I am planning a busy trip from France through Germany to Italy, Switzerland, ending in the Netherlands this summer. Two or three nights in each place. Does it make sense to buy Rick‘s snapshot books or the pocket guide or the larger whole country guidebook?
Posted by
Maryland
951 posts
All my guidebooks live on my iPad mini. Some folks use a Kindle. I would never carry that many whole or partial guides from any author.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
6085 posts
It depends on the places you are visiting. On the RS guidebook page,
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/guidebooks
For the guidebook you are interested in, if you expand the ”What’s Included”, it will show what is covered by the guidebook. I’d choose the one(s) that best line up with your destinations.
I also buy the kindle version rather than the actual book.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
9300 posts
On that page, under that "What's Included" link, there is another link that is "Is This the Right Book for Me?" that helps address the question. My view is that if you want the detailed info on logistics, "how to", and supporting info, the whole guidebook is best. If you already have hotels booked, and the transportation figured out, you can do with less.
Posted by
Lynnwood
373 posts
I'd spend some time in a library looking at what each book contains. Not sure how many cities/towns in each of those countries you are going to. If two/three nights per country, then a whole guidebook would likely be overkill. If multiple spots per country, that's different.
Posted by
Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden
1276 posts
How many days in each country / place? If you just mean Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, etc, then you could get by with the pocket guides, which I've heard are quite detailed. However, Rick does NOT cover the entire country, he focuses on where he sends tours and his preferences. I only mention this because I've just come back from a trip to Mainz & Heidelberg Germany, neither of which are in his guidebooks. Both of them were wonderful! (Instead I asked for feedback on the Forum & reading other guides.)
Agree with many posters above, and especially KC. I spend a lot of time in libraries before travel, make photo copies, make 'ever notes', figure out what I want to see & make notes about what days things are open. Then I print out my notes, very little need for a guide book after all the homework! But I still download the city guides for larger places like Paris.