Which guidebooks do you find most useful?
 

Hi...just wondered what everyone found as favourites in the guidebook stakes....

We are travelling to Positano/Rome in August. During most prior travels we have used Lonley Planet but are thinking this time of giving Fodors a try (this is not a plug for this website in desguise!!).

Thoughts appreciated.

Not be be rude or standoffish, but this one has been done to death. I suggest a search under "guidebook" and "Italy"

I only use the Eyewitness Travel Guides though I bought the New Key to Costa Rica to travel to that country and I think it's very good. But for Europe those are the guides i use.

I agree with the DK Eyewitness Guides. We use them wherever we go. It was especially invaluable in Rome.

sheila....thanks for the tip lovey, but if you try 'guidebook' and 'italy' you get two threads......hence the question......

thanks to the other posters

The DK Eyewitness Guides are my favorites. Lots of pictures and details.

I second the suggestion for DK (at a minimum for Rome). They are a bit more expensive, but they are quite detailed, excellent for walking tours. For a good overview of a country, I always buy the Fodor's and admit to having some Frommers.

I don't think Sheila was trying to be unhelpful by suggesting a search. If you type "guidebook AND italy" (without quotes) into the search box, you will only get threads which both words appear in.

It may not give you the answer you need but it's worth a try in the first instance while you wait for more replies to your question.

Actually you get 483. Or at least I do. I will top those which look most relevant to you.

OK? My apologies to the rest of you

Has anyone heard of Golden Eye Travel Guide? This was recommended to me for travel in the Cotswolds and I can't find it. Any other suggestions?

Hi:

My personal preference for individual cities is the small "Fodors City For XYZ" which has a good map, good well organized sample itinaries & good descriptions of the city, history, culture, etc (I find its much better than the Michelon city guides).

However, if I'm going to a country I prefer "The Rough Guide To XYZ" books over Fodors or Lonley Planet, as I find that the Rough Guide does a nice job with the towns outlining what the traveler wants (supermarkets, banks with ABMs, Internet Cafes) as well as the siteseeing stuff.

Z

pcheesy: the Goldeneye map/guides are terrific. I have them for several parts of the UK. Some I bought in the UK and some in the States - but in the States you may have to order it. Any book store should be able to get it for you if they don't have in in stock.

I don't use them to drive around - you'd need a road atlas for that. But the Goldeneyes are detailed maps of a limited tourist area -- the Cotswolds, Kent, N Yorkshire Moors, the Dales, etc - and on the reverse are descriptions and photos of the major (and a lot of minor) sites.

Thank you Janis. I shall order it. Any other suggestions for a map for the Cotswolds would be appreciated.

Sheila -

You are far too kind to do all the work of finding and topping all the relevant posts in response to this.

If you're inclined to do so again in future, may I suggest that you instead right click on the header for each relevant post that your search finds, and paste the shortcut into the post asking the question?

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...amp;tid=982467

And/or, you can try to explain specifically how the search function works (Type "italy AND guidebook" into the text box), or even right click on the list of posts that comes up so that perhaps next time this person or others will have better success in finding what he/she/they seek.

http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....+and+guidebook

("Teach a man to fish...." and all that.)

I used to swear by Rough Guide until I bought the Rough Guide to Wales and couldn't believe what they were writing about my home country. It wasn't so much that I disagreed with some of the comments regarding the places but information such as "the newsagents are full of Welsh papers" is such rubbish.

I agree with AR regarding the Rough Guides. I find them of limited use. I especially do not enjoy reading about 'too many tourists' 'package tourists come here' etc etc. as if the author is 'looking down their nose' - its written in a very conceited way. As if those using the guide are NOT tourists!! hehe

Duh, Lesli, I didn't know you could do that:( Sorry again

Sheila -

Not a problem; now you know! If I was able to show you a "trick" that proves useful on this forum, I'm glad to have done so in return for all the great advice you've shared.

DK eyewitness guides