Barcelona guidebook information

If you look in the store section of this site, click on the book and there's a place for "is this book right for me" which explains differences.

Thanks for your suggestion. I did look at the shopping on-line section about the book.

Other than that...has anyone actually these books? If so, which was the better book?

Is the Pocket guide more for someone who has previously been to Barcelona and just needs a refresher course?

Bev

The regular-sized Barcelona book definitely includes more detail, is the format that I prefer, and is a newer edition (by more than a year).

I got his Spain guidebook and the pocket Barcelona. I ripped the relevant pages out of the big guidebook and used those. We went throughout Spain, so I needed more than just the Barcelona book. The pocket Barcelona is pretty complete; there is a nice map in the back that shows the city as well as a map of the metro, Park Guell, Montjuic and La Sagrada Familia. I pulled one of my other RS city books and it has an appendix, which isn't included in the pocket guide, instead there is a section on "practicalities". The print is smaller. In the restaurant section there is less details, but what you get is adequate - price, hours and address plus a few details. The sleeping section is pretty small, but the assumption is you've already got your hotel. There is a small section on day trips, but if you are intending to do those, I would definitely get the big book. We did Montserrat and his complete directions were excellent. The pocket guide has pretty complete sections on:Barri Gothic walk, Cathedral of Barcelona, the Ramblas, the Picasso Museum, Eixample walk, La Sagrada Familia, as well as a section on general sights.

I hope this helps.

I have bought a couple of Rick's pocket city size books, but I really prefer to buy his regular size guidebooks. I do what Rick suggests and rip out the pages I need for my trip and organize them to match my travel itinerary.