on the one that appeals. My son is a very experienced budget traveller and he swears by Let's Go. I have used Let's Go too with good results, so I suppose I'd have to conclude it's a good allrounder.
Happy researching! Tony

twoflower

Sorry - my message immediately above said AA suffered from same fault as Fodors re emphasis on architecture. I meant Frommers, not Fodors.
Tony

twoflower

Got called away before I could summarise the above. As I said, it depends what you want a guide for.
For driving itineraries - Frommers, AA and Karen Brown stand out.
For things to see - Let's Go, Fodors, Rough Guide, Lonely Planet
To get a feel for a place - Cadogans
For accommodation - this is a hard one as most guides have no idea what budget means - Let's Go, Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, Rick Steeves, Close Up
For the first time visitor wanting something that hones in on the best - Rick Steeves

Melnq8

Neither! Lonely Planet is by far the best IMO. Sure, it caters to the backpacking crowd, but it offers more "off the beaten path" suggestions than other guidebooks. You may want to bypass their accommodation recommendations, but the other suggestions are excellent. It's our guidebook of choice and we currently have quite the LP library....

A word about that Rick Steve's guy - only follow his recommendations if you want to see a million other American travelers.....

Marilyn

Now that I've found this forum, I can't imagine ever again using a guidebook for hotels or restaurants. The information here is <i>current</i> and you can usually get more than one opinion about any given establishment.

I do use guidebooks for information on sights, activities, museums, etc. -- both practical info like opening times and in-depth info like historical background. I have found that any publisher has its stronger and weaker areas. For example, I really like the Rough Guide for Tuscany. It has a lot of fascinating background info.

Like BobtheNavigator, I like the Eyewitness series for pre-trip browsing and will even take it on the trip, but for carrying around on location I prefer something with a bit more meat to it.

seafox

I like Frommers maps better, Fodors book and of course Fodors forum....

RufusTFirefly

Only follow Lonely Planet's recommendations if you want to see a million other American travelers with backpacks.

If you want a real guidebook, as opposed to hotel and restaurant recommendations which those millions of others have also read, then go with Michelin Green

kbrown

No one has mentioned Spiral Guides, which seem best to me. The main downside is that they are a little shallow.

Of Fodor's or Frommer's, I much prefer Frommer's because, as someone already said, it is more accessible. Fodor's also seems more for the straight (and I don't mean sexually) middleclass traveller who doesn't want to risk anything unusual. That's not necessarily bad.

I also like Rick Steves to a point. His hotel suggestions are notoriously iffy. The think about Rick Steves is that you need to understand his point of view in order to read between the lines and understand what he is really saying. Is he merely touting some friend or suggesting a place that is a ramshackle hole? Beware comments such as, &quot;it's like staying with an Italian family.&quot; But at least he is willing to be critical, which most guides aren't. I find it amazing that some people get upset that he is opinionated.

Let's Go, Rough Guides, and Lonely Planet are for kids, although they are worth consulting if you want to go cheap for part of a trip.

No one book is completely reliable. How could it be? Every person has different tastes.

Kate_W

Rough Guide/Lonely Planet only for kids? I don't think so. Rough Guides are great for browsing/reading - they have good culture sections to get you into the mood before you go, and to read while stuck on a bus while you're there. I do find, however, that their recommendations for accommodation don't provide enough details for upscale options. I usually travel buy one of these, and travel with it, but ...

for pre-trip accommodation-shopping, I use tripadvisor.com, because it gives you hyperlinks to a lot of different web-based reviews (e.g. Fodors, Concierge.com, newspaper articles), plus very current web comments.

Sandra (not entirely sure of first time) Gustafson's &quot;Cheap Sleeps in Italy&quot; series is very good for inexpensive hotel options (but only covers a few Italian cities: Rome, Florence and Venice, I think) - but she covers them in almost room-by-room detail. Karen Brown's books give you that kind of detail, but only for very upscale hotels.

suze

I'm with Marilyn &amp; use www travel BB's (Fodors &amp; Lonely Planet are the most active).

Rather than randomly search the net or reference books looking for a hotel recommendation or activity/site, transportation options, you can specifically ask (and usually generously have answered quite quickly!) your question.

Pre-trip only occasionally I use guidebooks from the library or purchased, but never pack them on the trip. Instead I pick up local maps and information upon arriving in a new place - especially in cities good current local info is pretty easy to come by.

sammie123

I cast a vote for Eyewitness travel guides; they've worked well for us in Italy, at least. They are a good addition to Michelin Green Guide
(pictures!)

bugswife1

FoodSnob-if you would like to update your survey, I am a native New Yorker, registered on this board, and have been 'chatting' frequently for about 6 years now, and buy at least 5 guide books for every trip. I don't lug them all with me, I rip out the pages I need, and toss them as I go along. I chuck the books right after the trip because they get outdated so quickly. I imagine that I fall in the higher tax bracket, but that doesn't matter when I buy the books. I like to visit upscale and laid back places when I travel and grab a little from each book.

platzman

I would lean toward Frommers for my style of travel. Its low to moderately priced hotel and restaurant listings are very accurate. But I still refer to Fodors for better historical/cultural/arts info. However, I bring neither guidebook with me. Before the trip, I make notes from several guidebooks...Fodors, Frommers, ETBD, and the Knopf series. Then I buy one or more locally produced guidebooks in English at my destination, and keep them as souvenirs.

provence97

All of the guidebooks are good. Buy or borrow (public libraries) the guidebooks, peruse through all of the books and just photocopy the pages with the information you need. Lugging guidebooks around is a pain!

Underhill

Does anyone know what happened to the Fielding, Birnbaum, and Fisher guides? They were among the best.

robbiegirl

ok, anyone want to SEND me their Michelin Green Guide to borrow.. wink

NYCFoodSnob

Dear bugswife1,

I just spotted your post and must remind you we're in the minority here. When you consider the number of traveling New Yorkers whose annual income exceeds $300,000, it's easy too see we're barely represented here.

I, like you, have all the books (minus Lonely Planet and Rick Steeves), but I shudder to think of ever destroying one. I scan the info I wish to take with me and actually make my own travel booklet. I've been utilizing this method for years and it serves me really well. I have an entire library of travel books dating from the 70's. Yes, much is in storage but easily accessible. It helps to have a staff of assistants, too.

You can't imagine how often I refer to old restaurant info. Some of my favorite places are in the old books and never appear in the new, which makes me suspicious of the methods used to keep restaurant listings up-to-date.

No surprise to me, I do find Michelin in many home libraries among Manhattan friends. I like Michelin, too. I just wish they used a larger font size but then they'd have to enlarge the book. There's always a compromise.

Thanks for being here.