Cadgirl

Which London travel guide was the most useful for planning your trip?

I have purchased a used version of Rick Steves London 2008 and would like to purchase one more guide in planning our 5 day trip to London later this year.

London Eyewitness gets good reviews on Amazon.

Thanks!

dorfan2

I liked "London for Dummies".

janisj

Either the Michelin Green guide or the DK Eyewitness are probably the best general Interest guides. Much better IMO than RS. For a bit less $$, the Fodors guide is pretty good.

But special interest ones like any of the various 'Walking in London' types (there are MANY different london walks-type books), or 'Street Markets in London', or "Literary London" - those sorts of things, often have more useful info for one's specific interests.

Be sure to pick up a Time Out the day you arrive - it will list everything going on while you are there.

azzure

I liked my London Spiral Guide from AAA. Well laid out, and the spiral binding was a real plus in keeping things compact.

Cadgirl

Azzure, I am a AAA member. How do you get their guides?

azzure

I bought mine at an AAA Travel Center (it's not one of the free AAA publications), but I've seen them at Barnes and Noble, and Amazon has them too:
http://www.amazon.com/AAA-Spiral-Lon...3914861&sr=1-5

mohun

I suspect that DK also publishes a "Top 10 London" which can be handily compact for carrying around. We've used the full DK book in London to great benefit (good maps, a complete street index and each attraction also identifies the appropriate underground stop). We've now used the slim DK Top 10 guides supplemented by Rick Steves books for Central Europe (one book each for Prague, Budapest and Vienna), appreciating their maps and portability. We've also purchased a couple more guides for Barcelona and Madrid which we expect to visit this summer.

jamikins

I really like our London Michelin Green Guide.

RM67

Time Out '1000 Things to do in London' is great - lots of unusual ideas, like the umbrella shop mentioned on a previous thread, law court gardens open to the public etc. There's even a new 'Things to do for £10 and under' version. But not your standard guide with museums, galleries, maps and opening times, admittedly.

For a general guide, Eyewitness.

mnapoli

I second the vote for the AAA guides. I also like the Frommer guides for cities.

travelgourmet

I like the Top 10 guides and the Knopf Map Guides. Both are compact and good for carrying around. I buy the Top 10 guides for pretty much any city I might possibly visit.

For London, I also like the Time Out guides, particularly for restaurants and bars.

I've largely abandoned using guides for finding hotels and much of the pre-planning, and just do my research on the net, so don't tend to consult the general interest guides as much.

RM67

If you venture outside London there is also a fairly irreverant guide to odd things to do in the UK, called 'Bollocks to Alton Towers'.

It has such gems as 'Diggerland', 'Gnomeworld', and a secret nuclear bunker in Essex!