# Guidebook recommendations Italy and France



## MommaBear (May 19, 2012)

I am looking for recommendations on guidebooks for France and Italy. I am especially interested in Paris, Rome and wine areas of both countries. I would also appreciate any II timeshare recommendations. Thanks!


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## x3 skier (May 19, 2012)

My favorites are the DK Eyewitness series. I also go to the Ap Store and pick up whatever is free for my iPad/iPod/iPhone

Cheers


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## Margariet (May 20, 2012)

If you are planning to travel around by car I would advice the Green guides from Michelin. They show you which places you must see and show you the nicest oroutes. The DK Eyewitness guides are my favorites too but we always travel in our own car. For you it might be too heavy to carry them in your luggage on the plane.


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## Carolinian (May 20, 2012)

Rough Guide and Lonely Planet are the two series I like best.

For cities in eastern and central Europe, I like the In Your Pocket series, which can be largely downloaded at www.inyourpocket.com  They are just getting into Italy, but I don't think have France yet.  They are in Ireland.


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## beejaybeeohio (May 20, 2012)

I like Rick Steve's guidebooks because they are filled with practical advice such as how to avoid lines at major sites, what public transportation gets you to where you want to go, etc.

However, his guides for countries cover only the most popular areas- e.g. for our upcoming t/s trade into Chateau du Maulmont which is in the Auvergne region of France, he has nada.  But DK Backroads France has been invaluable for planning daytrips in that region including wine routes.  

The Frommer's Day-by-Day city guides are also useful.  Before we visit Europe, I like to head to our library and check out a variety of travel guides for the countries/cities we'll be touring.  After determining my favorites, then I might buy one or two.


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## PStreet1 (May 20, 2012)

I second the Rick Steve's advice.  We've found over the years that we pretty much agree with his assessment of sights that are worthwhile, so we always start with his plan.  We, too, feel like his guides give the best tips for how to avoid lines, get from one place to another, and allocate our time in a museum.  However, as mentioned above, if you are planning to go somewhere "not on his list," there is virtually no information.

You can buy a last year's Rick Steve's for a couple of dollars on Amazon.com or Ebay, and that might help you to decide how you feel about his guide.

We generally buy several guides for doing research, but because of the weight of the books, we almost never take more than two.  I think for history, background the Blue Guides are the most complete; the Rough Guide is a nice combination of "how to" and history/background; Fromers includes more sights/territory than Rick Steves; for us, Eye Witness has too much weight because of all the pictures; I'd rather have the background without the pictures--though I do sometimes take their Top 10 series books.


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## Margariet (May 20, 2012)

If you want to travel light and plan to drive around, just buy the Green guides by Michelin. No fancy extra's, just the most important information you need: the best places to see, the most interesting roads and a few suggestions sometimes for good food. That's all I need!

If you have an e-reader you can download books or relevant chapters from Lonely Planet and Frommers.

If you want Rick Steve's books, buy them in the USA because in Europe he's practically unknown. I never heard of him before I read messages on this forum.


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## Carolinian (May 20, 2012)

Rick Steves books can best be described as a guided tour in a book.  I am not a particular fan of guided tours, and thus don't care so much for his books.  I do how like his theory of travel ''thorugh the back door'', something I did myself before I ever heard of Rick Steves.

Rough Guide and Lonely Planet contain much of the same practical information, and are much more complete in covering an area.  I remember for example one time I wanted to stay in the medieval town of Limburg on the Lahn, outside Frankfurt, Germany, which has a great medieval old town, a medieval cathedral, a castle, and a medieval bridge with defensive bridge towers that is still in use for traffic, one trip the night before flying back to the states.  I went to Barnes and Nobles to check guidebooks for accomodation suggestions.  Every guidebook covered the town . . . EXCEPT Rick Steves, and I find that too often to be par for the course.


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## stmartinfan (May 20, 2012)

When I'm not familiar with a country, I like to start with Rick Steves' book to get a quick overview of the top places to see, along with his hints on how to best enjoy them.  I rarely use his accommodation recommendations, because I prefer to do additional research online.  

After I've made a preliminary plan based on his book, I then fill in with others, such as Fodors, Frommers, etc. We've got a great library system, so I'll check out several different options for the location and skim them all to find places that have a special appeal to me, based on what I like (often things that don't make Steves' priority list), or if I want to spend more time in a city than he would recommend.  I find if I start with one of these books, I get overwhelmed because they are so all encompassing - it's hard for me to prioritize as easily.  

From those alternative books, I'll usually pick 1 that I like best to purchase for actual use on the trip, in addition to the Rick Steves book.  I find I'm a more "mainstream" traveler and have mostly traveled with our kids, so I lean towards Fodors, Frommers, type titles, rather than Lonely Planet type travel.

For the trip itself, I'll take the books and cut them into sections, so I can carry just the pages for a specific city with me when we're there, and leave at home all the intro stuff, accommodation pages, etc. that we don't need during the trip.  Since they're all paperbacks, it's easy to do with a knife, and the pages in each section still stick together.  That makes them light enough to tuck the pages I need during a day into my purse.  Travel books get out of date fairly quickly, so I don't need to keep the book "for the future."


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## Carolinian (May 21, 2012)

stmartinfan said:


> .
> For the trip itself, I'll take the books and cut them into sections, so I can carry just the pages for a specific city with me when we're there, and leave at home all the intro stuff, accommodation pages, etc. that we don't need during the trip.  Since they're all paperbacks, it's easy to do with a knife, and the pages in each section still stick together.  That makes them light enough to tuck the pages I need during a day into my purse.  Travel books get out of date fairly quickly, so I don't need to keep the book "for the future."


,
I do something of the same, except I use a copier to make copies of the pages I need.  That preserves the book intact for future travel to that country, and it allows me to enlarge things like maps so they are easier to use.


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## WinniWoman (May 21, 2012)

I love the Discovery Channel Insight books, although they are heavy and probably easier to deal with when traveling domestically by car. I bought one for travel to Scotland and have read it through, but I am thinking about either copying the pages I need for the specific area we are going to or getting a lightweight guide for the actual trip.


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## CarolF (May 21, 2012)

Not a guide book, but I like this site (called Journeywoman) for women.
http://www.journeywoman.com/girltalk/italy/girl_talk_italy.html
http://www.journeywoman.com/gfc/10ReallyGoodThingsIKnowaboutParis.htm
http://www.journeywoman.com/girltalk/italy/italy_rome.html


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## Laurie (May 21, 2012)

If you have audio devices, or a tablet or even a smartphone, Rick Steves has some free downloadable walking tours of some major sites, similar to his books, but I think they were more detailed. Then you only have to look down at the walking map. You just have to have enough functioning devices for everyone (who wants one) in your party. These are good especially in darkish places like cathedrals where it's impossible to read as you go. They're on his website.

We use Rick Steves for in-depth info on some major sites, + always something w/pictures and wider coverage: DK Eyewitness + Michelin Green Guides are faves. Those last two I enjoy pouring over back at the ranch (accommodations) to make or augment the next day's plan, and always bring them in the car if we're driving. 

I don't like to lug too heavy of a book on a walking day anymore, if I can avoid it, tho I used to carry along at least one, if not 2. As others have mentioned, sometimes I tear out Rick Steves pages to put in my vest pocket, then clip them back into the book later. I've tried photocopying but I've ended up being too selective, better to bring along the whole book because we're likely to change plans, then cut out the whole chapter on the city or neighborhood or whatever.


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