Best Travel Guides

[PYIMZ]

There are so many travel guides to choose from:

Lonely Planet, Frommer, Fodor, Eyewitness, Footprints

Anyone have experience using any of them?

Which one might be good for:
- the average traveller or backpacker?
- updated and accurate information?
- maps?
- a specific continent/country/city?

[JumpinBug]

I like Rick Steves and Rough Guides, with occasional forays into the others. I tend to get them all from the library, then might buy the one I like best. As well, I pick up used year or two old versions to tear apart and take with me in chunks, tossing as I go.

[krazynuck]

+1 for Rick steves gotta love the maps

[heymikey]

This guy or girl (can't tell from the username) wrote a post describing the popular guidebooks (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8551416&postcount=4).

Personally, I prefer either Rough Guides or Lonely Planet.

[b166er1337]

This guy or girl (can't tell from the username) wrote a post describing the popular guidebooks (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8551416&postcount=4).

Personally, I prefer either Rough Guides or Lonely Planet.

I love Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. Typically I read reviews on Amazon to determine which ones I go for. Lonely Planet store sell digital copies and you can choose which chapters to buy.

For European destinations, Rick Steves' have detail information on a few selected destinations. Like JumpinBug, I tear apart Rick Steve guidebooks and only carry the destinations I'm going to.

[Pete_Coach]

I like the smallest ones. The ones that fit in my back pocket, The ones that can be carried without a backpack.
I go to Chapters (or the biggest bookstore in your area) and have a look at them all. I know what I like and what interests me so I find a nice small book that has the things in it that I like. I find Rick Steves covers so much for everyone that it is a huge book and cumbersome to carry around.

[GemInite]

I personally prefer Lonely Planet. Their Encounters series for specific cities fit into your back pocket and basically are just small maps with the description of attractions.


I usually have a bag with me so I don't mind carrying the regular size guides.

[b166er1337]

I find Rick Steves covers so much for everyone that it is a huge book and cumbersome to carry around.

That's why I love to tear it apart. :cheesygri

[Talamasca]

I like the National Geographic and Insight guides helpful for reading BEFORE you leave but not so much while you're actually there as they provide little in the way of important info (admission prices, restaraunt recommendations, etc.).

I've always been partial to Let's Go, Rough Guides, and Lonely Planet, although Let's Go seems to have drastically lowered its output in recent years.

[pablonutribar]

Although occasionally they providing useful starting points, guidebooks are gay. Why don't you just go with a tour? Walking around with your nose in the guidebook all the time is essentially the same as being on a tour. Give up the guidebook and actually indulge your sense of adventure.

[Aristophanes]

I love LP and have a whole collection of them. However, I find that the information is just the tip of the iceberg and there are much more explore. So, they are good for the whirlwind traveler that want to see everything.

Eyewitness Travel series are also good but too classy for my taste.

Nothing beats the good old Tourism Office! Collect some maps, sights to see, maybe a guided tour and you're set.

[pacman99]

Although occasionally they providing useful starting points, guidebooks are gay. Why don't you just go with a tour?
Too fast paced at times and you don't always want to see everything included in the tour. Guidebooks help you pick and choose.

I've always used a combination of Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, and the local Tourism office/website.

[GemInite]

It might be easier just to list reasons why we hate certain guidebooks.

Timeout: I can not stand the fact that their maps are not easy to read at all. Sights, restaurants, shopping are all indicated by a shape and number. I just don't find the maps easy to navigate.

That being said, I like the look of the maps, I just hate how they mark attractions.

[Talamasca]

I find it funny how the Eyewitness guides manage to be thick and heavy yet contain only the most shallow and basic of information about the area and its tourist attractions. Their smaller, slimline editions are useful if you're going to be in one city for a few days but their country editions are largely useless.

[blink]

It depends on the country.

I usually like the one I get from the library!

[b166er1337]

I find it funny how the Eyewitness guides manage to be thick and heavy yet contain only the most shallow and basic of information about the area and its tourist attractions. Their smaller, slimline editions are useful if you're going to be in one city for a few days but their country editions are largely useless.

Eyewitness does have pretty pictures. Boy are they heavy. I had to throw away mine during my travel because it is so bulk and devoid of any useful information.

[killuminati]

Where are you headed?

I just did South-East Asia and found websites way more useful.
Didn't touch a guidebook and didn't need to. Websites are more current. Also you can always just ask people... networking is totally the way to go while on the move. The best things aren't always in the book.

[{PolarBear}]

I prefer to start by using the Internet to find information. I supplement that information with guidebooks. (For context, I am a student in my early 20s with some travel experience).

In my recent trip planning, I've found that Lonely Planet works best for me, so I use that along with Rough Guide. Footprint is also ok. I find the others much less useful. I use guidebooks to help me plan (from the library or Google Books), but I don't bring them with me when I travel because I'm not a traveler who follows exactly what the guidebook says to do. I think using multiple sources is important so you get a better idea of what you want to see.

Most information about where to do and what to see and do is easily available now on the Internet. I find guidebooks to be most useful for practical information because that is often harder to find in a concise, time effective, and easy-to-understand form on the Internet. I then look up the information myself online once I have the basics from the guidebook. I also find it difficult to find good travel maps online, and guidebooks are useful for that too.

I have found the Internet more useful for finding information on accommodations as it is more up-to-date and features multiple opinions. Hotel selection is often limited in guidebooks, and discussion of hostels is pretty much non-existant or focused on HI Hostels only. I tend to just find a place to eat wherever I am, and not plan that ahead, but when I do, I'll check online.