Frommer's France 2004 (Paperback)

by Darwin Porter (Author), Danforth Prince (Author) "France presents visitors with an embarrassment of riches-you may find yourself bewildered at all the choices..." (more)
Key Phrases: fixedprice menu, midsize bathroom, flap mushrooms, World War, Middle Ages, Loire Valley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Frommer's 2000 France is a beautiful package, with nearly 800 pages of stellar text sandwiched between gorgeous color photography and comprehensive maps of Paris and France. The pictures are stunning; showcasing the diversity of France, with the controversial 71-foot glass pyramid of the Louvre and the ancient grandeur of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, a village street in Rouen and a Loire Valley château, plus Monet's gardens, Rhone valley vineyards, market day in Dijon, and a game of petanque along the Côte d'Azur.

The "Best of France" chapter offers even more highlights, and ultimately helps narrow the field to a doable itinerary. After browsing the "best of" lists on romantic escapes, driving tours, museums, vineyards, upscale restaurants, and affordable hotels, you can begin to plan your trip in earnest. Focus on Paris, Brittany, and Champagne country, for example, and you can use those chapters to decide on lodgings, plan activities and sightseeing excursions, and dream about specific restaurants and bakeries. To flesh out that dream, an appendix is available on French food, as well as France's history, art, architecture, and wine. There are also appendixes of basic menu vocabulary, an online directory, and useful French terms such as Je voudrais acheter ce livre and Au revoir, Je vais à l'aéroport. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
"Offers surprisingly candid and occasionally cantakerous assessments of hotels and restaurants. A good choice for cost-conscious travelers who like to be well informed before selecting a place to stay or eat." — "National Geographic Traveler" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Frommer's; Revised edition (August 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764537407
• ISBN-13: 978-0764537400
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,279,127 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You're going to LOVE FRANCE, September 25, 2004

By	Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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!

Frommer's
These are time tested guides that pride themselves on being updated annually. Although I think the guides below provide information that is in more depth or more concise (depending on what the guide is known for), if your main concern is that the guide has very little old or outdated information, then this would be a good guide for you.

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.

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.)

Rick Steves' books are not recommended. They may be an interesting read but their helpfulness is very poor. They don't do well on updates, transportation details, or anything but the first-time-tourist routine and even that is somewhat superficial on anything but the mega-major sites.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I would have been lost without this book., August 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's France 2003 (Paperback)

This guide offered everything I needed for my trip, from exact prices on everything, colorful maps, and exciting coverage on everything going on in the country. It also covered all the historical, artistic, and cultural treasures in France. With ratings and reviews, I was able to choose a hotel and restaurants with ease. This book is all you'll need to get around in France!

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maps need A LOT of work, January 9, 2005

By	C. C. "Traveler" (Traveler) - See all my reviews

Since I've been to Paris several times, I primarily bought this book to get updates on the restaurants and hotels around town. What we noticed is that the Frommer maps for these are HIGHLY inaccurate. In one case, we walked a half-hour to where a restaurant should be, based on the map, only to find out that it was actually over a mile away (and less than three blocks from where we'd started)!!!

I'd highly suggest a different guide if this is what you'd be using it for.