The Rough Guide to France

I live along the border of France and Switzerland. I like to take excursions around France and needed a dependable guide. So far, I have found this one to be pretty good, with straightforward basics about how to get around, where to stay and with pretty accurate opinions. I would recommend it overall, but bottom line, the very best resource is Michelin. If I were to buy just one guide I would make it the Michelin green guide, or of course for restaurants, the red guide.

This is THE BEST practical guide for visiting France. It's well-organized, with highlights at the front of each chapter, and practical transportation information at the end of each chapter. In addition, their evaluations of a site's merit have, thus far, been right on. While their lodging and dining sections might focus on the lower-end, the accuracy and comprehensiveness of their information more than makes up for it.

If you are looking for a small book to fit in your back pocket, The Rough Guide France is not for you. If you are looking for a guide that lovingly describes even the smallest French town in careful detail and clear format, then this IS the guide book you should be looking for. The Rough Guide to France does an excellent job in several areas where many guide books fail. For example, smaller attractions are often overlooked in favor of the larger cities, such as Paris or Lyon. Rough Guide ensures that for those who want to go provincial, they won't be going in blind. Another merit of the guide is in it's clear, concise format. Not overburdened with irrelevant maps/illustrations (a pet peeve of mine), Rough Guide has clean, simple directions and mapping. This is a vast improvements over Guides like Lonely Planet, where I often feel the editors publish more with an eye towards their own self-satisfaction than towards the serious traveler. The resturaunt/hotel features are adequate, frequently include useful maps, and will not tax anyone's checkbook too harshly. Perhaps the greatest strength of this guide is the seeming conviction of the editors to tell you that which you NEED to know for that trip to France. Michelin might the cultural ask-all, DK may have lots of lovely photographs, but Rough Guide is for when you're ready to get serious about your trip to France. Well-written, informative, with a clear and honest style that should impress both casual and budget traveler alike, The Rough Guide France should be your FIRST PICK in guide books.

What I like best about the Rough Guides is that they give critical reviews. They will point out the tourist traps and will give negative reviews. I find that Frommer's and Fodor's rarely point out the negatives to a particular hotel or site. The rough guide is very critical and is a great balance to these other guides. I would balance your trip to France with a Fodors (or Frommers) book because the maps and illustrations are often better and there are more higher-end hotels listed.This book will help you decide where is best to spend your vacation in France. There are clear critical descriptions of all the regions and great general info on getting around in France.If you aren't interested in "roughing" it and staying in lower priced hotels.. the guides are still very useful in rating attractions, and areas in which to stay... but you will need another book to look at more moderate and luxury hotels.I would definitely read this book before going to France.

My husband and I took a couple of well known guide books with us on our recent trip to France...but this is the one we found most useful. One invaluable feature is the inclusion of maps. When we got lost in Avignon we had only to open the Rough Guide to find our way. Also, we were able to locate the bus and rail stations on the maps. There is much to be learned by reading a number of guidebooks before you go but this is the one to take with you.