Guidebooks vs Internet vs Forums

I use guidebooks less and less mostly as you mentioned - they are years old. And I tend not to use RS as much since for the same reasons you mentioned .

I find the forums here and other websites are the most helpful. Fellow travelers rock! Sometimes I just browse them to see what other travelers are talking about but I will post my own questions when I'm looking for information that doesn't seem to be on the first couple of pages on the forum. And of course the internet generally has more up to date information. I do tend to actually bring one or two physical guidebooks (or parts of them anyway) with me for maps and other information since WIFI isn't always available or I take photos of pages on my iPhone.

I have also learned who specifically on forums to pay attention to as their likes/dislikes seem in line with my own. Like reading certain movie critics more than others.

Doesn't everyone on this forum use all three by definition? Forums are not mutually exclusive from the "internet". I use a combination of all sources (including many good blogs) but, honestly, there is nothing like a guidebook (better yet, books in general) to provide a grounding in an area/country that's unfamiliar or totally new to someone. I don't know how people do research without any books (asking for opinions is not the same as really digging into the history of a place and trying to understand it more deeply). The internet isn't exactly interchangeable with scholarship, there's valuable stuff out there but a lot of junk too. At least books have some publishing/scholarship standards, the internet is a free-for-all (although still helpful). I'm a bit surprised that some newbie travelers are so wealthy as to plunk down thousands of dollars on trips without knowing why they're going somewhere or what's interesting there...they go on forums to get opinions to fill in the gaps (or they use "top ten" and other contrived marketing lists to guide them). I guess I want more than opinions (from strangers whose credibility is hard to ascertain) for my money. Of course that's not to say that this forum (and others) doesn't have knowledgeable people and valuable advice, of course it does. But I still think there's a place for books and scholarship in travel research. To me, a book is still by far the most efficient and practical way to derive new knowledge. Rick's guidebooks are too limiting for me, as my travel interests go well beyond Europe.

Even better than the guidebooks/ internet/ forums is face-to-face conversations with people who have travelled -- I belong to two travel groups (Sacramento and San Francisco) and I know who those people are, how their travel preferences mesh with mine (and the circumstances where they don't.)

I use the RS books for basics if I am going to a new place then sometimes fill in with other guidebooks. I like Rick's for lining out the basics even thought I sometimes don't agree with how he ranks things, at least it gives me a starting point. If I can see a guidebook in a bookstore I'll flip thru it to see if I like it altho sadly we are down to one bookstore in my area and they are not particularly well-stocked. I do stop by the AAA office when I drive the 90 miles to pick up bird food so can flip thru things on their shelf. I rarely use anything but Rick for hotels in new places and then go with TA reviews to see what looks good.

I also use this forum and Trip Advisor forums heavily, probably moreso than other guide books. I agree with Donna that I have people who's opinions and suggestions I find more interesting so look for their posts on certain locations.

I follow several travel blogs and FB pages - mostly Paris and London - and am always adding bookmarks to interesting sights they mention.

I also page thru certain websites like Atlas Obscura, London Walks and Paris Walks to see what they're going to see. I also check thru the Road Scholar trips to see what their itineraries look like. Sometimes I'll pick up something interesting from where they are going.

I start by picking the one thing that we really want to see. For our next trip, that "thing" is the Bastogne area for Battle of the Bulge sights. For our last trip, the "thing" was the Prado in Madrid. I have already picked the hotel and guide I want for Bastogne; now I'm fleshing out the rest of the trip - probably through northern France - Reims and Lille.

IMHO, this Forum works best for questions about the places Rick Steves likes. For this trip, I haven't bothered with the RS guides. The Lonely Planet guide for Belgium & Luxembourg doesn't have all that much information either. So I've been Googling, using TripAdvisor reviews of "Things to Do" for ideas and Rome2rio for possible train and bus routes.

Frank II - I'm with you. I got churched out in Rome years ago - it takes something really special inside to get me into a church.

I look at all avenues, too. I only rely on guidebooks if they are less than 1 -2 yr old for hotels or restaurants. I like some guide books for various recommendations. RS books are following his tours itinerary too closely, so only if I want to meet a bunch of RS tour members will I follow his guide books blindly. I have just met the Michelin Green guides as we are on a driving trip and I think they have some valuable information. I find some recent Rough Guides really good. I also try to read just fiction or non fiction about the area.
I however, rely on Youtube videos for travel advice. And I wish more than just millennials would post on Youtube. But on Youtube, I research history and art documentaries that give a huge insight to the country we are visiting. I also look at Tumbler for great photos of areas I want to visit. I think Pinterest is useless waste of time. I wouldn't mind following a blog, but I see these as egocentric.
Forums are good for asking specific questions and I find some random locations of interest or ideas in what I read, but I don't find it entirely reliable.

Frank II,

I tend to use all three methods in varying amounts, depending on the specifics of the trip. The RS guidebooks are especially good in some areas......

• Logistics - hotel suggestions, how to get from stations or airports to hotels, etc.
• Sightseeing suggestions - the "Triangle" ratings of sights in each city are often ranked in the same priority as my preferences.
• Sightseeing information - opening & closing times of Museums, admission costs, which days they're closed, etc.

The internet tends to be good for places that aren't well covered in the guidebooks. It's also good for train schedules, airline information, etc.

I probably haven’t bought a guidebook for the best part of a decade, as they are always out of date before they are published and some (RS is a good case in point) have very biased views of what “must” be seen and have some have glaring omissions. EG in England, I would prefer to visit Rutland for chocolate box villages over the Cotswolds a hundred times over, but on this forum, there aren’t many questions on Rutland, as presumably, RS doesn’t cover it.

I usually have some idea of which country or area I would like to visit. I do online research, including local tourist boards for things to do in the area and use Trip Advisor for further ideas. You Tube can be useful too.

I enjoy smaller towns and villages rather than big cities and I take my time and explore an area well, rather than, say, trying to see the whole of Italy in 10 days. Most guidebooks only cover the big cities and large towns. Some things we just happen to find along the way, such as a small village festival in rural Portugal last March, celebrating their traditional bread and cheese making skills. We were about the only non-Portuguese people there, but it was an interesting day out! I enjoyed this far more than visiting yet another church.

I stay in apartments and cottages, not hotels, so I purely use internet research for finding places to stay, using the major sites such as VRBO, Booking.com and Trip Advisor rentals. I try to avoid Airbnb.

I tend to take short (5-7 night) city breaks in December or January and at this time of year, nothing tends to need booking in advance! I have an idea in advance of what I want to see whilst I am there, but I don’t have a rigid plan before I get there as to what should be seen on a particular day - it depends on the weather. I do always check in advance if particular sights are closed on certain days of the week.

I download maps, guides and walks onto my iPad. I don’t want to carry around a heavy guidebook, plus my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be and I dislike fumbling around with my reading glasses the whole time!

I use a variety of sources in planning depending upon the duration of the trip and its geographic extent, ie how far I am going since I don't do regional traveling, how many day trips or night train rides I factor in.

Depending upon the trip, these different sources are history books written by professors or historians, from a couple to several, train and road maps, eg Thomas Cooke and AAA, or German publishers such as Höfer Verlag, the DB and SNCF websites, guide books (mainly Rough Guide, old Let's Go editions, Michelin Green, etc), my notes from various past trips, the internet, (reading in German a town's website telling what it has to offer, etc), even sometimes brochures brought back from Europe. It all depends on how these printed "old" stuff ie, guide books, brochures, etc. are consulted and researched.

There are some places I use booking.com, others I call up the hotel/Pension, B&B, etc.

Churches/catherdrals are also part of the trip, depending if I am interested in seeing a particular one or not, be it in Reims, Beauvais, or Magdeburg, or Lüneburg.

I don't use at all Trip Advisor , don't read restaurant reviews, and third parties such Price Line , Kayak, etc.

Our library is really well stocked with current guidebooks. I check out every one that covers the area I'm interested in and enjoy reading them all and making notes. I don't find it satisfying to read books on the computer or iPad and only do it if I must. I do purchase Rick's guides if I'm going to an area he covers because his detailed practical advice is critical to my trips. I "don't leave home without him" (or I should say his sliced-out pages).

I always read guidebooks and carry them along on my iPad. I buy the newest edition and I buy RS As well as others depending on where we are going. I buy hiking guides when that is part of the plan.

Even when I have been somewhere multiple times, I like to have that guidebook reference at hand before and during the trip, especially when out-and-about for the day. HOWEVER, we increasingly go places Rick does not cover and we are not so much into the churches and art as into history, architecture, and outdoor activities. I supplement material from the guidebooks with carefully selected info from the Internet. For example, the city or country sites applicable to where we are going. Sites like www.MySwitzerland.com, www.le-marche.com, and so on have been valuable in pursuing our itineraries. I avoid the “Top 10” lists and such shallow sites as Condé Nast Traveler. Fun to read, worthless for serious travel planning. Online sources such as NYTimes Travel, The Guardian Travel section are good as well. Have picked up some great tips there. I have all too many bookmarked sites, come to think of it.

One other fun tool is Google Maps. When we are wandering around a major city (did this in London last year during a two weeks stay) I will pull up Google Maps and look nearby for sites we might otherwise skip. Found a couple of cool, small, unusual exhibits that way.

This is the only forum I frequent . The others don’t seem to have the helpful camaraderie we have going here. I don’t need judgmental and rude.

i have gone to Europe 14 of the last 16 years and have taken a RS tour each year. I use the RS guide book for the location I am visiting for the tour almost exclusively. I do monitor this web site for additional information.

An example, the RS books are heavy into churches. Unless a church has
some historical significance, I'm not interested. The same for art. I
like art but I don't need to see every stained glass windown or art
museum in every town.

I love both churches and museums so perhaps that's why I enjoy RS' travel books! I also look at Fodors. I go online to research a particular museum, church, bookstore, restaurant as well as towns near the city where I stay to look for day trip ideas. I find day trip suggestions in travels books (not just RS) to be thrown together at the back of the book almost as a quickly last-minute idea. I typically go to google maps to see what is nearby and then research the towns/cities websites for further information. Then after that I might ask here and/or on Flyertalk for further input.

A number of the great smaller places I've visited have been in response to articles in the Travel section of the New York Times, which I've been reading for over 40 years, I think. By the time I get to them, those spots may have made their way into mass-market guidebooks, but they were not well known at the time of publication. Three good examples in Germany: Erfurt (featured in a recent RS video), Goerlitz and Quedlinburg.

Although I no longer pay any attention to lodging recommendations in guide books and don't often do more than glance at the restaurant suggestions, I do find the sightseeing information useful. I appreciate that there is usually an effort at indicating comparative worth of the various museums, churches, etc., though one must still exercise judgment.

I'll often pick up used guidebooks to get a feel for an area and if I want to go there. I'm not ready for specific questions or itineraries so if it's several years out of date that's OK.

Years (and years) ago I would sometimes pick up a big photo book. Of Scotland or Paris or England. Those ones at the bookstores that were always marked down. I've been looking for one for the French Riviera but no luck. One family member doesn't have a computer or smart phone to look at images, and I'd like for her to have an idea of where we're going this year. Last time I gave her a Paris book and that worked great for her. She had an idea of what she'd see.

Interesting discussion here. I find I use an “all of the above”or at least “most of the above” approach. When first deciding where to travel next, I will use books with lots of photos, for inspiration. Once I decide on a country or general destination, I will use TripAdvisor a lot, looking mostly at “things to do” to get a sense of what’s there, and what other people really enjoy. Don’t pay much attention to rankings, but yes to reviews and comments. If unsure of what route I want to follow, I will consult y’all on the RS Forum for ideas or comparisons. For lodging, I now rely almost entirely on Booking.com, sometimes cross-checking on Expedia.com. For some reason, Booking.com considers me a “genius” which I guess just means frequent customer, and I get a 10-15% discount on many prices. Then I may book through one of those, or directly with the hotel or inn. I have never had a problem with a Booking.com or Expedia.com reservation, or in rare cases a cancellation or change in my reservation. I especially like RS books for neighborhood walking tours, details on museums and other sites, and logistical things like arrival connections, how to get around, when and how to get advance tickets, etc. Personally, I think RS books have plenty in them beyond churches and museums. For meals, I usually depend on my own eyes and nose, or recommendations from locals. I have found that trying to locate recommendations provided in advance often involves lots of time trying to find them sometimes futilely, or the expense of taxis, which I try to avoid. Sometimes TA is a good source for restaurants, if one reads the reviews carefully. I have rarely used the TA Forum, which I have sometimes found helpful, if their destination expert is really good (like in Sicily) but have sometimes been worthless, for instance Bulgaria, where about 95 % of the entries dealt with Sunny Beach, to me the absolutely worst spot in the country. I must say, I am excited when traveling and when actively planning my next trip, often bored in between.

I must say, I am excited when traveling and when actively planning my next trip, often bored in between.

True True True!!

I also use the NYT travel section.

Very early on, I'll stop at the library and take out a couple different guidebooks - I don't care if what they have in stock at the moment might be 4 or 5 years old. I get the basic gist as to what towns might be of interest, what sites are my own personal "must sees". As I get closer to the trip, I can always go online and reserve a guidebook that's written in the present year if I feel I still need it to reference.

I also collect a lot of snippets from different articles I might happen to read online by just emailing them to myself and keeping them all in folders on my computer that I can reference (ex. NY Times travel section stuff, Budget Traveler, Nat Geo Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, etc.). There's a slew of stuff in there - sights I want to see, museums I can't miss, recommended places to shop, restaurants I'll want to eat at, hotel, hostel, B&B recommendations, etc.

I watch different travel shows that feature the place I'm interested in going to (on TV or YouTube, sometimes a DVD I might get from the library). I also might listen to podcasts. I read reviews of things on sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp (although I take many with a grain of salt as what one person might hate, I may absolutely love and vice versa). I also always check Atlas Obscura to see what unusual sightseeing opportunities exist wherever I'm planning to travel so I can pad a few of those into my trip. And I check with my friends if they have been somewhere I'm thinking about going. They know the kind of things that I really like and that I hate, so their recommendations are nearly always spot on.

I always buy the appropriate Rick Steves book for the information about transportation, laundry, left luggage and tours-I prefer reading to audioguides and podcasts.

I have also learned who specifically on forums to pay attention to as their likes/dislikes seem in line with my own. Like reading certain movie critics more than others.

This is precisely the problem for me about using Forums, even this one. If I don't know someone their idea of a great hotel or restaurant may be completely contrary to my own. Also their idea of a great city might not be my choice. So while I utilize this site and seek out others opinions I do so with some degree of skepticism. But it is true that there are many great experienced travelers here offering great advice. But it takes a while to understand who shares your "Travel Values".

AGNES got this whole thing right in her comments. Personally I have to know the history of the place and how it got to be what it is today. Without historical perspective a place has little or no meaning to me other than as just another city, interesting as that might be. For me historical perspective is vital to a great trip. But also so is the anthropological and artistic/literary. And so I read a lot of books before I go.

I use the internet for what I think it's best at. Fast communication and logistics.

I also like to read some history about places I'm going, beyond the summaries guidebooks offer. I look for a book or two a few months ahead, usually in the library. RS and other guidebooks often include suggested novels, movies and such, which can be worthwhile too. This is alongside the library (maybe later purchased) guidebooks, internet research, and sometimes this forum (the only one I participate in -- life's too short).

I liked Ken's summary above. (I like all Ken's posts, in fact.)

Thought the statement and replys were very interesting; and we feel fortunate to now be planning our 16th Rick Steves tour which will be in September. We have several additional on our own European adventures. Our planning prep has relied on:--1. RS current guide books, which are updated annually, or else ever other year for information essentially as posted above by Ken--2. This Forum--with occasional private contact with a forum poster--3. A few Edmunds center visits and attending their programs when in NW--
4. Additional authors guide books found in book store--5. written history --6. January Alumni meeting Stream--7. our special German born daughter-in-law--8. Internet, often following up on a RS suggested address--9. In past years used tour members follow up evaluation when there was a final comment section (no longer done) for helpful info that affected planning--

Since I posted the question, I guess I should give my response.

After I decide where I want to go--general area--I start my research.

First, I look to see if there is a hop on hop off bus. If so , I look at the route and stops. They usually go past all the main sights so this gives me an idea of what to see.

Next, I check my local library to see what recent guidebooks they have on that area and check them out.

I also go to my local mega chain bookstore with a coffee bar, grab a few recent guidebooks for the area, get a cup of coffee and go through the books taking notes. If I decide to buy a guidebook, it will be an electronic version for easy carrying--less weight.

Up next is the internet. Official sites for the area, cities, towns, attractions, etc.

Forums follow---here, TripAdvisor, Fodors, Thorn Tree, among others.

For hotels, I read reviews on Booking.com first since only people who have actually booked and stayed through the website can comment. Then Tripadvisor although I've learned they may not be real. When I find some hotel that look interesting I check rates and location. I like to be close to city center and/or transportation options. I don't really rely on guidebooks that much for this.

As for restaurants, I mostly wait until I get there for recommendations from locals.

I'm also a late planner. I leave in 2 1/2 weeks for an 11 week trip and only about half the trip is planned. It will all work out as I have been known to change destinations mid trip. I usually have my hotels set before I get there and have pre-bought any tickets that need to be purchased in advance. As for daily sightseeing, I decide that closer to my date of arrival. And in some cases, the night before.