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Best General France Travel Guides

Rick Steves Paris 2018
Explore every centimeter of Paris, from the top of the Eiffel tower to the ancient catacombs below the city: with Rick Steves on your side, Paris can be yours! Rick Steves, author of 21 guidebooks and host of the television series Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, has spent 100 days a year traveling Europe, every year, since 1973.
Reviews
"This guide made our trip to Paris an amazing Experience."
"super helpfull to make a itinerary and make the most of Paris."
"The reference materials for getting around Paris were great (opening times, what was open on Monday, what was closed for 2013) but the tours within the books of the several museums and different neighborhoods were awesome."
"Anyway, buy the book before you go but also buy Dixon Long's "Markets of Paris" - there is so much about Paris, it's impossible to overdo the preparation!"
"My friend and I did the book's tours for the Louvre, the Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, and Versailles, and in all cases they were excellent."
"I can't say enough good things about this book."
"The book comes with a few pre-planned itineraries for a short 3 day trip and a longer trip, which with a little thought, can be customized to fit your schedule and desires. The guidebook covered common tourist scams, two of which were attempted on me which I easily avoided (friendship bracelet and found ring)."
"But it is terrible--bare minumum of info, often misleading or missing info (for instance not mentioning the existence, let alone whereabouts, of a famous restaurant in Paris, but only its satellite location out at Versailles)."
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My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories
A collection of stories and 100 sweet and savory French-inspired recipes from popular food blogger David Lebovitz, reflecting the way Parisians eat today and featuring lush photography taken around Paris and in David's Parisian kitchen. I’d follow him blindfolded on this journey to the City of Light.”. -Yotam Ottolenghi, coauthor of Jerusalem “David Lebovitz is a chef who can write better than most food writers, a writer who can hold his own in any restaurant kitchen in the world, and, most of all, a guy who simply rejoices in food and cooking. A treat for those of us who love French home cooking, Paris, and David’s take on it all.”. -Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table “David Lebovitz is the ultimate American in Paris and this book is the ultimate insight into his beautiful and delicious world.
Reviews
"I first acquired this book in its Kindle format and started reading it on my iPad, relishing both the delicious recipes and the anecdotes and reflections on life in Paris."
"What's even more interesting than the recipes are the stories that accompany each of them."
"I adore this blog and his other cookbooks so I knew that I would enjoy this as well."
"I love David Lebovitz!"
"My daughter loved it."
"Always an entertaining read, and recipes too."
"This book includes stories of Paris."
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A Paris Year: My Day-to-Day Adventures in the Most Romantic City in the World
Part memoir and part visual journey through the streets of modern-day Paris, France, A Paris Year chronicles, day by day, one woman’s French sojourn in the world’s most beautiful city. it’s the type of book you beg and plead and hope will never end.” ― Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Good Chinese Wife. ―Lisa Anselmo, author of My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home "With whimsical illustrations, captivating photographs, and a diary-format that hooks you from the start, Janice's journey of a year in Paris is downright magical.
Reviews
"A perfect book for those people who always complain about their jobs and wish they could do something else to be happy."
"I love Paris and this book helps me relive those days when I was there."
"Thank you for taking me back to the sights & sounds & smells of Paris."
"It's a good book."
"I loved the journal format of this book!"
"Incredible book!"
"Loved it!"
"Gave this as a gift, she loves it!"
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Best Travel Language Phrasebooks

Rick Steves' Italian Phrase Book & Dictionary
This handy guide provides key phrases for use in everyday circumstances, complete with phonetic spelling, an English-Italian and Italian-English dictionary, the latest information on European currency and rail transportation, and even a tear-out cheat sheet for continued language practice as you wait in line at the Sistine Chapel. With the help of his hardworking staff of 80 at Europe Through the Back Door—in Edmonds, Washington, just north of Seattle—Rick's mission is to make European travel fun, affordable, and culturally broadening for Americans.
Reviews
"My husband and I -- who travel frequently and rarely get sick -- contracted some kind of horrible flu/sinus infection/plague on the way out or Rome and needed to seek urgent medical consultation and care from a pharmacy on the Amalfi coast. The Rick Steves guide came to our rescue because it had more than three times the amount of health and medical vocabulary than the Lonely Planet book, which we desperately needed because we had a lot of specific symptoms to communicate and the pharmacist/doctor only spoke a few words of English."
"Came in handy during our trip to Italy."
"This came in handy in Italy."
"It is what I ordered and expected."
"Really loved this book on my internship to Italy."
"Small pocket size with easy to pronounce guides to hundreds of words!"
"We bought this in preparation for a proposed trip."
"We've taken 5 trips to Italy and got along fine with English, but we had a chance to take a course in Italian and bought this book to help us along."
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Best Teen & Young Adult Travel

Not For Parents Paris: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (Lonely Planet Not for Parents)
Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher*. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, children's books, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel. TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.'.
Reviews
"With this book, the whole family learned about each site and looked forward to getting inside."
"I gave this book to an eleven year old as a gift before she went to Paris with her grandmother."
"I personally poured over it and found it adorable, but, at 30+, I'm slightly out of the age demographic..."
"She is now constantly filling me in on fun facts about her favorite city."
"my 7 year old daughter loves it!"
"I was a little concerned that these books would be too juvenile for them, but for the price thought it was worth a shot, because there's no way I'm going to get them to sit down with a guide book to start giving me ideas and opinions on what they might be interested in seeing! So I sat down to lunch with them, and while they read their books, I started reading the London book, and occasionally shared something funny or weird. Then 14 year old picked up the London book to keep reading when I went to get my drink, and 12 year old slipped away with the Paris book a few minutes later."
"I bought this book for my grandchildren, ages 9 and 11, to take on their trip."
"A fun, thorough introduction to Paris, for kids (and adults!)."
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Best Provence Travel Guides

Rick Steves Provence & the French Riviera
More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket. When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. To recharge, Rick plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spends time with his partner Trish, son Andy, and daughter Jackie.
Reviews
"Rick Steves guides are perfect for me - they tell me what I need and no more, plus he has the same taste and attention span that I do, so his tours hit the right spots and for the right length of time."
"Wonderful aid - apparently comes out every 3 years, I'd advise checking publication date."
"Love his guided walks."
"Its very,very good, especially for the independant traveller (as I) who, arriving at a place, needs to know how to get from Place A to Place B by public transport without calling a taxi!"
"I used the book to death making plans before the trip."
"It provided a lot of very good information (maps and suggested trips were good) in a convenient form."
"Some of the costs for transportation were off, but it was a great reference and it really did hit on the highlights of the area."
"Outdated, as we expected since a new version comes out next month."
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Best Rhone Travel Guides

Cycling the River Rhone Cycle Route: From the Alps to the Mediterranean
The described route uses two waymarked national cycle trails: the Swiss R1 Rhone Route and the French ViaRhôna, which together have been adopted by the ECF (European Cyclists' Federation) as EuroVélo route EV17. Starting with UK cycling routes, he soon moved on to long-distance routes in the rest of Europe and beyond, including a circumnavigation of Iceland and a ride across Cuba.
Reviews
"This book provides the most extensive route information I have found."
"It's the most detailed guide available to this route and I found it useful, but putting too much emphasis on obvious detailed directions ('turn left 200 metres after the bridge') that you can get from a study of the map. I only found out this when I tried to follow the route on my iPhone GPX app using the data downloaded as part of this guide."
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Best Loire Travel Guides

Chateaux of the Loire Valley
Sixty of these works of art have been captured in brilliant color photographs for this book: the Hall of the States General at Blois, the Saumur and Angers fortresses, the picture-postcard castle of Azay-le-Rideau built in the middle of a river, and, impressive and shrouded in legend, the massive Chambord castle. He was vice-president of the National Commission for the Protection of Historic Buildings, and he is a member of the French Academy of Architecture in Paris.
Reviews
"This book was exactly what I was looking for."
"Nice book I gave it as a Christmas gift. My friend was thrilled as we had just come back from there."
"Gorgeous book that will remind us of our fantastic trip to the Loire."
"Informative and beautiful."
"Good book."
"Different then I thought it would be, but none the less interesting.."
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Best Dordogne Travel Guides

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast
DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast will lead you straight to the best attractions this beautiful part of the world has to offer. Taste the best vineyards, discover prehistoric cave paintings, and indulge in the flavors of Aquitaine's local produce and classic dishes. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast truly shows you this region as no one else can. "Known… for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the [DK] Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way."
Reviews
"This book was the one that enticed me to visit this area."
"The guide provides a great deal of information and beautiful illustrations."
"Intend, sometime soon, to spend several months in the area (best we found in France for cost and scenery) and will rely on the book for guidance then."
"Super quality."
"It has been most helpful in planning my next trip to France with an emphasis on this region!!!!!"
"I would recommend to anyone looking for a good travel book."
"we love the Eyewitness Travel books - they're extremely helpful!!"
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Best Paris Travel Guides

Rick Steves Paris 2018
Explore every centimeter of Paris, from the top of the Eiffel tower to the ancient catacombs below the city: with Rick Steves on your side, Paris can be yours! Rick Steves, author of 21 guidebooks and host of the television series Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, has spent 100 days a year traveling Europe, every year, since 1973.
Reviews
"super helpfull to make a itinerary and make the most of Paris."
"Anyway, buy the book before you go but also buy Dixon Long's "Markets of Paris" - there is so much about Paris, it's impossible to overdo the preparation!"
"I can't say enough good things about this book."
"The book comes with a few pre-planned itineraries for a short 3 day trip and a longer trip, which with a little thought, can be customized to fit your schedule and desires. The guidebook covered common tourist scams, two of which were attempted on me which I easily avoided (friendship bracelet and found ring)."
"I read it over before going and it has lots of good information like when to go where, what days time etc. The only thing that I would double check before leaving for Paris or when in Paris is if the days certain places are open. at least 3 hours of waiting!"
"I did my best to read the book before leaving and plan the trip out ahead of time, but it was also extremely useful at the hotel to help finalize the next day's plans, and even once in awhile to have it out with me during the day in case my memory failed me or we changed our plans on-the-fly."
"Rick Steves is a real-live "regular" traveler, who understands that most of us don't stay at the Ritz Carlton, don't eat at 3-star Michelin restaurants, and that we crave authentic travel experiences."
"But it is terrible--bare minumum of info, often misleading or missing info (for instance not mentioning the existence, let alone whereabouts, of a famous restaurant in Paris, but only its satellite location out at Versailles)."
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Best Lyon Travel Guides

Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family, from Paris to Lyon
Life unravels when American psychotherapist Kristin Louise Duncombe faces being uprooted again—to follow her husband from their secure nest in Paris to bourgeois Lyon. But she must reconfigure everything she thought she knew about her "expat expertise" when her child sinks into existential crisis, addiction to Lyonnais cream puffs blooms, and tea time is to be had with glamorous French moms whose sex lives include swingers’ parties. "Duncombe ( Trailing , 2012), an expat therapist who specializes in uprooted families, writes about her own family's transition from Paris to Lyon, France... Duncombe was a sort of professional expat herself, due to her father's career with the U.S. Foreign Service, so she was more suited to the nomadic life than most. She even worked as a therapist, advising families on how to handle just the sort of transition she now faced.
Reviews
"I just finished Kristin Louise Duncombe's "Five Flights Up," about following her Médecins Sans Frontières doctor husband to Paris and then Lyon after a long stint in Kenya, which she described in her previous book, "Trailing.""
"Kristin is so refreshingly honest and vulnerable, without any shred of moral superiority -- a definite down in the trenches book, with the strength of a woman who is willing to brutally self-assess and change both herself, and her view on life."
"This is a very special book and I highly recommend it for anyone who has been an ex-pat in a foreign country and gone through the very confusing and frustrating process of culture shock and has travelled and would like to know what life is like in Paris from the honest and intelligent eyes of a highly articulate mother of two, married to a doctor working for World Health Organization who has experienced multi-moves in her childhood and adult life."
"Her writing being witty, approachable and engaging, Duncombe takes you along for her wild ride of moving from Paris to Lyon when her husband receives a new job there."
"The subtitle might well be "Scenes from a Marriage II," as with her characteristic candor and brutal emotional honesty, she lets the reader into the day-to-day highs and lows that anyone in a couple (particuarly those with children) can relate to."
"It's so easy to imagine turning to sweets in order to cope with stress. And I could feel the intensity of the conversations with other moms in Lyon--the ones not eating the pastries, the ones who ask Kristin why she isn't keeping herself thin and beautiful."
""Having" to move from Paris to Lyon sounds like a problem a lot of us would like to have, but the genius of this engaging memoir is that we really get where the author is coming from--as well as going to!"
"Kudos Kristin, you did a wonderful job at expressing your emotions and capturing the heart of your reader."
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Best Brittany Travel Guides

A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany: Second Edition
This practical and knowledgeable guidebook deals comprehensively with the stone circles of Britain and Ireland and with the cromlechs and megalithic "horseshoes" of Brittany.
Reviews
"The best thing is the maps with number referred."
"Finally I got the first and longest lasting item on my wish list..this book!"
"While Burl's previous works were amazing, this long awaited "update" of this information, as well as addition information on more recent excavations make this is must."
"I am not accustomed to purchasing so expensive and specialized a book, but in the early autumn of 1979, I had the privilege of working on a Scottish dig run by Dr. Burl, and I have long admired his scholarship and dedication---and this revision is, simply put, GREAT!"
"Burl, an expert on the subject of stone circles, has. created an essential and portable guide to all of the. major sites in Great Britain and Brittany."
"Great book, one of the more detailed I have found."
"This is not a picture book so much as a guide."
"The text describing the sites is very good, along with the historical context."
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Best Normandy Travel Guides

The Normandy Battlefields: Bocage and Breakout: From the Beaches to the Falaise Gap
The Normandy Battlefields details what can be seen on the ground today using a mixture of media to provide a complete overview of the campaign. In Bocage and Breakout, Leo Marriott and Simon Forty take the story forward as the success of the invasion continued into the Cotentin, with Cherbourg falling on 29 June, before it bogged down in face of determined German defense and the bocage countryside—innumerable small fields surrounded by hedgerows, each one hiding anti-tank weapons, mortars and machine guns. Three weeks later, the Battle of Normandy was over, the routed German Army—without most of its heavy weapons left in the Falaise Pocket or on the banks of the Seine—was retreating helter skelter back towards Germany and the Low Countries pursued by the Allies in a reverse of the 1940 Blitzkrieg campaign. “Messrs Forty and Marriott provide a seriously entertaining look at events in Normandy from ground level and all points upwards using the perfect mix of facts and dates aligned to genuinely excellent archive and modern photography. “For the sheer volume of information both textual and visual, this book is excellent value for money…as a work of reference it is invaluable and is strongly recommended to students of the NW Europe campaign.” ( Casemate Fortress Study Group ).
Reviews
"Product and picture description is a bit different."
"Great book, wonderful pictures."
"Love these books."
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Best Corsica Travel Guides

The GR20 Corsica: Complete Guide to the High Level Route (Cicerone Guides)
Starting in Corscia's north-west, in picturesque Calenzana, the route winds south-east, through the heart of Corsica, finishing on the eastern side of the island, just north of Porto Vecchio in the township of Conca. Described in 16 stages with high level/low level alternatives for relevant stages, the route is roughly 200km in length and takes approximately two weeks to complete. He lives near the Lake District and has walked in every county in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; writing about walks in every one of them.
Reviews
"Everything one needs to do the GR 20 - detailed but readable."
"Step by step directions."
"If you're going to travel to Corsica, this book can help you out on everything you'll need."
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Best Bordeaux Travel Guides

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast
DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast will lead you straight to the best attractions this beautiful part of the world has to offer. Taste the best vineyards, discover prehistoric cave paintings, and indulge in the flavors of Aquitaine's local produce and classic dishes. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Dordogne, Bordeaux & the Southwest Coast truly shows you this region as no one else can. "Known… for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the [DK] Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way."
Reviews
"This book was the one that enticed me to visit this area."
"The guide provides a great deal of information and beautiful illustrations."
"Intend, sometime soon, to spend several months in the area (best we found in France for cost and scenery) and will rely on the book for guidance then."
"Super quality."
"It has been most helpful in planning my next trip to France with an emphasis on this region!!!!!"
"I would recommend to anyone looking for a good travel book."
"we love the Eyewitness Travel books - they're extremely helpful!!"
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