Let's Go Paris: On a Budget

Hey, all, So, I agree completely with everyone's cranky reviews of Let's Go: Paris 05. As it turns out, they've completely redone quite a bit for the 07 edition, and I found it quite accessible and useful. They've totally reorganized the Entertainment, Food, and Nightlife sections so that they're all by arrondissement: no more of the idiotic subdivisions. Plus, all the information in the chapter is in a handy table on each chapter's opening page, so you can really do a fast find if you need to. Plus, the maps have improved tenfold. They've got the "Paris by Arrondissement" map as well as a map that breaks the city down into cultural areas, and ones that highlight suggested itineraries. Bottom line: 07 is incredible. I've seen Lonely Planet, Frommers, etc., and LG is the way to go.

Hey, I found this book really useful as a complement to Rick Steves book - you need both. The maps in the back were fantastic and accurate; the listings (unlike other books) were by arrondissement, which is really helpful, and it had great patisserie/boulangerie recommendations. Get both books.

I've made >20 visits to France all together. Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max! <br /> <br />Let's Go <br />Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what: <br />Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of. <br />City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city. <br />PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information <br />MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.) <br /> <br />Michelin <br />Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books. <br /> <br />Fodor's <br />Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what: <br />The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it. <br />SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide <br />PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit <br />UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out <br />CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information <br />Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide <br /> <br />MapGuide <br />MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the Metro. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic touri

This is the guide you want. I ordered this along with Frommer's Paris guide, and found this to be so much better. Let's Go Paris has tons more information than its competition, and yet it is very fun to read. You will feel like you are being led through Paris by a very cool local. Also, the featured restaurants and hotels are clearly labeled with price categories (very useful for the budget-minded). Best of all, each section of Paris is mapped at the end of the book, showing the locations of every reviewed restaurant, hotel, monument and museum. Even though some other guides come with tear-out folding maps, they are mostly worthless -- fall apart easily, low on detail and area. If you really want a large fold-out map, buy this along with an Insight Fleximap of Paris and you'll be set. This guide has a charm and quirkiness that I have not found elsewhere. Buy it a month or two ahead of time, sit at a cafe and read it cover to cover. You will not regret it.

this is the most informative guidebook to paris i've ever come across! i've been there numerous times, and there is no book that gives more of an "insider's view" of this beautiful city. don't hesitate to go out and buy this one--it's a keeper!