dina4

I was curious what all you seasoned travellers consider to be your favorite all-around travel guides? And why?
Also... how many travel guides do you end up buying to research a trip to a specific area?

happytrailstoyou

In the United States, I find much valuable information in AAA Guidebooks.

In the US or abroad, I like Frommer because of his opinioned and complete descriptions of hotels, restaurants, and attractions and for his "The Best of..." section at the front of his guidebooks.

In foreign countries, I find The Green Guide (Michelin) is helpful in planning an itinerary around points of architectural, cultural, and historic interest.

Also, when abroad, I like Lonely Planet for many reasons, including that it gives information about towns that aren't usually included in other guidebooks and specific information about how to get from town to town by bus, train, ferry, etc.

asdaven

I like Frommers and AAA. Fodors is good but not as good as Frommers.

TheWeasel

I don't know that I'm a seasoned traveller, but anyway.....I don't ever use a travel guide. I do all my research on the internet. I don't really need the restaurant/hotel reviews in the guides.

CAPH52

This was discussed in another thread fairly recently. I think it was one started by Peter (Bronxilla). Anyway, as I said on that thread, I love travel guides. To me, a lot of the fun of a major trip is reading and planning months in advance. So for a big road trip I usually buy several guides over a period of a few months. But if I absolutely had to stick to one, more often than not, I'd go with Frommer's. I think they're hard to beat for a family traveling on a budget. They tend to list the most lodgings and restaurants in the lower price ranges. And, so far, we've never been steered wrong by one of their recommendations.

bonniebroad

If I had to take just one .... FROMMERS!!!

happytrailstoyou

I forgot to answer your question about how many travel guides I buy for a trip.

In the states I usually buy only Frommer and use it with the AAA Guidebooks. However, when Frommer doesn't have a book for a particular state (Idaho, for instance) I buy a Lonely Planet.

When traveling in South America, India, and similar places, I find that Lonely Planet is usually the best choice.

In Europe, I pack Frommer, Lonely Planet, and a Green Guide.

For first time travelers to Europe, some of Rick Steves books are very helpful--the one for Italy in particular.

I find that travel information published by states is not helpful because it mentions every possible attraction in a state without guidance as to which ones are most worth a detour. Also, hotels and restaurants mentioned in this kind of publication are usually only the advertisers.

When I am spending several thousand dollars for a trip, I feel that $50-$100 is not too much to spend on books that may contain ideas about how to best spend my time.

kudo96

Lonely Planet - I find it to be very detailed.