Customer Reviews

Michelin Red Guide France Hotels-Restaurants 1999 (In French)

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If you are travelling around France, especially by car then I highly recommend this book. While I do not think the book contains even one full sentence it was perhaps the most used and worn out book upon my return from my first trip to France, with my Michelin Road Atlas a close second. If you are a travel information addict like me you will revel in the details of this guide, including perfectly accurate city plans, comprehensive site recommendations, reliable hotel recommendations with all the info you really need, including prices, ratings, facilities, and noteworthy characteristics. And best of all, great recommendations for those who care about food. While the recommendations are not perfect (some of the hotels are generic) at least you know if you are arriving in a town without a reservation you have a reliable list of "safe" places to stay. Best case scenario, you may find an unexpected gem, especially if you hunt out one of the places marked as peaceful or picturesque.

We just returned from two wonderful weeks in France (conveniently timed just after the release of the 1999 Red Guide). I have used the Red Guide in Italy and especially recommend the Red Guide if you intend to get off the beaten path and visit smaller or less well known towns in France. Don't imagine that the Red Guide only includes four star hotels and three star palaces of haute cuisine! The hotels and restaurants listed are rated on a 1-5 scale (1-5 forks for restaurants and 1-5 roofpeaks for hotels) along with special recommendations for outstanding entries, exceptional values or bargains. The listings include everything from simple family-owned small-town accommodations to the Ritz in Paris. There is useful information advising what food or lodging is available in towns that don't make it into a guidebook including details such as prices, relative level of comfort and special features (such as having a beautiful view or being in a historic building) and even the lower end of the restaurants listed are a cut above the average. The Red Guide integrates well with Michelin Maps and the Michelin Green Guides (the Green Guides contain historic and landmark information, but no hotel/restaurant listings). We (on occasion) drive a half-hour off course to eat lunch in a town with a Michelin rated restaurant. When using a Michelin map the names of towns with restaurants or hotels in the Red Guide are underlined in red for easy reference. Almost all of our lodgings and most of our meals for two weeks in France (excluding one emergency road stop at a McDonald's near Roanne and one lunch from a crepe vendor across from our hotel in Paris) were in establishments listed in the Red Guide. We stayed in a range of hotels to the most simple to the most "luxurious" featured. We ate in Michelin 1-5 "fork" rated restaurants as well as a Michelin one star restaurant in Paris and a three star restaurant in Burgundy Only one restaurant was disappointing -- a two forker in Paris (Au Bon Acceuil - 7th Arrondisement) which attempted to do an "American-style" turn of the tables. The food was good, prices reasonable, but being accustomed to 2-3 hour dinners we found the service to be geared toward getting us out the door in 90 minutes -- the next diners were waiting and the waiters were practically breathing down our necks! The Red Guide is in the language of the country -- here French -- but it includes a translation "bookmark" and the symbols used are easy to understand. If you like to get out and independently travel away from major tourist destinations, but still want comfortable accomodations and great meals, don't go to France (or Italy) without the Red Guide. Bon Appetit and Bon Voyage!

The Michelin Guide will save you countless hours of wondering in which towns to eat or what restaurants to try. The guide is very accurate with respect to the prices listed. Even budget travellers( who are concerned with the food they eat) should pick up a copy of the guide. There is a category of restaurant that the guide notates with a "bib gourmand" where very very good food can be found for very reasonable prices. I just spent a month in France and the guide was an essential part of my travel accessories. The maps are also very accurate for some of the larger towns.

This book lists a great number of hotels in every corner of the country. Unfortunately it is geared for travellers who just need a place to sleep without being concerned with the cost. Hotels under 200FF/double are rarely listed.

It's not the only one, but it's the oldest and the most complete guide to France's hotels and restaurants. Packed with data, maps, it is a hefty book not always practical to lug around. Have your chauffeur carry it for you while you have lunch at Troisgros...!