Why Italy
Which Lonely Planet guide book should buy?
i will be traveling around the europe for a duration for 3 month. By the way may i know which guide book are more appropriate to me? Destination to go: France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands. Should i buy Each guide book for each country? Lonely Planet shoestring on Europe? Lonely Planet Western Europe? Is that Shoestring or Western Europe recommended to buy? will it lack of information or not? I'm very confuse about the difference between shoestring vs western Europe? Is that the difference only accommodation and food? or is that on budget travel may need to miss out something? Thanks. By the way, if i just bought a book which contain the whole Europe will it sufficient for me to travel all the major cities on those country?
Public Comments
- You don't want to be travelling around with many books. I recommend the Lonely Planet Western Europe + a Dorling Kindersey illustrated guidebook on France, Spain or Italy, depending on which country you will spend more time in. http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/ Lonely Planet has the better guidebook for Greece. I don't think you will need specific guidebook for Switzerland and Netherlands, the smaller countries. Today the Internet is the greatest source of travel information, so you should spend some time researching here to plan out your travel.
- Lonely planet books are great. You won't lack any information. In the one my friend got for Hawaii, they even had the sandwich-prices for a specific store right. These books are researched very very well! If you are on a budget, buy the shoestring one, if not, buy the Western Europe. I'm sure you'll love them and they'll be helpful!
- LP is good, but also check out Rick Steve's guidebooks- I really like them. Rough Guides are also good. LP western Europe is OK, I used it all last summer, but found quite a few errors. Go to the library and look at several books, and even if you don't travel with Rick Steve's, I'd highly recommend reading his "Europe through the Back Door"- amazing book for travel skills in Europe. *Edit* Two things in reference to someone below: The first is the difference between Shoestring and Western Europe LP: They are correct about what countries are covered- shoestring gives more countries, Western is more in-depth for Western Europe. However, Shoestring is far more geared to low-budget travelers; LP has now decided to write more for the low-mid budget, so there are FAR fewer youth hostels and other super-cheap accomodation in Western than Shoestring. Western has more B&Bs, etc. Rough Guides are actually better for budget, or if you want, Let's Go Europe. I don't like Let's Go because there is often wrong information, and every drunken American college kid has it, so everywhere you go, there is a frat party happening. And I disagree totally that LP's info is up-to-date; I spent six months last summer in 17 countries in Europe, using LP West, and LP East, and 95% of the prices were WRONG, or it was closed down, or some other change had happened. These were the latest editions. For this reason, I will not use LP again. For Rick Steves, he actually gives the best opinions and directions for getting around, really in-depth. But the comment about places to stay are partly correct; he no longer lists most hostels, as his market is mid-range income travellers. But the places he recommends are amazing value, and usually the best place in any city, for a little more than a hostel. He recommends guesthouses and B&B, or small, family-run budget hotels with local character. I would recommend looking at his "Best of Europe" book, you might join the people (like me, with 7 Europe trips behind me,) who consider his to be the best guidebooks.
- Lonely Planet shoestring Europe will be fine. Do not buy more than one book! Do research on the Internet before you go and print off anything that you want to see. As you leave that place discard the printed sheets. This gives you less luggage. You could also photo copy just the parts of the book you want to take and do the same thing. With as much time as you have its likely the book will not be as beneficial as simply asking people once you get there. However you decide I wish you safe and enjoyable travels!
- The difference between the Shoestring and the Western Europe edition is the area it covers, they both aim at budget travelers who travel by public transport. The shoestring will cover all of Europe, but mostly just the main towns. The Western Europe will cover the same places but with a little more information and will also include more of the smaller places. Here is a link to a description of the Western Europe guide: http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Product/Destination_Guides/Regional_Guides/Europe/PRD_PRD_1822/Western+Europe+Travel+Guide.jsp?bmUID=1200588199094 As far as I can see all your destination countries are included. This is the page for the Shoestring Europe Guide, it covers many more countries, so you will carry much that you do not intend to use: http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Product/Destination_Guides/Shoestring/PRD_PRD_1987/Europe+on+a+Shoestring+Travel+Guide.jsp?bmUID=1200588323749 I should not buy the different country guides, as they are rather bulky and cover the countries in much more detail than you want, I think the Western Europe guide is the right one for you. Check with your local library or second hand bookshop if they have any travel guides for Europe, so you can see what they are like, I like Rick Steves books but only to read before and after travel, I find them no use when looking for a place to sleep when underway. Most other guides are far above my budget and do not list the kind of places I want to sleep.
