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The descriptions below for some of the major guide series are intended as general summaries. The guide books offered by the publishers listed below are excellent resources for travel planning for budget trips through tours where expenses are no problem. Many are very useful for preparing driving directions for itineraries by automobile. Some guides within a series will show some variation. We plan to provide reviews for specific guides and other travel books on appropriate pages of this web site. Check our affiliate booksellers for their selections.
Automobile Association (UK): Books and CD-ROMs published by or in conjunction with the AA(UK) are excellent publications with information about an extensive range of places. They frequently combine brief sketches about places of interest with photographs and maps so that they are very suitable for planning trips in the areas they cover. Some books and CD-ROMs specialize on topics such as hotels, restaurants, camping, etc.
The books published by AA(UK) vary in size from pocket size to larger atlas-size.
Baedeker (in UK AA-Baedeker): Most books in this series are sufficiently compact to fit in a jacket pocket or small bag for convenient portability. The guides are usually divided into three sections: (1) Political, historical and cultural background, (2) The more important places of interest with brief but informative text, and (3) Practical information on transportation, services, facilities, hotels and restaurants.
The books contain a generous amount of colored graphics of very high quality as well as maps of town centers which make the guides a pleasure to use. A companion foldout map always proves to be a very useful asset.
Blue Guides: The guides in this series are the most scholarly of the guides, but they are certainly not pedantic. They make for very interesting reading and are frequently the first choice of professional travel writers. Excellent historical summaries (with an emphasis on art and architecture) are provided for the subject country, region or city. The guides offer more detailed information on places, especially in the case of buildings of historical and architectural significance, than others. Valuable comments are included on cities, towns and villages along with notes on people associated with them and the points of interest. The quality and range of information and indexing put these books in the category of excellent references. Material is organized along suggested travel (or walking) itineraries for very useful tour planning.
Most titles apply to Europe, but there are several for other continents.
The books are limited in practical travel matters, such as transportation, information sources, hotels, restaurants, shopping, etc. Graphics and maps have been very much improved in recent editions and are usually available for the more important places of interest.
Portability varies according to subject. Books on countries are heavier and more bulky, but others dealing with some cities and regions are compact and light enough to carry in a pocket or small handbag.
Cadogan Guides: The writing in this series usually has a more conversational tone than other guides so that the reader often gets a sense of being advised by someone with a sound knowledge and enjoyment of the subject. While the range of information is not as extensive as that in the Blue Guides, it is well above just catering to the more popular and recognizable places of interest. Recommendations for hotels and restaurants are sometimes given without regard to standard formulas in other guides. Subjective qualities of charm and ambience often prevail over availability of some architectural and technical conveniences preferred by other formula-based critics.
Graphics and maps are limited but sufficient to give useful impressions and a good orientation to each area. Some guides are too large for pockets or hand bags but convenient enough to stow in the corner of a bag or suitcase. Others are more compact.
Eyewitness Travel Guides: The most obvious feature of this series is the high quality and quantity of graphics. They are probably the most pleasant to view and are a delight to booklovers. However, the books in this series are more than just pretty faces; they pack a wealth of very useful information. The range of textual information and places of interest is not as extensive as in the Blue Guides but will often be more than adequate for visitors seeking a good selection of noted and noteworthy sites. Hotels and restaurants that are listed cater to a range of people from those on moderate budgets to those for whom price is no object. There is also good practical information with visual aids on shopping, facilities, services and transportation.
Maps are excellent. Street atlases are clear and easy to read with points of interest indexed to the atlas. There are also neighborhood maps in standard plan layout and in birds-eye views that make planning for walks a pleasure. People interested in details outside central city areas may want to use an additional mapping aid.
Some books are convenient for to fit in a large pocket but others may be too heavy to carry around; although, they will fit in a suitcase corner quite easily.
Fodor’s and Frommer’s: These guide books generally follow the same formula that has proved to be very successful for many years. The written material combines good descriptions of the better-known places of interest with recommendations for hotels, restaurants, shopping and other attractions. Usually, these guides provide more details on the hotels and restaurants they recommend than do other guidebooks. Essential practical information for travel is also provided. The books also provide brief introductions to the history and culture of their subject.
Graphics and maps are limited but useful. Some guide books are usually a little too large for carrying in a jacket pocket, but they should fit conveniently in a bag or case. In recent years Fodor's and Frommer's have been publishing a wide range of smaller volumes that are more convenient for travel.
Karen Brown's: The sub-title for the books in this series is "Charming Hotels and Itineraries" which indicates their contents. Each book has a collection of suggested itineraries for visiting the more attractive and interesting areas of the subject country. The hotels included in these guides are usually non-chain hotels with appealing character that is described along with practical data.
Let’s Go: This series of guides is particularly suited for students and others on a budget. Their strong features are practical information for getting around by local (usually public) transportation and recommendations (with prices) where people on a limited budget can stay and eat. The books include many suggestions about things to do and to avoid in certain locations. The written material covers many places of interest, but descriptions are mostly brief. Major sites usually have more extensive text.
Graphics are limited, but the books usually provide a good collection of maps for many of the larger cities and the countries they cover. Most books are on the large side to carry in a pocket, but they will easily fit in a corner of a bag or knapsack.
Lonely Planet, Moon Travel Handbooks and Rough Guides: These series have much in common. The amount of information in these guides raises them to the level of almanacs or mini-encyclopedias. The quality of writing and information places these guides among the best choices available for would-be visitors. The guides are less scholarly than the Blue Guides but well above the average without being elitist.
In addition to describing places and people of interest in common with other books, these guides include sections dealing with the culture, geography, environment, and history of their subjects as well as essential practical travel advice dealing with making one’s way around the country or city of choice.
Hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment are also listed with brief descriptions. There are sufficient graphics and maps to give readers a good appreciation of what they can see at destinations and to provide good relief to the large expanse of text. Most guides are substantial in size, but a number of titles are pocket-size.
The Lonely Planet guides cover every continent while the Rough Guides have an emphasis on Europe and Moon Travel Handbooks have a stronger focus on states in the United States, Canada, Mexico. The Rough Guides and Moon Travel Handbook also have many good books on other parts of the world.
Michelin: Michelin guides for travelers have been around for a very long time and have acquired a distinguished pedigree. The Green Guides are unpretentious in their design and concentrate mainly on providing interesting and useful text with a very useful mapping system. There are sufficient illustrations to give visual appeal. Major points of interest are given a proportionally larger amount of text over lesser points. Interesting historical data introduces people connected with these places. Admission information for visitors to listed places is also provided.
The mapping system that is part of these guides is one of the strong points. Fold-out maps are provided in some books to cover larger areas with good detail. In many instances, specific maps accompany text that describes points of interest. In combination, this variety of maps makes for easy navigation.
Most Green Guides are light and slim for easy portability. They are, not surprisingly, oriented towards stowing in glove compartments, but they will also fit well in a jacket pocket (although, they will protrude from it) and in many handbags.
The Michelin Red Guides concentrate on annual ratings of restaurants and hotels and are considered by many to be the leading authority in this area. Most places listed in these guides will be out of the range of many people concerned with their travel budget, but some recommendations will be of interest to people willing to pay a little more than usual for a special treat.