Hi! I am moving to Paris with my two kids ages 13 and 10 in January and plan to do a lot of traveling on weekends and school holidays. What is the recommendation for a somewhat comprehensive guide book covering different countries and destinations. Would people recommend tRS guide to the best of Europe or Rick Steves Europe through the backdoor? Thanks Jaime
Posted by
Green Bay
21107 posts
RS guides are good for the highlights and budget travel tips, but I find Lonely Planet and Roughguides more comprehensive. There are also guides specializing in art, sports, etc.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Michelin Green Guides.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10605 posts
Michelin Green Guides.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Google maps and Wikipedia. Once you become familiar with your new surroundings, you'll find all sorts of interesting stuff that no guide book covers. Almost everything is on Wikipedia, particularly if you can understand more than one language. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, someone has almost certainly posted a picture of just about everything of interest on Google maps.
Posted by
2081 posts
jaime,
welcome.
gee. i wish i had that problem. minus the kids tho.
happy trails.
Posted by
Ottawa
1446 posts
I have recently come across a few “Weekend” travel guides, designed for drive or fly-in visits. Author Robin Barton has several, Footprint guides publishes a City Break one. Check on all three Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr, using “weekends Europe” for your search.
I've also used an older Cadogan guide titled Flying visits Mediterranean.
The Guide du Routard and Petit Futé series of guides produced in France are very good and have a few “Week-end” titles as well, such as : Guide du Routard Week-ends autour de Paris 2014 and Petit Futé Week-end en Europe - giving good info for departures from Paris.
Have fun!
PS - Take a flight from Paris to Pau and go see the Pyrénnées, specifically in the Vallée de l'Ossau, for a spectacular weekend in May. There are caves, huge vultures, sheep, a steam train high in the mountains (train de l'Artouste, in Laruns) and few North American tourists. Also, check the villages-vacances network in France - there is one in Bielle, in the valley.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Agree with the recommendation of Routard guides, which are particularly good for affordable hotel and restaurant recommendations in France and French-speaking areas of Belgium and Switzerland. (They're less outstanding outside the Francophone regions.)