Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10956 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 444 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you have to choose one book to take to Paris, the Lonely Planet: Paris guide will cover all your bases. Whether you're camping, planning to splurge on a chic hotel, picnicking, or set on haute cuisine, this book gives you thousands of options. Also included is a useful 12-page overview of Parisian architecture, detailed entertainment information, notes on day trips to nearby châteaux and villages, plus 20 pages of detailed city maps, including the Metro. --Kathryn True

Customer Reviews

An excellent guide to avoid the pitfalls of tourism
I bought this book recently to take my girlfriend for a weekend trip to Paris.

Time was of the essence and we wanted to get in as much of the city as we could in the 2 short days.

This guide was well laid out, covers all of the areas of Paris, gives you an informed opinion as well as historic facts and points of interest of the city.

I found that our entire weekend was packed with interesting facts, suggestions and reasons to visit different sites, all thanks to a little guidance from the book.

Want a decent seafood resturant in Little Italy? A cheap cafe near the Sacre Cour? or want to book a Champagne meal at the Moulin Rouge? This guide gave you names, streets, maps opening and closing times, metro maps, where to buy theatre tickets and prices as well as the all essential "Things to avoid", even down to how much we should expect to pay for a taxi from the airport.

The next time I take a leasure trip abroad, I will definately check Lonely Planet has a guide to it first.

Better than having a local showing you round.....and you won't need to buy them a drink either!

Lonely Planet Guide to Paris( A City Guide)
An outstanding guide book well worth the purchasing. We did't leave our hotel room without it. The Maps were detailed and covered all of Paris. The Subject matter within the book covered all of the areas that were concerning us on our first time visit to Paris. Over all a good clear uderstanding thats presented well.
(Best to know a little french before hand or see back of book!)

*****

Recommendable for Americans, but not for Europeans
It is obvious to the European reader that this book was mainly written for American tourists in Paris. Most of the information, e.g. from the "Dos and Donts" section, is completely useless for Europeans but at least it is quite amusing. Other parts, however, are very well done: especially the "Facts for the Visitor" and the chapter about "Getting There & Away" or "Getting Around" should be of great use for any tourist. As is the chapter about "Excursions", which I can highly recommend. The maps in the appendix are helpful for the first few days; afterwards, one should better get a "Paris par Arrondisments" map which can be bought in any bookshop in Paris for a fairly reasonable price. Unfortunately, all the "Things to See & Do" are sorted by areas, not by the names of the museums or other tourist attractions, which I personally would find much more helpful. All other parts, like "Places to Eat", "Entertainment", or "Shopping" depend very much on one's personal taste; I myself prefer to find my own little brasserie or cafe while on an aimless walk through the small streets of the town rather than visiting the usual posh places. All in all, the "Lonely Planet Guide Paris" does not live up to my expectations. Other guides from the same edition are much more useful. Nevertheless, I would recommend it to American tourists, for whom it seems to have been edited. In my view, it does not deserve more than three out of five stars. For the literary interested traveller, I highly recommend the book "Walks in Hemingway's Paris" by Noel Riley Fitch.