A good guidebook can make your trip, just as a bad one can (nearly) ruin it. We’ve bought hundreds of guidebooks in our lives, and we have very strong opinions about them. In fact, we will sometimes plan a trip around destinations with the most recently updated books. Even with cell phones readily available, we still use guidebooks for both planning and travelling (though now we usually get them electronically!). Several decades ago, companies were more specialised in their coverage, but now nearly all of the major publishers have fairly similar lists, which include extra-fat ones for continents or multiple countries, single-country books, and small city guides. Guidebooks naturally vary quite a bit from place to place and author to author, but they nonetheless have individual styles that make us feel we could distinguish them blindfolded. Here’s where we go for what.
Lonely Planet
Our pick for best guidebook all around. Not only do we like their backstory, we find them the most single reliable book of all. They go everywhere and they cover everything, and have done so for years. In our experience, they’re exceptionally strong on Asian and African countries. We’re also regularly impressed by their sections on historical context. And we have always thought of them as especially good on accommodations. That said, several recent editions don’t include these any more, in part because of the rise of so many online booking options. So we’re not sure they’ll continue to be quite as indispensable.
Rough Guides
Our second choice, which we turn to when Lonely Planet is not available or, more often, when it hasn’t been revised in several years. We think of Rough Guides as a close second. We like the way their ‘Basics’ section is organised, throwing in one place all of your first questions about a potential destination.
Let’s Go
These books used to be written by college students, and they preserve that vibe. So they are ideal for those on a tight budget. Great on nightlife, drinking, and entertainment, especially the kind of entertainment that appeals to college students. But to our surprise, we discovered years ago that they are the most reliable on good food. We’d expected cheap buffets to predominate, but many of our favourite restaurants in a new city come from them. And (no surprise here) they’re often exquisitely well-written. We have found some maps unreliable, which matters a lot less than it used to.
Rick Steves
We love Rick Steves! His injunction to be a ‘temporary local’ inspires us every day. We find his guidebooks more useful in planning a trip than while on the road. But his walks are nearly always to be recommended.
Blue Guides
These are the classics (pun intended!) for archaeology, art, and history. They focus on Europe, though they also have titles for India, Jordan, Turkey, and the US (only one of which we’re familiar with). If you are a museums-and-sites fiend, this is the one for you, with such great information that you may not need a tour guide, even if you plan to spend hours and hours at a single site.
Other
We confess that we have only ever used a single Bradt guide, as a backup to another one. So we don’t feel qualified to judge them (though we are taking one to the Cotswolds in a couple of weeks).
Do you agree with our assessments for best guidebook? What are your favourites and why?
