Favorite travel guide

[ugeauxgirl]

I know it will be awhile before we can go anywhere, but I'm dreaming about vacations to be enjoyed when we can. I love planning them, too. What's your favorite brand of travel guide and why?

 

[Nemo2]

Asked DW...she said "You".

 

[Onward]

Six or seven yrs ago I sat down in a book store (remember those?) and did an extensive comparison of the top 4 brands of travel guides. (All for the country I was going to).

The winner was Lonely Planet, mostly because they had by far the best maps (they were known for that at the time, and maybe still are).

The downside is that they may be the most popular guide, so you risk having more people at the things that LP guides you to.

FYI, I tend toward budget, very active travel.

 

[OldShooter]

The first thing I do is to see if there is a "DK Eyewitness" guide for our destination. These are completely unlike the Frommer, Lonely Planet, ilk. They are printed in color on coated stock and feature many cutaway pictures (color artwork) of important buildings. They also include mini-histories of the destination with information on food, shopping, flora and fauna. They are great armchair books. We often end up leaving them home for the actual trip, having absorbed what we want, because with the coated stock and strong binding they are a bit heavy.

In the back they feature laundry lists of restaurants and hotels that are pretty worthless. For that we buy the Frommer/Lonely ilk.

 

[cathy63]

I like to get a variety of ideas about wherever we're going. I also like free books. So, I usually look at the e-books available from the public library and Amazon Prime Reading. That usually ends up including some combination of Frommers, Fodors, Lonely Planet, Rick Steves. I browse them all, and if I find something I like, I'll buy the most current version in paperback to take with us.

 

[RunningBum]

I like Rick Steves books, for lodging especially. He recommends places that are convenient, clean, safe, and inexpensive. Likewise with food.

 

[2017ish]

Undercurrent dive magazine (and online forums), Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodors, blogs that come up during destination internet searches. "The World's 50 Best Discovery" web site for restaurants both domestic and foreign; James Beard award/nominee archives for domestic restaurants; Eater Magazine. Our Rand McNally Atlas, surprisingly--especially for on the fly destination "planning." Discussions with fellow travelers to apply to future trips... Etc. Etc.

 

[Bamaman]

I use whatever travel guide the local library has in their book store for $1.50. May be out of date, but Rome never changes except for the prices.

I research places on Rick Steves.com--reading about specific countries.

Then I go to Wikipedia and study about all the major cities I'm going to. By the time we travel, I go to Google Maps and know exactly what restaurants and streets are in the neighborhood we're staying at. The search is half the fun.

 

[brett]

I think that this really varies by the type of traveller you are and where you travel. We are fairly independent travellers. Our usual trip is 8-9 weeks and we like to spent a minimum of three nights, often more, in one place.

Generally, I prefer Lonely Planet. Also Rick Steves for some countries, and Rough Guides.

We start at the local library. We take multiple volumes out on the target country. Review them and select the one that suits us best. We usually buy it but always check on the release date and on the release date of the next edition. Morocco is on our horizon. lonely Planet have the next edition coming out in Sept. we will read the current version and pre order the upcoming version.

We find Lonely Planet especially good for in country transportation modes, connections, etc. Good for areas to stay and in some instances accommodation recommendations. LP is our overall favorite and go to.

 

[2017ish]

I think that this really varies by the type of traveller you are and where you travel. We are fairly independent travellers. Our usual trip is 8-9 weeks and we like to spent a minimum of three nights, often more, in one place.

....

Hadn't thought of that factor, but rings true. (We tend to do 1-3 month long trips when doing intercontinental trips ....)

 

[brett]

We do two 8-9 week overseas trips per year. We typically leave home with either a one way ticket or an open jaw ticket. Book a few days in advance as we travel. We do not use Frommers or Fodors very much bit once in a while we will copy a few pages. Our most recent LP selections were Thailand, Greece, and Mexico.

 

[DrRoy]

I have several Frommers, but I think I like Lonely Planet the best.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

The library is usually my first place to go as well, but its shut down at the moment. We like boutique hotels in a residential area of town- like Rick Steves usually recomends. We like to eat where the locals do. I'd like to travel for extended periods, but I still have teenage kids, so I'm somewhat limited on that. Thanks for all the tips!

 

[cathy63]

The library is usually my first place to go as well, but its shut down at the moment. We like boutique hotels in a residential area of town- like Rick Steves usually recomends. We like to eat where the locals do. I'd like to travel for extended periods, but I still have teenage kids, so I'm somewhat limited on that. Thanks for all the tips!

Does your library have e-books? Travel books are one genre that I like to read on my computer or i-Pad because a lot of them have active links that can open a web page right from the book.

 

[brett]

There are some good travel blogs that we use to augment the travel guides. We are planning a few weeks in Morocco. Some of the blogs have been very useful in terms of when to go, transportation, in country itineraries, etc. I just do a search and review what pops up.

We stopped using Rick Steves for accommodation and food. We found the restaurants far too crowded. Our rule of thumb for the latter is that they must be off the main drag, menus must not be in three languages, and if we enter and the local language is predominant we stay. If all we hear is english then we don't bother.

 

[walkinwood]

I think you can't go wrong with any of the well known names LP, Rick Steves, Eyewitness. They all have different styles and focus, so only you can tell which one will work best for you. I try to find good, authentic travel blogs, but they're getting crowded out on search platforms by the vapid blogs of the instagram crowd.



I try to get loaners from the library (even if they're out of date), which is only possible for e-books right now.



If you have amazon prime, there are many travel guides available to "borrow" for free.

 

[Nemo2]

OK...here's one we've mentioned before....check 'destinations' for a variety of countries:

https://www.mywanderlust.pl/visit-kiev-ukraine/

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

For standard travel guides, we default to Rick Steves for Europe and Lonely Planet for everywhere else.
With the Rick Steves guides, I like his pragmatic approach and tips to being efficient with your time, itinerary suggestions, neighbourhood walking tours, and simple maps. I find his food recommendations hit and miss and many of his budget accommodation recommendations difficult to book.

With LP, I like the supplemental info about the location like descriptions of regional dishes, electric outlet info, some key phrases, etc and had some decent luck with their suggested places to eat and non-standard attractions.

For non-standard, we always reference wikitravel.org. While has a synopsis of key info for a location, their transportation info, getting into town and getting around town, is gold.
We also make use of blogs and youtube channels (eg Mark Wiens for SE Asia, David Leboviz for Paris, etc) for more obscure food recommendations beyond the well known places referenced in most guides.

 

[OldShooter]

Here's a page sample from one of the DK Eyewitness Travel books:

​

This is actually less elaborate than most of the artwork, which is usually on two-page spreads. One caution: DK also publishes a line of children's books. I accidentally bought one once and had to return it. When you're browsing be aware of this.

 

[pacergal]

Thanks for started this thread--lots of new, useful information for me.
although, it will be a while before we travel, but fun planning!

 

[brett]

We supplemented LP Greece with DK Travel Corfu. DK is ok. The only issue we have is the paper. Very glossy, relatively heavy. We only do carry on and try to limit our bag weight to 8-10KG.

 

[Chuckanut]

I like Rick Steves for the thoroughness of the areas that are covered. But, many areas are not covered. So, I also use use Lonely Planet. I also scour the internet for 'guides' written by locals who simply like to brag about the area they live in.

 

[brett]

We also use tripadvisor, especially local experts. We had several wh gave us excellent advice for our nine day stay on Kefelonia.

We also seek out expats on tripadvisor when travelling to counties where there are travel outstanding travel advisories with corresponding media media coverage. This local insight has caused us to ignore the advisories on trips to Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, and several other countries and cities over the years.

Invariably these advisories have served to make our travels more enjoyable, easier, and less expensive.