Planning Our First Trip to Europe...Which Guidebooks?

Trekkerbp, on each guidebook page there's a section "Is this the right book for me?" It will answer your questions better than we can. Here's a sample, from the Italy 2020 page:

Is This the Right Book for Me?

What's the difference between this Italy guidebook and Rick's Best of
Italy guidebook?

Rick Steves Italy, the complete guide, offers more coverage of more
destinations in a mostly black-and-white format, and is updated
annually.

The shorter Rick Steves Best of Italy guidebook focuses on Italy's top
destinations and sights, is in full color, and is updated every other
year.

Both books are packed with hand-picked recommendations and Rick's
travel advice and tips for saving time, money, and hassle.

Should I get the Sicily guidebook in addition to this Italy guidebook?

Yes! If your trip includes Sicily, you'll also want to bring Rick
Steves Sicily, as it's the only Rick Steves guidebook with any
information on Sicily.

Should I get the Rome, Venice, and/or Florence & Tuscany guidebooks
(or any of the Pocket guides) in addition to the complete Italy
guidebook?

If you're not spending more than a few days in any major city, Rick
Steves Italy is all you're likely to need.

If, however, you're spending four days or more in the same city, the
extra information in a single-city/region guidebook can we worthwhile.
Compared to the corresponding chapters of the Rick Steves Italy
guidebook, our full-size guidebooks for Rome, Venice, and Florence &
Tuscany offer more in-depth sightseeing information, several
additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, more detail
on day-trip options, and more specifics on shopping and nightlife,
plus activities for kids. Other information is generally the same —
for example, the Rome chapter of Rick Steves Italy has nearly all the
hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for Rome that
you'll find in the Rick Steves Rome guidebook. Likewise, Rick Steves
Italy includes coverage of most of the same Tuscan towns (except
Cortona), and the same practical advice and hotel and restaurant
listings that you'll find in Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany. Rick
Steves Florence & Tuscany, however, has more in-depth sightseeing
information for Florence, Siena, and Pisa, as well as extra
information on Florence's shopping, nightlife, and kids' activities.

It would make less sense to supplement Rick Steves Italy with one of
the smaller Pocket guides for Rome, Venice, or Florence. Each does
have one or two walks and museum tours that aren't included in the
related chapters of Rick Steves Italy, but otherwise they offer far
more limited coverage of each city's sights, hotels, and restaurants.
(Our Pocket guide to the Cinque Terre, however, has no more advice —
except for its foldout map of the region — beyond what you'll find in
the Cinque Terre and Italian Riviera chapters of Rick Steves Italy.)

Should I get any of the Snapshot guides for Italy in addition to the
Italy guidebook?

No, because the various Snapshot guides for Italy are simply excerpted
chapters taken directly from the complete Rick Steves Italy guidebook.

trekkerbp

Excellent advice from Jane.
A question to consider is how you expect to use the guides? Mostly for targeting sights to see, hotel/restaurant recommendations, or do you need the "how to" information? If its your first time, you might want to lean towards the full versions (e.g., France) to get that detail.

A suggestion would be to first check with your local library and see if they have any of those (many libraries do) and peruse them to get a feel for whats in them. Alternately, used bookstores also often have a selection of RS guides. Even if they're old, the information is still good.

I'd get the London and Paris guidebooks, along with France. Start with London. Then go to

19 days - that's 3 weeks - 2 days

I'd do 5 days in London, 5 days in Paris, 1 day transit (Chunnel)

Then you have 8 more days. My suggestion would be to consider some countryside in France and England. You could add Normandy (Mont st Michele, etc), Il de France (center with chateaus), Bordeaux (wine country), Chartres (cathedral, easy train from Paris). In England, you could go to Liverpool (I loved Liverpool), the Lakes country, or Northumbria. Also Cornwall. Doing some country in England and/or in France would balance the cities.

I'd rethink Rome. You certainly could do 3 cities, but you wouldn't have much time in the country.

Thanks for the help! This points me in the right direction, now on to planning!

For an introduction to a new country and planning purposes, I like the blue and gold RS books. So, for your France example, I would get "France" to start. And then if you are like me, you will end up buying a bunch of other France books too. 😊

Happy planning!!!

Don't forget to look at your library for travel guidebooks. They are often a little dated. That means that sights are still covered the same way, but restaurant and lodging info may not be up to date. You are 8 months away from making those reservations.

I'd plan on finding accommodations before the trip. With a family, you don't want to be making reservations on the fly (we are 2, so we often do that). booking.com can be used to find a place to stay for 5 days in London and Paris. With a family, an flat which can be rented for several days is really good.

Also, what ages are the children? That will considerably affect your planning.

Trekker, I'll vote with Stan to go to your public library and check out a range of different publishers. We use a variety of books when planning our trips, and prefer some to others when gathering different bits of knowledge and inspiration. For instance, Rick's books do a good job with "how to's" but Eyewitness Guides are nice for pictures of the landscapes and attractions. We've used their self-walking tour routes as well (although Rick has those too.). Anyway, just as one size doesn't always fit all, one book sometimes doesn't either. :O)

One caution? COVID has thrown a big giant wrench into the travel machinery and I wouldn't trust ANY book with info such as hours, entry fees, ticketing options and visiting rules and regs. Things have changed this year, and will very likely continue to so well into next year, especially where mandatory reservations may be concerned. For that sort of info, it's always best - even when not dealing with fallout from a pandemic - to go to the official website for each attraction for the most current scoop.

As a side note, we've spent a full week or more (Rome) in each of the 3 cities you list without running out of things to see and do, and, with the exception of a day trip to Windsor from London, without ever leaving town. Whether you can fill a week's worth of days the same way depends on your family's interests but let's just say that choosing what had to be skipped was harder than what to keep on the must-do list. :O)

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/england-scotland/london
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/france/paris
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/rome

I know you are looking to 'do it yourself', and not taking a tour, but you can look at the "Itinerary" tab for each city to use as inspiration/planning for each place.

Checkout thriftbooks.com for the RS books.

I am another that uses the library to start my travel research. I would say hold off buying a lot of books, as Covid will change some aspects of travel. An overview of your cities will be covered whether it is 2019 or 2020, so an older version for overall reading should be fine (unless there is a new airport or train station being built in the meantime). Covid is going to change lodging, restaurants and sites. A number (if not many) will disappear, or be compromised in some way. Some are using this time to get a face lift, while others may not be able to afford the upkeep and lose ratings. How tickets will be sold, or times booked may also change, so travel in 2021 is going to require website checks if every item you are interested in....and not done too far out from travel date either.
If I may, I would like to put out a plug for 'Better World Books' online used book store. They now also carry new, but they are a socially responsible enterprise that I like to share with others. here's a short blurb from their website.
"To date, we have raised millions of dollars for literacy, saved millions of books from landfills, created jobs for hundreds of people, and provided wonderful books to millions of readers worldwide."

I would purchase the France 2020 Guidebook, first. There’s a lot of great information about traveling in Europe - lots of helpful answers to questions that you don’t even know to ask, yet, i.e. the importance of validating your train ticket before boarding a train, different ticket options for Metro tickets in Paris, etc. Also, reading through it will give you a better idea of all of the variety of options just traveling within France offers. Then you can pick up either the pocket London or London guidebook.

I also recommend saving Rome for your second trip. And begin with London, so you can acclimate to Europe in a location that speaks English, first.

Browse through other guidebook brands at the library, too. Each one will give additional ideas & knowledge. Lots of fun ahead for you and your family!

A couple of more hints - plan to fly into one location and fly home from a different location. For instance, you may want to fly into London and back home from Nice, France.

Also, many of us have been burned this year from booking non-refundable hotels. Be sure your reservations are refundable. A good site to use that I like is Booking.com

RS guidebooks are great for practical and logistical information about the places that are the most popular with Americans. They don't cover a lot of sites that you might really enjoy.

For that reason, I would suggest looking at a Lonely Planet or Fodor's guidebook as well.

Using multiple guide books is a good idea as it will give you other persons views as well.

If you can get your planning under control, you may find some deals out there - here's an example:

https://unsold.com/saver/paris-239874/7nights?fbclid=IwAR2dnCsCmKsfP-sJtgJQw8B33W1WEYrxrgFcX80GhJ-tGqguxWNi_hWrAAI

I have no idea if this is a good deal, but 7 nights in Paris for $400 seems pretty good to me.

Many of the Lonely Planet guidebooks kindle editions are free with kindle unlimited which itself is free for a month trial period or about $10 for a month after the trial period. I often find it useful to browse several of these for regions, countries or specific cities to help decide where to go. I will later purchase RS or LP updated ones to use for the places I decide to visit.

Besides Guide Books, read Historic Novels set in the Countries where you plan to travel. Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas give you the flavor of different centuries in France with their many Books (now Movies) Les Miserables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame as examples. Biographic books and Movies of Famous Artists can give the places you visit a lot of flavor. Which brings up Cook Books; study up on French food. They used to have food tours in Paris. There are plenty of Churches and Palaces; research them before you leave so you can savor them while you are there. Etc. Bon Voyage!

Here's a post I started a few months ago, maybe you'll find it handy.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/what-guidebooks-do-you-use

I use the public library as well. I check out every travel book they have on the areas we are considering then if I want one I buy the most current version nearest to my date of travel. In addition to RS, I also like the DK Eyewitness series - at least for researching the sights, history, etc. RS is most helpful for practical travel information, affordable options, what sights to focus on if you have limited time/money. In particular, I like his Pocket city guides - small, easy to carry, and they include pullout maps.

Most RS guide books are updated about every 2 years. Check the Product Details here on the website and when the current edition was published and when the next is due. Ex: Best of France is Oct 2019 and the next is Oct 2021 after your trip. But the Paris Pocket guide is May 2019 with the next due out Spring 2021 so that might be the better purchase. As others have pointed out, details can be very different by next year.

I also check out local thrift stores for older guides. Not useful for logistics but a 1000 year old cathedral hasn't changed much in the last few years. They can be very cheap (25-50 cents). Again, if I like the format I can buy a newer one. I've also been know to tear out pages to take with me. Who cares if you only spent a few cents on it.

In addition to the guides, there is plenty of other good info here on the website - loads to read and videos to watch.

I always use Barnes and Nobles as my starting point in researching which guide books to buy for my trips. Oftentimes buying the books from that bookstore to support them. Shipping cost means that B and N are cheaper than RS store. Occasionally we order used tour books from Amazon as many people sell them right after their trip. Also use the library so I can checkout books for more leisurely trip planning. If you are just visiting the large cities, buy city specific books. They should include information on day trips in nearby sites. You have enough time to see the BIG 3 Western Europe cities but will miss the more relaxed experiences of smaller towns/countrysides. Consider London, Paris with several days in smaller nearby towns as one trip. Or go to Italy for the whole trip. Italy is a first European vacation for many, including me.

Put a trip together, post it here and you will have more helpful
comments than you can shake a stick at

Spot on. Guidebooks are fine but they aren't necessarily the be-all, end-all of trip planning. Add forums like this one plus all sorts of websites for the places you intend to go and you'll end up with a dandy adventure. :O)

I like to, as others have said, get the guidebooks from my library to decide which ones I actually want to buy. Then I can do all my note taking and underlining in the book I own. I would also recommend rethinking Rome. London and Paris are great and very doable together, but Rome would be better with other great Italian cities like Florence and Venice. You could easily add the Bath area or the Cotswolds to London, and either/both Normandy and the Loire to Paris.

Rick Steves also has a wonderful video series on different destinations (youTube), we love watching those together to get excited, make notes on things we did not think about etc. Plus once you watch a video, youTube will give you suggestions on other video's on a similar topic and down the rabbit hole you go! RS books are just a STARTING point for me, gives me ideas to research and then my own trip is formed. The website Rome to Rio is great for planning how you're going to get between countries, based on time and the experience you want to have.

I love DK Eyewitness guides.
Rick Steves guides are good, but don't always cover the country compeletly.

I think you also have to decide on the pace of travel that fits your family. There is always a trade off between breadth and depth and particularly on a first trip to Europe you might want more breadth.

Personally, five nights in one place is too many for me. We did that in London last summer because a friend could overlap our last day and then we added a day. It isn’t like we could see London in five nights. We clearly did not and I would like to go back. It was just that I was ready to move on to see something different.

We traveled to Greece with our young adult children and found a combination of three and four night stays was perfect. Less than three can become wearing quickly.

Rome is totally different than London and Paris. I went by over night train in my twenties from Paris to Rome and the contrast between the two cities was mind blowing.

It is true that focusing on major cities does leave you with only one vantage point for Europe. One possibility if you are still interested in including Italy but not fixed on Rome would be to go to Florence instead.

Thanks everyone! I wasn't expecting such a wonderful response...lot's of great advice here. Thank you so much!

We are still early in the planning stage, so there's a mountain of information to attempt to digest. Right now, we are just trying to get a rough idea of what each location has to offer so that we can begin to pin down our top "Must-See" destinations.

I've traveled in Asia some (India, Thailand, Taiwan, China), but Europe is mostly new to me (spent about 10 in Wales and a day in London 15 years ago). Therefore, I'm just gathering information at this time.

I would add that we are definitely type "A" when it comes to travel. We're not the kind to rest and relax when traveling. We typically hit the streets early and don't return until late. We live by the philosophy that vacations are for exploring, learning and having fun, not relaxing.

In addition, we are a family of four and range in age from 10 to 50. We enjoy soaking in the local culture, but aren't into art, fashion, or fine dining. We would much rather tour Roman ruins, castles and churches, than art galleries. We love museums as well, but I'd much rather see the Rosetta stone or Egyptian artifacts than paintings by Monet.

Anyway, thought the additional information might help. Thanks again everyone!

I will humbly submit that you may check out Rick Steves Europe Through the Backdoor. The first 500 pages of the book are about travel skills for traveling through Europe (including a short section on traveling as families). The last 250 pages of the book are an overview of the countries of Europe, with high points for each of them.

trekkerbp, I dont know how familiar you are with Rick's TV show (dont want to assume), but its a great way for all of you to see places you might want to visit. You can go here: watch-read-listen and watch individual episodes at your leisure and as a group.

I'd like to direct you to a RS Forum posting of over three years vintage, entitled "How Much Fun Is It To Plan Your Trip?" Don't overlook the fun planning can be. Hopefully, this is a helpful link.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/day-tours/how-much-fun-is-it-to-plan-your-trip

We typically hit the streets early and don't return until late.

That's the way my husband and I travel as well, and have easily spent an entire week in cities with umpty riches of history, art, architecture, etc. to explore. It's all about what trips your trigger. Rome? I've 2 weeks total into that one and the to-do list is still long! Then again, Italy is where my heart found a home. ❤️

We have hiked the Cinque Terre and the Appia Antica outside of central Rome, among some other non-city treks, so have a bit of rural footwork under the belt.

I bought Rick Steve's Italy guidebook before my third trip because I thought he did the best job of describing logistics, train stations, directions, and so on. Now I am finding that I can figure much of this out from other guidebooks and websites. Rick Steves' books only describe the most popular sites that are what the average American is most likely to want to see. In Rome I saw a museum and certain areas not covered by Rick Steve's. In Florence I saw at least two sights Rick didn't mention.

Another guidebook series I like is the Rough Guides, published in England. I bought guidebooks by Rick Steve's, and the Rough Guides, before my last two trips.