Choosing a Guidebook

Choosing a Guidebook: Which Series Fit Your Style? (and Budget)

One of the first places most people turn to when they're planning a trip is the travel section of their local bookstore, where you can always find plenty of customers sifting through books about places they may never go. (I'm certainly guilty of being one of those previously mentioned loiterers).

This can be a pleasant way to kill time while a friend is searching for a present in the cookbook section, but if you're in the market for a guidebook, the number of choices can be daunting.

What's New

With people traveling more, and to more places, it's not surprising that more guidebooks are being published. But people are also traveling differently, so guidebooks have started to reflect some of those trends. For instance, with travelers taking more short trips, publishers have created more miniguides that focus on only one city. Travel publishers are also selling more specialty guides, either targeting a specific segment of the population such as families, women, various sexual orientations, or people who don't leave home without their pets.

Deciding which guide to buy

So what's the best guidebook for backpackers? There's no one-guide-fits-all answer to that questions, but here are some tips on choosing a series that's right for you, which will probably vary from trip to trip.

Look at the publication date

Guidebooks aren't always updated yearly, so before you head to the register, check the publication date. It's usually on the page with the copyright information, at either the front or back of the book. Some publishers make this detail difficult to find. I'm sure I don't have to go into detail why having an up-to-date guide is very impotent.

Check the prices.

No, not the prices of the books - the prices listed inside. You may be seduced by the color photographs and the glossy paper, but if all the hotels, hostels, and restaurants it recommends are beyond your budget and there's no information about public transportation, you may need to rethink your choice.

Look at the maps.

Besides your guidebook, no doubt you'll also take along a fold-out map of the country you're visiting, but you probably won't buy a map for every city you pass through and certainly not for every small town. It's a good idea to check out a guidebook's maps to see:how many here are, how well they're labeled, and whether you need a magnifying glass to read them.

Don't be afraid to stray.

Just because you've always bought the same guidebook series doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be a customer for life. People change, and sometimes so do travel guides. Some brands that were previously known as backpacker favorites have been broadening their focus to appeal to kinds now grown up and staying at nice hostels. Shop around, you may discover a new series you like.

You Guide to the Top Travel Guides (a brief comparison)

Fodor's (www.fodors.com)
Fodor's got its start in 1936, when Eugene Fodor wrote his first guide to Europe, On the Continent - The Entertaining Travel Annual. Covering destinations around the world, the company now publishes more then four hundred titles, including its flagship Gold Guides and a newer See It series of city guides, with color, glossy paper and photos ( a departure from Fodor's traditional text-on-newsprint approach which helped keep the books lightweight). Fodor's was once considered more high end than Frommer's, but both series now offer comparable guides for middle-of-the-road travelers: people traveling on their own but not necessarily to Tibet.

Footprint Travel Guides (www.footprintbooks.com)
Footprint guides tend to appeal to the same types of travelers who buy Lonely Planet or Rough Guides, though one reason to opt for the lesser-known Footprint books is that you won't cross paths with as many fellow readers during your travels. The British company publishes more than eighty guidebooks to cities and countries all over the world, with an emphasis on covering the history and culture of destinations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America.

Frommer's (www.frommers.com)
Arthur Frommer published his first guidebook, Europe on $5 a Day, in 1957, and the company still publishes a series in that same budget-minded vein - though now it's more like Italy from $90 a Day. Frommer's more than three hundred guidebooks cover mostly all the well-traveled cities and countries around the world, as well as niches like traveling with kids and driving tours. Frommer's guides are comprehensive and easy to use but not as adventurous as some of the younger brands.

Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com)
A bestseller among backpackers and independent travelers, Lonely Planet guidebooks still follow the same philosophy of exploration embraced by Maureen and Tony Wheeler in the early 1970s when they wrote the firs On a Shoestring guide. With more then 650 guidebooks covering nearly ever corner of the globe, the company has expanded beyond its early emphasis on longer trips with a series of city guides for shorter trips. Its books now cover a wider prices range of accommodations and restaurants, an attempt to hang on to readers who have grown up and have more money to spend on travel.

Rough Guides (www.roughguides.com)
Rough Guides generally appeal to the same travelers who like Lonely Planet but are written with more of an emphasis on politics, history, and culture. The series was founded in 1982 by Mark Ellingham, who wrote his first book about his travels around Greece after college and now covers more then two hundred destinations worldwide. Although the name might suggest 'roughing it', the company now aims for a broader demographic than its original backpacker focus.