We're going to Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. I see Belgium and the Netherlands are in Rick Steves' France guidebook. Which book has Luxembourg?
Also, which books do you recommend for first time European travelers to help us plan our trip? Our focus is on seeing WWII sites, get a true flavor of the country (rather than all the main tourist sites), castles, old churches.
We'd appreciate any help anyone can offer to get the right books to help us plan. Thanks.!
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9100 posts
Belgium/Holland have their own guidebook separate from the France edition. Rick doesn't do a Luxemburg guidebook. Although you can purchase the Lonely Planet guidebook for Luxemburg via this site.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8377 posts
I also noticed that Luxembourg was missing! There is a Luxembourg strand on the trip advisor travel forum and a great website for visitor information from Luxembourg itself.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
If you don't want Lonely Planet's whole book for the region, you can buy single chapters for $5 each. Reminder that you can also see earlier Travel Forum comments on Luxembourg by using the Search box above.
Posted by
Centennial, CO, US
2126 posts
Look under the Belgium forum on this website for a post regarding what to use as a base for war-related travel in Belgium & Luxembourg. I think you will find some useful information.
We used the Lonely Planet guidebook for Belgium & Luxembourg, but it barely mentions Ettelbruck , which we found would make an ideal base for Luxembourg .
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Here's the thread Charlene was referring to, which indeed has lots of details about Luxembourg and WWII sights: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/belgium/bases-of-operations-in-belgium-and-luxembourg
Rick's France book no longer includes other countries. His book called Amsterdam, Bruges, and Brussels now also includes lots of side trips from Amsterdam, as well as Ghent and Antwerp in Belgium. For Luxembourg, you've already been told about Lonely Planet; there's also Luxembourg chapters in many other Belgium (or Netherlands and Belgium) guides from other companies.
As for what books to use to plan - as many as you can get your hands on. While there is inevitably lots of duplication, each book has a different style, and you never know what unique thing a book will have. For instance when planning my Switzerland trip, only one book had any details about finding Audrey Hepburn's grave, and it wasn't an "alternative" or "edgy" guide - it was Frommers, usually considered a "conventional" guide. Much like travel shoes, travel guides are a personal thing, and what works best for someone else may not work for you.
Particularly if you have a specialized interest such as WWII sights, you can't cast too wide a net when doing research. Plan to spend some time at a bookstore or library checking out various guides, to see which one you find most useful.