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Arrive at a bus station in a foreign city at midnight and no one understands English, where do you go? One of the best ideas is to purchase a travel book of the city, country or region where you would like to visit. The problem is that there are many different guidebooks out there and it’s difficult to decide which one to choose. Below ESLfocus.com have looked at some of the main brands and which one most suits your traveling and working needs.
Lonely Planet
*****
The classic companion of travelers around the world is available for all continents, countries and many of the major cities around the globe. The guides give you all the information you need about the countries you are visiting including eating, sleeping, traveling and everything else on a small budget along with some nicer places if you have the money. The guide is also very good for taking you off the beaten track, providing information on how to go places you might never have been to before. The greatest triumph of Lonely Planet is the humor of the publication and the way it speaks to young travelers directly, if a place is amazing at night but not much to do during the day it will recommend the best breakfast at 2 in the afternoon or to spend the day hung over in the park. On the other hand LP can be quite a heavy book to carry around with you if your hoping to go to more than one country and sometimes the maps don’t cover all of the places you need to see.
Website
Rough Guides
****
The British equivalent to the Australian Lonely Planet is very similar in the way it presents itself, although slightly dummed down from its Southern Hemisphere counterpart. The books contain all the information you need from a guidebook, specializing in the cheap, travel related end of the scale and is printed on very light paper to keep the weight down while your lugging it around all day. On the other hand the books lack the wittiness of Lonely Planet and are not so well suited to non UK/Republic of Ireland reader. Rough Guides are backed up with CDs and other publications on a regions food, music and films.
Fodor’s
**
Started by a the Hungarian, Eugene Fodor in 1936, Fodor’s guide books have been available for a long time and have published more than 440 books from around the world. The guides themselves comprehensively look at the places you would like to visit and contain a very helpful rip out map, but they are not so aimed at the budget traveler as LP and Rough Guides. Very little thought is given to ways of living cheaply such as hostels. In general they are aimed more at the tourist market than anyone hoping to travel or live abroad. On the other hand they are updated every year, which helps enormously with rapidly changing destinations.
Website
Frommer’s
***
Started by a US G.I. in the 1950’s, the very first Frommer’s showed Americans that they could travel though Europe on $5 a day. The guidebooks became very popular with American audiences and have since sold millions of copies. The books themselves are very similar to Fodor’s with comprehensive information on the places covered and a free color map of the destination that will prove to be very useful. On the other hand they are aimed more for the wealthy tourist market and it’s very hard to find information on traveling on a budget, everything being buried by expensive hotels and restaurants.
Lets Go
****
Lets Go guides are another book in the Lonely Planet/Rough Guides mold with comprehensive information for travelers in a format that is easy to read and fit into a small and lightweight book. The information in the book is very easy and useful but the book lacks the humor and interesting facts of LP.
Website
Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guides
***
Dorling Kindersley takes a very different approach when it comes to travel books. The books are much more graphic and colorful with many illustrations and cut out photographs mixed in with the text. Personally I feel that this works for a tourist visiting a city as it gives a really insightful look at how the city works but on the other hand the information is two hard to find and the books are too heavy and large for the amount of information they contain to be truly useful to a traveler.
Website
Eslfocus.com Overview –
After looking at all these guide books it can be seen that they all provide all the information that travelers might need but in very different ways. Rough Guides, Lets Go and Lonely Planet are all suited to the budget traveler on the road, Fodor’s and Frommer’s suit the more expensive tourist palate and Eyewitness guides look at the travel guide in a much more visual way.
The one guidebook that stands above the rest for anyone traveling or working abroad has to be Lonely Planet. Its well-presented and interesting information is written in a way that appeals to someone on the road and the information is laid out in a very clear and easy to read way. The jewel in the crown of this excellent series of travel guides has to be the delightful way the guide will take you to places you otherwise thought didn’t exist or weren’t possible to travel to, and when you find yourself in these places, then you’ll realize why you’ve been lugging this heavy book halfway round the world.
To purchase any of these books please visit any local bookstores or visit amazon.com.
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From 9 People
