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The fold-out Metro map expedited my travels around the City of Lights (once I got the hang of how the trains ran). Each Top 10 section helped me prioritize my wanderings, locate various sites, and gave good concise historical background. For example, the Top 10 exhibits in the Louvre are pictured and described, which provided a necessary focus in such a huge, overwhelming museum. However, the guide's Louvre map was not quite up to speed, although I didn't consider that to be a big issue.
The compact format was easy to use, and the color pictures were a great visual aid. It also fit perfectly in my Eagle Creek shoulder bag or my pantleg cargo pocket, so it wasn't a burden. When I was getting ready to depart Paris for London at the Gard du Nord, I left the book on a table and watched from the upstairs to see who would take it. I hoped the guide would serve them as well as it did me.
Looking for other information on Paris or France to prep for your trip? I found Rick Steves' books and the "Let's Go" guides helpful as well, and "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow is great for insight into France and the French. Happy travels!
I love books about France, especially about Paris and Provence. I've visited the two areas frequently over the last few years, so I feel a bit qualified to comment on the "Top 10 Paris" and "Top 10 Provence". Of the two the former is the more useful book.
First the similarities: fun to read, nice price point, nice photos, fits well in the hand.
If you're an infrequent visitor to Paris, the Top 10 book is helpful. The city maps and metro map are handy and useful. (Although I strongly recommend you also get the Michelin Paris Plan #14.) It's useful in recommending museums, parks, arrondisement highlights, etc.
However, don't use this book for hotels or restaurants. Its weakness in hotels is excusable. How can one possibly pick Top 10 hotels in Paris, or in any part of Paris?
Its failing in picking Top 10 restaurants is less excusable, and the reason I dropped the book down from 4 stars to 3. I go to Paris to eat. I have some credibility in this area (eating, if not reviews restaurants) and I found their choices disturbing and puzzling. The Top 10 restaurant list would be laughable, were it not so sad and infuriating.
Even so, I`d recommend the book. It's fun, you'll find it helpful.
I don't recommend "Top 10 Provence". It seems to be a collection of clichˇs gathered from other guide books. I wonder if the authors have any real experience in Provence. Almost all of the recommendations are predictable - and boring. I found little that matched my experience in Provence (except for the inclusion of Vaison-la-Romaine).
The restaurant recommendations for every place I was familiar with were bad to horrible. The lists of places to visit were equally puzzling.
Promise me one thing: if you do buy this book, immediately go to the wine section, rip out the pages, and burn them without reading them.
I give this one star for photos and price point.
I have to confess up front. I love these books. I must have a dozen. I really like the Paris book, and the one for Prague, and Stockholm, and South Africa, and .... You get all the detailed material similar to other great travel books plus you get great visuals.
The photos and descriptions and cutaway drawings are excellent and more than make up for any lack of small detail. But there is lots of detail here. The book includes the history of Paris and many details on the art, art galleries, parks, cutaway views of historical buildings, and many other things of interest. That is the good part.
The bad part is why buy this book when there is a much better Eyewitness Travel book on Paris for a few extra dollars. The big book is 5 stars. This is an edited and scaled down sibling.
Recommendation: skip this thin 2 star or 3 star book and just buy the regular book which is easily a 5 star book.
Jack in Toronto
What I did is, I chose a few of those top 10 places, then once I was there, I could check the book to find my way to the best restaurants, museums, streets and sights in that area.
The map of the Metro is very helpful.
The book fits in your pocket which is nice if you like to travel light.
Bonne journee!
I bought some used paint. It was in the shape of a house.
-- Steven Wright
The unfacts, did we have them, are too imprecisely few to warrant our certitude.
