Time Out to Let’s Go: A Guide To Travel Guidebooks

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One of my favorite parts of the travel planning process is picking out a guidebook. Some people just pick these up at the local bookstore for some basic tips and then drop them later, either leaving them behind at hostels because they’re too heavy or just let them collect dust in the closet after the trip is over. Not me. I treasure my guidebooks as a wealth of information on not just restaurants and museums, but also as an insight into the local cultures and customs I’ll soon be meeting.

Not all travel guidebooks are alike. Publishers usually determine and write towards a particular demographic, giving them a brand and reputation that is different from others. I’ve sampled from a wide pool of different guidebook brands, from the tried-and-true Lonely Planet and Fodor’s to some of the Generation Y favorites like Moon and Let’s Go.

Based on my personal travels and examining different guidebooks from a variety of publishers, here are some of my favorites.

Best for young people: Like their magazines, Time Out caters particularly to a more youthful crowd. While their guidebooks do cover basic tourist info in cities around the world like Barcelona and Hong Kong like museums and hotels, there’s a huge emphasis the local bar, restaurant and shopping scenes. Plus, most of their guides aren’t too thick and are full of color pictures. And if you’re really looking for a space saver, pick up the Time Out: Shortlist edition of your city of choice.

Best for the budget-conscious: Cutting out color and frilly art design elements to save on color, the Let’s Go guides are best for the backpackers or anyone else looking for a comprehensive guide that doesn’t cost too much. The best finds in these books are the hotel listings. I’ve found and booked hotels and hostels in Spain, Portugal and France based on the information in the Let’s Go: Spain, Portugal and Morocco and Let’s Go: France guidebooks, and all of the listings have been true to the text being that the accommodations were relatively clean and cheap. Most of the Let’s Go guides also have detailed maps and extensive information on the local customs, currency and other miscellaneous info.

Best coverage worldwide: This is more about the publisher than the books themselves.  Most of the well-known guidebook brands publish books about the world’s major destinations like Tokyo, London and Paris. There must be a hundred books out there on each of these cities right now. But it’s difficult to find books targeted towards other cities, or even other countries in general.

For example, a little over a year ago I was searching for a when searching for a guidebook about the Philippines at Borders. I had an old copy from Lonely Planet that was five years old, so I wanted an updated guide. And sure enough, the only guidebook on the shelf on the Philippines was still being published by Lonely Planet. LP might gloss over a lot of things, but they certainly have a large collection, which is only expanded upon on by the vast library on their website.

Best on display on coffee tables/bookshelves: There are the guidebooks that you’ll carry in your backpack on the Inca Trail in Peru…and then there are the books that are just fun to have around and pull off the shelf to flip through at home. For example, while it’s a lot of fun, would you really trek around with The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel? Probably not.

But books like Frommer’s 500 Places for Food and Wine Lovers make for good couch reading, discussions with friends and offer up ideas for future trips. Frommer’s actually publishes a collection of these “500 things to-do” books. Their latest, 500 Adrenaline Adventures, could be a good read if you’re looking to do some off-the-beaten activities like swimming with dolphins or zip lining in Costa Rica. Or you can live vicariously through them if extreme sports aren’t really your thing.

Best for all purpose: Whether you’re traveling alone, with friends or with family, Frommer’s is your best bet if you’re looking to cover all the travel bases: hotel, transport, food, drink and sights. Frommer’s started off decades ago as the budget-friendly guide, and it definitely still holds onto that reputation. But the brand overall has expanded it’s repertoire to include books for almost every purpose, from basic country and city guides to the tailored itineraries in the recently released Day-by-Day series that includes Ireland, Italy and Hawaii.

Much like Lonely Planet, you can find a book for any kind of travel with Frommer’s. But unlike Lonely Planet (which has a slightly more young traveler focus), you can pretty much find a guide applicable for any age group as well.

I’ve definitely left out a few well-known names, even ones that I have found useful myself. But based on my experiences, these are some solid bets. Are you loyal to a particular guidebook brand? Or is there one that you have found completely unhelpful?

Tip: Say you have a really heavy, comprehensive guidebook (i.e. an overall Europe guide) and you want to save space and weight in your bag. Photo copy the pages that are necessary (if it is a reasonable amount) to mark up and take with you. That way you can still have the info you want, keep your book in tact at home and save some burden on your shoulder. Just don’t forget to recycle the pages when you’re done with them.