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European guidebooks
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Let's Go!
Backpacking students are the main audience for this 40-title series, which
began as a student pamphlet at Harvard 38 years ago. The emphasis is on traveling cheap
and staying in obvious places like youth hostels.
Strengths: Inexpensive; written for student travelers.
Weaknesses: Lots of breadth, little depth.
In a nutshell: Your roommate from Tulsa Tech is probably using
the same guidebook.
Lonely Planet
"Practical, reliable and no-nonsense travel information" is the
mainstay of Lonely Planet, which publishes a variety of reasonably priced travel and
walking guides on popular and less frequented European destinations. These books don't
mince words: when describing toilets in the Baltic countries, they refer to "vile,
stinking black holes" and suggest popping into the local McDonald's as "everyone
else does."
Strengths: Reliable, in-depth travel and sightseeing information
in a no-frills package.
Weaknesses: The black-and-white maps could use more street names.
In a nutshell: Good all-around guides, and indispensable if
you're visiting an out-of-the-way country like Iceland or Estonia.
Michelin Green Guides
The tall, narrow Michelin Green Guides have been around for years. The old
black-and-white engravings have been replaced by color photos, but the city or town
descriptions are as good as ever--and the local maps are unrivaled for detail.
Strengths: Easy to carry, detailed background and sightseeing
information, great maps.
Weaknesses: For hotel and restaurant listings, you'll need the
Red Guide (see below) or a guidebook that emphasizes practical information.
In a nutshell: Europe's most affordable and indispensable
sightseeing guides.
Michelin Red Guides
Here are the books that made the concept of three-star restaurants famous.
Each volume is a compendium of hotel and restaurant listings with icons and local maps.
They're a bit like AA, AAA, or Mobil Guides without body text (and without Motel 6 or
Super 8).
Strengths: Reliable hotel and restaurant ratings, and lots of
them.
Weaknesses: Ratings and icons don't tell much about location,
decor, or atmosphere.
In a nutshell: If you're on the road and don't want to take
potluck in the next town, keep a Red Guide in your glove compartment.
Rick Steves
Europe Through the Back Door has been in print for 16 years.
Thanks to the author's travel series on Public Television and The Travel Channel, that
book is now merely one of many Rick Steves budget guides to European destinations.
Strengths: Readable text, nice black-and-white maps, inexpensive.
Weaknesses: Too much emphasis on quick, "efficient"
travel, which may reflect the author's background as an organizer of group tours.
In a nutshell: Useful guides for first-time travelers with
limited time and money.
Rough Guides
The Rough Guide TV series has more wit and style, but the
guidebooks aren't bad. They deliver more information than most budget guidebooks, and
they're intelligently written. Best of all, they're priced to move.
Strengths: Cheap and practical.
Weaknesses: Bulky; low-grade printing.
In a nutshell: A strong competitor to Lonely Planet in the
no-frills category.
Time Out
Time Out publishes guidebooks for 19 European cities,
along with weekly guides to events, entertainment, and dining in London and
Paris. New editions of the guidebooks use color photos and maps to supplement
the first-rate text. See TimeOut.com for
excerpts.
Strengths: Well-organized, well-written, and packed
with listings for tourists and residents alike.
Weaknesses: May be too trendy for some; geared more to
practical information than to sights and culture.
In a nutshell: Probably the best all-around guidebooks
to hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping in Europe's major cities.
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