Customer Reviews

Paris: Selection D'Hotels Et de Restaurants = Selection of Hotels and Restaurants (Michelin Guide Paris) (French Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Using symbols whose meanings are explained both in French and English, this Paris guide lists hotels and restaurants in Paris and its near suburbs. The rankings are reliable, if not 100% comprehensive. Textual descriptions for all entries were added in recent years. Although they are only in French it tends to be fairly straight-forward (as opposed to other guides that use more inaccessable slang or cutesy locutions).

For those who are interested in exploring the restaurants of Paris there are infinite resources. The Michelin Guide Rouge is the backstop, though. It is organized by arrondissements, i.e., neighborhoods, in Paris, but also sorts restaurants and hotels by categories such as good value meals, inexpensive hotels, restaurants featuring certain dishes, and--these can be important--restaurants open throughout the summer and restaurants open on Sunday.

One shortcoming: the arrondissement maps are accurate but not as detailed as a true Paris street map. Those will cost about as much as this book, but they will be useful to you during those parts of the day you are not eating as well.

I've made >20 visits to France all together. Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!

Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.

Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide

MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the Metro. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the center of the city.

Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!

Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.

Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.

Despite the fact that ALL SIX of the "Excerpt" pages shown above as samples are in ENGLISH, which would naturally lead one to believe that this book is WRITTEN in English, it is NOT! In other words, aside from approximately 15 pages in English found in the front of the book, all the other 377 pages it contains are written in FRENCH! Therefore, unless you read French, and read it well, I would recommend that you do NOT buy this book!

Always the most reliable guide to Paris restaurants. Of course, it helps that it is hard to eat poorly in Paris.

Yes, it is in French, but even with poor French comprehension you'll get essential information regarding quality, specialties, and prices.

My wife and I have used it on numerous trips- in France it has never let us down.

Had hoped that this might be a red guide in English. It isn't in English, notwithstanding the Amazon title of "Paris and Environs". I am sending it back.

unless you speak French, which I do not. How annoying.