French Riviera

"Serious tourist" may sound like an oxymoron, but it's a good name for those of us who like to as much as possible about the places we travel to for pleasure. Without our Michelin guide, we would have very little sense of the context of the tiny hill towns we visit; with it we not only have that sense, but we have also transmitted more about the history of this region of France to our children than they know about the United States. But it's not just history and art history. Excellent directions to scores of wonderful sites, hiking trails, warnings about towns that have few (or in some cases no) places to eat, surprisingly accurate information about seasonal openings and closings, hours, and admissions, and cross-references to Michelin maps make this little book indispensable. Sites are starred very conservatively--a one-star site is definitely worth a detour--and the times given for looking around are realistic. Even the index is decent. Caution: the type is somewhat small.