AAA Spiral Paris

I visited Paris in September 2005, and this book was very informative. I am planning on purchasing the updated version for my trip this year. I recommend it to anyone.

If you've never been to Paris and are exploring on your own, I would suggest packing this guide along with the National Geographic DestinationMap for Paris. I also carried the Paris Knopf Guide - which is amazing, but is more for educational purposes than getting from place to place (and might be left at home for later review if you're traveling light). I spent 11 days in Paris, and it wasn't enough time. I walked from place to place most of the time - seeing the neighborhoods was wonderfully rewarding. Paris is a city to be experienced on foot. The people really live in the streets ---they don't just use them to get from place to place as in New York. The pocket-sized spiral guide was easy to carry. It also has an excellent metro map. If you're going to Paris - make hotel reservations ahead of time. If you're traveling around France and have limited time, consider EasyJet rather than the train. Most of the time, EasyJet costs less in terms of time and money. I also suggest buying the Carte Musee et Monuments (you can purchase this at the museums and likely other locations, although I couldn't get it at the metro stations as advertised) which offers unlimited access to 65+ museums and monuments over a one-, three-, or five-day period. You can also bypass lines with it. I used the five-day period to visit many historical sites as well as museums. I revisited the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay three times each. It was nice to visit the same place on different days...to take additional looks at items of interest... The pass makes it very affordable. Finally, if you only go to one museum, go to the Musee D'Orsay. It is extraordinary. Bon Voyage!

My wife and I used this travel guide extensively while in Paris. It served as our bible, tour guide, and street map. It is laid out in a very clearly and the sprial binder makes it very easy to flip to any page. It is filled with clear, color pictures and maps. The guide is broken down into various regions throughout Paris with each section highlighting Must See Attractions, and then At Your Leisure sites that are also in the area. It also has a very nice reference on how to see a region in one day. A subway map is on the inside back cover, and a regional map of Paris is on the front inside cover. Other nice features are sections called 'Finding Your Feet' - which provides great information for when you first arrive in London (either by plane, train, boat, etc..) and a 'Practicalities' seciton that talks about currency, clothes sizes, basic French phrases, etc.What really made this book stand out compared to other Paris travel guides was it included detailed street maps of these regions. Those proved invaluable for us once we started walking around the area. The book is compact, and fit inside my coat pocket comfortably.My only gripe is that for some of the attractions, it did not have the right opening and closing times - and it suggested a shortcut to the lines at the Lourve by getting off at the Tuileries metro stop. Unfortunately, this is one stop too early, but the street map easily showed us the way.If you only want to carry one compact tour guide for Paris - I would highly recommend it.

Having just spent two weeks in the Paris area, I can highly recommend the AAA Paris Spiral Guide as a prime example of what a travel guide should be. It is concise, well organized and offers just the right amount of well thought out information. In other words for the traveler packing light, it doesn't weigh a ton.While I do prefer the Eyewitness Guide series for pre-trip planning and research because of all of its excellent maps, photos, detailed information and "how-to" information, it was the AAA Spiral Guide that I carried around with me all over Paris. The Eyewitness Guide (my constant companion before the trip) never left the hotel room.The AAA Spiral guide gives excellent suggestions about what are "must see" and "check out if you have time" attractions, and even suggests possible daily itineraries based on the geographic areas of Paris. I found that my list of "to do" was very similar to theirs. Also, most of the travel guides that I read had separate sections in the back for restaurants, shopping, hotels, etc. The AAA Spiral Guide organizes these topics into the different geographic areas of Paris. This was a much more logical and welcome organization in actual practice. The Guide also has a small but excellent section of "how to" information. Overall, I am looking forward to using the AAA Spiral Guides again for future travels. I believe the title list is short at present, but hope to see it expand.Bon Voyage!