Southeast Asia

I love the Rough Guides, Moon Guides, and Lonely Planet. The only problem is, they often assume you're going for 3 weeks or 6 months. I can seldom get away for more than 8-10 days at a time. Fodor's doesn't just dump a lot of destination info on you. They help you prioritize by listing "must-see" sights and presenting multiple alternative itineraries for trips of different lengths, etc.Last December, Fodor's SE Asia guide helped me figure out that the Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore odyssey we wanted just wouldn't fit comfortably into 10 days. So we postponed that trip until someday when we have at least 2 or 3 weeks. Instead, we simply flew into Bangkok and immediately booked a 3-day Phnom Penh/Angkor tour. In all, we did 3 days each in Cambodia and Bangkok and 4 days in Tokyo. It was a fabulous trip.This time I'm using Fodor's Japan, together with the Moon and Rough Guides (and of course the Internet), to plan a 10-day solo trip to Hokkaido. From Fodor's I get the highlights, along with a good idea of what I can expect to fit into 10 days. From the other two I get obscure (but equally important!) details, such as the fact that the little farming town of Furano (not mentioned in Fodor's) gets a lot of Japanese tourists because it was the setting for the long-running TV drama Kita no Kuni Kara (From the North Country). I've only seen a few early episodes of that show, but it's enough that now I want to see Furano too.To sum up, I use Fodor's as my starting point, then read other guides to get extra details. I've done 2 Asia trips this way, and I'll be doing the 3rd one very soon.

As Fodors does like no one else, this pleasing digestible guidebook gives practical information to the traveller for an incredibly large and diverse region. A great starting point for trip planning in southeast Asia.