France (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

This travel guide by DK Eyewitness Travel, is the best travel guide I have found. It is most helpful, lots of photos, maps and descriptions of things to see and do. It differs from all the other travel guides I have used as it is less about saving money on places to stay or eat (which are usually out of date by the time you travel) and more about what to see and self guided tours. My wife and I enjoy the unexpected adventure of wandering around on our own and seeing the sights. This guide fits nicely into that form of tourism. If you like a guided tour, with preplanned stops, planned shopping stops and lunch at a tourist restaurant, this book is not for you. But if you enjoy being on your own, seeing the world at your own pace, this is the book to have. I have a DK Eyewitness Travel guide for all the places I go to, some are old, but the information is about cities and buildings that are hundreds of years old, so the information is timeless.

I am planning my trip to France and very happy with the amount of detail the Eyewitness France guide book offers. I have many pages marked and am still working through it. Good section on Paris with all the popular tourist spots plus interesting and popular outlying areas. After reading about it, booked a hotel in Montmartre area because it sounds like a fun area and metro access to central Paris.Only negative is I was overwhelmed when first looking at book because it is so jam packed. But book explains clearly how to use all features and now I'm happy to have so much information accessible about all of France.Good maps, transportation advise, excellent referrals for hotel, one of which I booked and countless extras like monetary conversion rates and useful french expressions, etc. Viva la France!

This guide is very useful however, I would have expected some more details about few places that I was interested in exploring. It has good information and coverage for most of the France, but I was expecting some local knowledge put in while creating the book.

Awesome Book! I just want to get one for every country. Has so many great ideas to visit, an very informative in back with currencys, lodges, transportation and other stuff...i Just love it...I am going to get a whole collection to travel after corona... I only wish type was a litttle larger; but who cares for value and so much info-Aha! just awesome!!!

Electronic books are nice, but sometimes there is no substitute for having a real book in your hands as you travel. This book came in handy to plan our trip, and also during our visit to France. As we like to have some spontaneity on our trips, this book helped us tremendously make some decisions on where to visit. This book has helpful maps, nice summaries of attractions, and lovely photos.

The reason I love DK travel Guides is that they give me accurate information about venues I want to visit, and they provide good history, pictures and background information. Dense info.

I have traveled to many countries and used/viewed many guidebooks. The nice thing about Eyewitness is that they are divided geographically (give you regions of the countries or cities covered) and within each section, there are photos of sites/monuments/etc. along with descriptions and history. The pictures really add as you are walking around. In addition, if you are not a big photo taker or you travel during a time of year that perhaps weather presents a less than ideal setting for photos of even if there is renovation or restorations going on, you still have a photo in the book to go along with your photos and memories.

I am planning to return to France and I am looking for information about places to visit as well as cultural sites.On the positive side, this book has plenty of pictures, though frankly I would go to other sources for information about Chartres or the Louvre. The book is orgainized by region, with quite a bit of information about Paris, including some interesting walking tour ideas.In my opinion it only deserves 3 stars because it refrains from making the kind of value judgements that I am looking for in a book like this. Should I make time on this trip for Versailles or Fontainebleau? This book provides information about both but little that helps with this decision.I strongly recommend the Lonely Planet guides for someone trying to plan a trip.

For all those who love to travel france, its a good buy. Got a good discout.however the book received looked a bit old

We bought this to help in planning a touring holiday in France this year (2009). It proved itself to be excellent in almost every respect. The information is arranged by region, though the cross-references enable you to flip around to related places and subjects quite easily. It has a good mix of text, photos and maps. The illustrations are highly commendable - Stephen Conlin, John Lawrence, Maltings Partnership and John Woodcock have knocked out some pretty good bits of artwork for the book (I do the odd book illustration myself!)If anything lets it down, it is the lack of price information. Some guides give the previous year's prices, which are a reasonable guide to what to expect. Cost is an important factor in deciding if a place is good value, and worth a long journey.The "where to stay" section was almost useless to us on our travels. Outside of Paris, the selection of hotels is too thin to bother with, as is the selection of restaurants, bars and cafes - most of which seem to be on the expensive side. For hotel bookings, we did most of our hotel searches online beforehand, and booked online for the better deals.I like this book a lot. I have used others in the range before, and found them reliable and a good read. However, I have a few criticisms about this one: I was mainly touring the Loire. I have to say that its write-up about Chateaux d'Usse and Montreuil-Bellay does not do the places justice. Also, it ought to say something about the diabolical traffic and parking arrangements in Amboise. That chateaux was a nightmare to get to in a car. Height of the season, the place was chock-a-block with camper vans and large cars (ours was a little roadster). The two-pages about Versailles are insufficient. The palace and grounds are absolutely huge and there is so very much to see there, that a bit more detail would have been nice. Oddly, it does not mention the queen's infamous "hamlet", which is one of the highlights of a visit there.Overall this is a great little book. A bit heavy to carry around, perhaps, but a wonderful source of information for the holiday-maker and inquisitive traveller.You might just be on holiday, but they make you feel you are on a bit of an adventure.

this is a very thorough guide which i find easy to use and quickly access good info on places of interest - i looked at several books in the bookshops first to see what they were like and settled on this one as the best value all round - i then ordered a used copy via amazon for a few quid less and the book is pretty much good as new. the info inside is concise but still contains a good level of detail without being onerous to read - it is a bit like a pocket encyclopedia of france but also a good travel guide with decent maps and numbered places of interest with corresponding text - the book is quite compact so will fit in a bag or glove compartment fairly easily without feeling like a brick (i got it to take with me on my motorbike across france) - the cover and inner pages have water resistant, durable feel to them and book is well made so unlikely to get tatty or fall apart in transit. highly recommended..

We first bought his ten or more years ago when we were regularly taking holidays in France with the kids. We bought the latest edition simply to have some more up to date info.We have many guides from thsi series, findlngthema l to be equaly easyto use and navigate your way around. As you'd expect with Dorling Kindersley teh layout is clear, the pictures colourful and eye-catching, the text eays to read and the illustrations - often cut-aways - very useful for understanding more about a building, palace or whatever.Fully indexed with general information atteh front, incluing a very useful brief historyof the country, the book is spelit by geographical areas. Ateh back there are universalyuseful sectiosn of hotels, resturants, travel and even a quicktranslator to help in hotels and resturants.We've found and liked hotels, restuitants, musuem - as well as thankfully avoided a few - withe th simple, unemotional content of these guides.On holiday we never leave the house/hotel without it so thankfully the glossy but flexible cover is pretty resilient to rain, sand and sticky fingers. A real friend when you're away.

How many roads trips have you been on when you only found out later you passed within a stones of something you would have loved to visit and didn't have any idea? Eye Witness books give you the chance to research your journey before you start or check out the area when you turn up without the need for internet access. They can't be relied upon as your only map so I always carry a decent up to date road map too.