Guidebooks vs. Internet?

Personally I come from era (I am old) where books are important. I would never go without good guide books but not sure my sons would buy one. Listen to what you are saying. I am thousands of dollars to see Europe at it best but I am reluctant to spend $50, $60 on guidebooks which might insure a good trip. We do a lot of planning with the internet but still take guidebooks because they are so much easier to use. If I need a quick bit of information I can easily pull out the guidebook and find what I need. If I have the ipad, which we do carry, I have to find a wifi hot spot, or fire it up in the shade so I can read the screen and find what I need from previously stored info. It works both ways but since you are comfortable with the internet then use the internet. We are more comfortable with guidebooks. We use the Steves books nearly exclusively. A book never needs an adapter.

The RS books have been invaluable to me. I really wanted to take the London guidebook with us last year, but instead I simply cut out the sections I knew we would want, stapled them together and took 3 ounces of paper instead of 16. By the time we next get to London that book will be out of date, so no biggie. The morning we were leaving London for Paris, our B & B host was happy to put the sections in their basket of maps and stuff for other guests.
I enjoy reading, and try not to spend sooo much time looking at a screen. Of course there is great technology out there, but we can get buried in our phones and computers, it's all about balance for us. The amount of relevant data in a few pages of a RS book (or any good guidebook) represents an awful lot of time searching, surfing, and trying to make sense of it all. Guidebooks give you a basis, a jumping off point to learn more. You can also get books that are a year or two old that are still relevant, just not current all the way, and those are cheap.
Have a great trip!

I use both and wouldn't plan any trip without both. I find the guidebooks helpful for getting ideas of what to do and how to go about doing them. I find the Rick Steves guidebooks very helpful for the how to go about doing things part. I use the internet for more ideas, reviews, making reservations, buying train tickets, etc. By the time I go on the trip, my internet research is mostly done, and I take the pages from my guidebooks with me. I really only use the internet on my trips when I can find wifi, and then it is only on my phone, so it is much easier for me to have a few helpful pages that I have taken out of my guidebooks. I have also checked some guidebooks out of the library and just photocopied any pages I needed.

I use the book guides for planning then photocopy a limited number of pages covering the what to see stuff.

The Rick Steves guide are my "go to" guides for the big name places (London, Prague, Salzburg Oslo etc) but the Lonely Planet and Rough Guides have better coverage of places in the bush.

We're not carrying guidebooks mainly because I scanned and uploaded chapters of guidebooks for every place we are going, or I bought the ebook. It's all on the iPad. In addition, we use the RS guidebook information for practical matters, such as which bus line to take, where to buy the ticket, but for more in depth information we use the Blue Guides, which are written by art historians for example, or the Michelin Green guides, which have in depth, unbiased information. I wouldn't want to travel 4,000 miles and not understand a lot the history and culture around me. The internet provides only small clips of information, but we do use it for choosing hotels and restaurants rather than the guide books.

Thanks for responding so quickly everyone! I like the idea of using library books to photocopy, and Frank brings up a good point on spending an extra $50 for convenience.

I appreciate your input, thank you!

I buy ebooks instead of carrying guidebooks. I also use TIs if I'm going to a city I haven't visited before. I also do a lot of research before I go, since I usually choose cities because of some art or history connection that interests me. I use the internet while traveling but it's not a major source of information for me.

Catherine, you question is similar to those who hit a site and ask it better to have a guide or can I just do it on my own. Same decision. We like using live guides - why??? Because, you can ask them questions. But it cost more money. Skip lunch and hire a guide.

I check guidebooks out of the library and photocopy the most relevant pages. I load guidebooks on a Kindle if I need the whole book (but it's not always easy to access specific items on the fly). I also use internet for hotels and such while traveling, as well as keeping up with e mail and news. The best guides for the actual trip, imo, are RS and Lonely Planet. Michelin Green Guides are also excellent. The DK series is great for planning, with lots of pictures and diagrams, but too heavy for the actual trip.

For me the issue with guidebooks is weight more than cost. Tearing pages out would be another solution, but I hate to do that to a book, call me old-fashioned.

How much time do you have in each city? If you're in the 4 full days or less per city range, a single national/regional or continental guidebook is generally going to cover the major cities enough to fill your card with their Top Ten list or five star recommendations or whatever a given guide calls their key points for attractions and give you some suggestions on popular neighborhoods to lodge in.

And then use the intrawebs for restaurant recs along that route and for apps that will get you around city mass transit systems.

I like both the RS series and Lonely Planet, which does seem to skew a little more toward what they think under 40s would find interesting. Buying in Kindle format and then loading everything onto my phone is often cheaper and saves you a precious pound or two of baggage weight compared to lugging the paper guidebooks around while on the trip.

Catherine,

Are you travelling with an iPad, iPhone, Kindle or Netbook? You can very easily download E-Book version of the RS Guidebooks for very reasonable cost. In some cases, there are also Snapsot or more localized versions of the books, which are priced even lower. The maps in the E-Book versions are sometimes a bit challenging to read, but using E-Books is certainly an easy and convenient ways to pack around a huge amount of information (with no weight concerns).

There is no need for guidebooks anymore, at least not for travelling through European cities, as long as you have access to a Gadget where you can get that info (be it preloaded apps, or direct Internet access)

Prior to my trip, in the planning stage, I get piles of guidebooks from the library. Look at maps and historical sites - that sort of thing. Then I look at Tripadvisor/Google/RS/Lonely Planet to book rooms and research.

Catherine,

Buying guide books is peanuts compared to the cost of your trip.

If this is your first time traveling, then give it a go and see if you can do without them after youre done. Then, once you got your feet wet, you will have a better idea on the next time. Also, you can always donate or sell your travel books. Im sure you have some local book shops in your area that will buy them back (at your loss of course) or you can donate them to your local library.

You can do the e device too. Once thing is that unless you can use the app or book "offline" you maybe spending more $$ on data costs than your books.

one thing you can do is to PLAN your trip in advance so you can minimize the stuff you bring along. You can note all of the places you want to go in a 3x5/4x6 notebook and then use that for your guide. And if you need to, supplement the info with your e device.

just for your info, i bring my guide books along and send them back home. I just bought a smart phone and will be trying that this year and hope to use it 100% of the time, but wont know until it happens. If it works out as i want, i may ditch the books the next time around.

what i like about my guide books is that i have post-its tagged/flagged on the pages with the place/things i want to do. So its easy for me to find those things instead of thumbing through the pages to find things. Those flags are also color coded so i know whats a to do/see, lodging, eating and others. my books are available 24/7/365 and dont need recharging.

happy trails.

You can bookmark and highligh (colorcode) in ebooks. Tap the listing in the index or use the search function to find the topic you want.

I'm 32 and use both. I like the very on-the-ground practical stuff in Rick Steves books - step by step tours, clear outlines of what's open when, things like "baggage check here, turn left out of the train station for xyz", and the tips on avoiding lines/problems (he mentions alternate entrances, online booking, other ways to avoid wasting time that aren't always covered in the same way in other sources).

I also like Lonely Planet for a little younger take, also covers way more territory that RS. Better nightlife coverage, trendier shopping, that kind of thing, at least in their books for major European destinations. I find Frommers and Fordors a bit stodgy, recommending chains and being overly cautious. The DK top 10 books usually come with a decent laminated map and very basic info on top sites. Sometimes I buy one of those on paper to carry with me - fits in a bag very easily.

I use guidebooks to decide which sites to visit, then fill it out with internet info about those sites. I look for hotels in books as well as the internet - really, more internet, but if I want a very small type place a guidebook might be where I learn about it, then I check its web reviews. Restaurants are pretty much all internet, except for times when being near a certain site is paramount.

I've started to get e-book guidebooks. I use Kindle format and can open them on a kindle or on the app on my phone. Much easier than carrying the physical books.

Seems like we just got another ad.

Buying guidebooks isn't "peanuts" to me!! My favorite part of planning trips is going to the library and coming home with a huge stack of guide books! Then I can read and look on Mapquest and check train schedules and peruse TripAdvisor and ask questions here.

I agree with Bronwen - I take out armfuls of guidebooks from the library when researching a trip rather than buying them. If during my guidebook research I find one that I think would be helpful to bring with me, I may buy it and just tear out the relevant pages. I try to find a used copy if possible and go online to the venues I'm interested in and then note any hour/fee changes on the pages I'm taking with me. That way I don't need to buy a current copy at full price.

I know it may be a small part of the overall trip budget but it really does pay to be frugal and save even small amounts of money when possible. $50 or $60 would be several days' lunches for me.

@Nancy, I also convert money to time/expense/experience in Europe! I agree, $50 or $60 here can be a few lunches or a museum pass in Europe. The ebooks I have bought are proced lower than the paper copies. And take up no space.

We have gone to Europe every year for a month in 11 or the last 12 years and while there take a RS Tour. We leave later this month for our 12th vacation and will be taking our 12 RS Tour (Greece). Every year we over plan and over research for our own time either before the tour, after the tour, or both. We always rely on whatever RS Guidebook covers the tour we take and sometimes supplement that with LP. The cost of guide books, fortunately for us, is not an issue considering the money we will be spending on the entire vacation. Since we do not have electronic devices, we take guide books. And, contrary to what many folks here recommend, we take the whole book. So maybe we take 2 or 3 books with us. We have refined our "packing light" lists so that we each take one 21" RS roller bag and have adequate room for the books. Living in Seattle, part time, does allow for numerous trips up to the RS Headquarters in Edmonds, WA, where we go several times a year and always take advantage of a "trip consultation" discount from registering for a tour, to get additional information. Happy Travels and don't short change yourself.

A guide book is curated content. It's put together by a source that you trust for accuracy, for point of view, for their judgement. There is a lot to see in any one place that we choose to visit. And one of the resource that we have available to us is the guidebook. Another is the Internet. Another are our friends and colleagues. Whenever you're planning a trip it's good to call on all these resources so that we end up going where we will enjoy and get the most out of our trip according to our needs and desires.

Pam

I do live reading guidebooks but find I never read them on vacation. Also I am the cheapest woman around. So buying them doesn't make much since. Not to stir the pot but RS guides are not my favorite. I liked ETBD but the others I find stale and useless.

I buy last years copy of the guidebooks on ebay for around $5, info is pretty much the same. I rip out the pages I don't want then have multiple book spiral bound together at Office Depot. I happen to like books so I can highlight and refer back to easily.

Hi Catherine
I like the guidebooks. On our first trip to London it would have been a disaster without RS book. Now I feel very comfortable in Europe but still do my planning with his guidebooks. You are young, your eyes should be good and with the Kindle app on your smart phone you can have these guidebooks at your fingertips. I do like to tear our pertinent pages and only take them when we go as backup. I do use the internet but mostly for hotels and planning train travel. The one exception for me was Paris because I have found great websites about that city.
Have a great time.

Just to update you, we did end up buying the guidebooks for a discount online. I can see what many of you mean, in that the content in the RS guidebook includes more detailed and practical information than the internet would. We have (and are bringing) an iPad, but I would much rather have a book in front of me than the ebook format. I just can't get used to it.

Granted, I will say the guidebooks are rather thick and heavy when there are 4 of them. I'm concerned about precious packing space, but we shall see if I'll need to rip out pages as suggested earlier.

Thanks again for all your advice!