Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' France 2005

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

 

 

This guide features the standard and reliable information that Europhile and "travel-pro" Steves is known for from his PBS series and regular film tours. Hence, while being a bit less visual than some guides, it is an affordable, generally applicable (non-Rough Guides) approach, and with a view toward local appreciation, avoiding the crowds at popular sites, and economizing (if one needs). While there will always be someone's favorite spot that will be missing in a guide, almost all needed for a first or second visit is here. One suggestion: Indexing could be improved in future editions.

Rick Steves' regional or by-country guides are not your typical travel guides, that usually try to cover everything and anything. Instead, they describe specific, and opinionated, itineraries - what Rick thinks are the highlights of that area/country. Pictures and such are not the point. The easy to read handdrawn, not really-to-scale, maps are though. Believe me, if you follow one of his itineraries you can't go too wrong, especially if your time is limited. If you'd rather make up your own schedule and travel plans, these guides are not for you. If you would like a compact guide that has the tone of a friendly and knowledgeable travel guide talking to you, then these are for you.

Rick Steve's writes a great travel book and doesn't mind giving you his unvarnished opinion on everything from tourist sights to where to stay. If you just take one travel book with you to France, this is the one to take!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.)

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

Steves ignores too many important cities, and I was shocked to see him refer to Beaune but not Dijon, and not even mention Nancy or Metz.

It is an userfriendly guide and he offers excellent itineraries, but the book is based on a single person's opinions and views (which explains his casual manner for excluding/including cities). Don't let this be your only guidebook in France, but it is handy to have in conjunction with others. I enjoyed the easy reading and the honest recommendations and it isn't as weighty as the Lonely Planet or bland as Fodor's. But, I am still shocked that Steves completely ignored a number of France's great and beautiful provincial cities.

Photos are very few and about an inch square. Index is ridiculously small. Pick any place or thing name in the book and only 1 in 20 are in the index.

I wish I could review this book, but the copy I received said France on the front, and the book inside was actually for Tuscany. I am still waiting for the promised replacement copy. Amazon.com was not interested in checking the other copies they had on hand for similar errors so there may be others out there that are not as they first appear!