A Guide to Paris Guidebooks

Published: 3 September 2004 by Larry Guzman 3866

When I made my first trip to Paris, I did a great deal of research. I started checking travel websites such as fodors.com and frommers.com, and I spent hours at my local bookstore browsing the dozens of tourist guides for Paris. The choices seemed overwhelming, from general guides like Frommer’s to restaurant guides and shopping guides. I finally decided on six. Yes, six guides.

I didn’t feel it was necessary to buy either of the Frommer’s ($16.99) or Fodor’s ($16.95) guides because it seemed like I could get much of the information in them from their websites or from the guidebooks I did choose. The guides also lacked the quality of the more colorful and glossier guides and it seemed like they’d become outdated rather quickly. Fodors does have two glossy guides, S ee It Paris ($22.95) and Exploring Paris ($22) that I saw after I’d made my purchases but they seem to have much of the same information.

For my general guides, I chose two books but for most travelers, just one or the other would suffice. The National Geographic Traveler guide ($22.95) and the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide ($25.00) are both outstandingly beautiful books, jammed packed with information. The DK will give you a little bit of information on a wide variety of sights and places while the National Geographic guide will give you a more in-depth look at the better known sites. They both suggest walking tours of famous quartiers, though I will give the edge to the DK guide, which has 90 minute “guided walks” with in-depth information about the area.

Both guides have sections that give you practical information about transportation and other services. They have brief hotel and restaurant guides, listing the most famous places (and the most expensive). The DK guide, however, covers a wider variety of subjects, including mouth-wateringly illustrated spread on French cuisine. You’ll also get guides to excursions just outside of Paris, such as Versailles and Disneyland Paris.

Another guide you should consider with the two that I bought is the Michelin Green Guide to Paris ($18). It’s probably the most comprehensive guide you’ll find and it has most in-depth guide for the Louvre. What turned me off about it is the alphabetical listing of the sites. Most guides I’ve looked at are arranged by quartier and it’s nice to find the main attraction that I’m looking for and then see what else is in the neighborhood. Of all the guidebooks I’ve seen in the hands of other tourists, I’ve seen the DK guide most often in a variety of languages, with the Michelin Green Guide close behind.

I purchased Rick Steves’ guidebook ($16.95) because of the almost fanatical recommendations that I read on various travel message boards. Steves’ guide has very good walking tours and room-by-room museum tours but overall you could find some of the same information in other, more attractive guides. And I still don’t get Steves’ worship of Rue Cler. He claims it best represents “traditional Paris” or something like that but there are plenty of places elsewhere in Paris that are similar. Rick Steves also has a video travelogue for France that includes Paris, which is fine to watch if you’ve never been to France.

If you’re looking for a guidebook for Paris nightlife, you have two good choices: The guide from London-based TimeOut magazine, Time Out Paris ($17.95), is probably the most comprehensive, listing hundreds of eateries and nightspots all around Paris, in addition to lots of more touristy information on hotels, shopping, sightseeing and cultural activities. Depending on what aspect of Parisian nightlife you want to experience, you could choose TimeOut’s magazine if you want to know what the current hotspots are. Pariscope is another popular going-out guide. Time Out also updates their guides annually, though most of the information doesn’t change significantly.

The Avant-Guide Paris has a little more “branché” point of view, a bit anti-touristy and very youthful. The Avant-Guide gives you pithy, sometimes snarky, reviews of everything from hotels to nightclubs. Their take on the mall at Les Halles makes it seem like the entrance to Hell. If you’re traveling with young people or you are under, say 30, get this book. This is the guide to have on a pub crawl through St-Germain.

For foodies, Bistros of Paris (Ecco Press $18) by Robert and Barbara Hamburger, is indispensible. They list 112 of Paris’ finest bistros, arranged by arrondissement. Each review contains a guide not just the address and phone number, but nearest Metro stop, which credit cards it accepts (if any), its business hours, a cost guide (which ranges from inexpensive to budget-blowing), and a 1-3 symbol rating. The reviews are succinct in their description of the bistro’s food and ambience, and give you a good idea of how your meal will go. With this guide, you will certainly help you solve your “where do we eat tonight?” dilemma quickly. Also, you’ll get a bit of dish on the owners, chef and history of the bistro.

Paris: An Inspired Anthology and Travel Resource (Three Rivers Press, $16), compiled by Barrie Kerper, provides a treasure-trove of all sorts of useful tourist information, from hotels and restaurants to advice on how to look less like a tourist and more like a Parisian. It certainly makes for a good read on the flight over and will get you even more excited about your visit. The articles, culled from travel magazines and other sources, will show you Paris in greater detail. The book also provides you with comprehensive bibliographies on each subject, conveniently placed at the end of each section. If you’re ever overwhelmed by the choices of things to do in Paris, you could simply flip through this book, stop at any page and find something interesting to see or do.

For subsequent trips, I have picked up two books that are more eclectic than general: Style City Paris (Abrams $24.95) and Paris Shop Eat Sleep (mo’ media $14.95). Both guides focus on the restaurants and shops that you might glaze by in reading through the Time Out guide. The Style City guide has two sections: an area-by-area guide of a variety of shops, restos, hotels and attractions–each entry has a brief description– followed by longer reviews of selected places. The photography of the Style City is exquisitely bright and colorful and evokes the details of Paris.

Paris Shop Eat Sleep is also arranged by quartier, so if you are mapping out your shopping expeditions, either of these guides will come in handy. Each entry is shown on a schematic map of the quartier that gives you a general idea of where it is but you’ll want to check a better map to find it exactly. A lot of the establishments listed in the Paris Shop Eat Sleep guide are on the upscale side, like the couture shops, though there are a few more affordable spots to check out.

However, Paris Shop Eat Sleep’s wire binder can be a bit annoying and the cover of my copy of Style City Paris fell off completely. Still, for shopaholics, I’d consider these two books a valuable resource. I’ve also gotten a copy of the Zagat restaurant guide for Paris, for free. Just go to the Zagat website and sign up for their email list. Eventually, you’ll get a invitation to participate in the survey and will receive a free copy when it’s published. You can bring it with you on your next trip.

While most of these guidebooks have maps of the city, I’d recommend getting the Streetwise Paris map. If you’re traveling by car in France, you must get the Michelin maps, though you’ll probably save money by purchasing them when you’re there.

I’m still adding to my Paris guidebook library but with books more about French (and Parisian) culture, such as Savoir Flaire! and French or Foe?: Getting the Most out of Visiting, Living and Working in France, both by Polly Platt. But with the guides I’ve listed here, I’m well prepared for finding anything to eat, buy and enjoy doing in Paris.

Larry Guzman is a freelance writer living in upstate New York, and makes a trip annually to France. He’s planning his next trip to Paris for New Year’s Eve and another tour of the Loire Valley in the fall of 2005.

We also recommend Michelin’s Map #75, a spiral- bound map that dedicates a page to each arrondissement. With all metro stops, bus routes, and places of interest (tourist sites, as well as hospitals, police stations, post offices, etc) easily identifiable, it’s the perfect companion for your trip to Paris. Only $10.36 from Amazon.

Share to: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Previous Post Literary Paris hotspots – Part 1

Next Post Between mademoiselle and madame

A Guide to Paris Guidebooks

Related Posts

SomMailier: A Wine Club Dedicated to Boutique French Wines

Would you like to immerse yourself in Parisian culture without the awkwardness of improper manners?

The Mystery of Leon, Édouard Manet’s Son

By Larry Guzman