Travel Guidebooks for Different Types of Travelers
I have been traveling for a long time and over the years I have purchased a lot of travel guidebooks. The great thing about travel guidebooks is that there are so many available options that there is one for every kind of traveler out there.
What I didn’t expect when I was younger is how much my taste in travel guidebooks would change over the years. Or to put it another way, how my needs in travel guidebooks would change.
The guidebooks that I would swear by in my 20’s are a brand I don’t buy much today. Not because they are not good. In fact, they were great. It’s just that my needs have changed so dramatically over the years.
I’ve gone through this evolution three times so far and I suspect I will a few more times as my tastes and needs continue to evolve over the coming decades.
The Case for Travel Guidebooks
With so many sources of information available for free online, does it even make sense to buy a guidebook any longer? I say absolutely, yes.
I have always traveled with travel guidebooks. I agree there is a ton of information available for free on the internet. However, there is also a lot of garbage on the internet (the irony that I write about travel on the internet is not lost on me).
There is so much to weed through and very little of it is comprehensive enough to cover all of your needs. And who is vetting the information? You must find a trusted source, even if that source is a trusted blog. But don’t take random findings at face value.
If you know exactly what you want, the internet is a great resource. Or if you want inspiration, the internet is also great. But if you want a comprehensive guide of how to navigate your next two week trip to Zimbabwe, I’d have to recommend a good guidebook from a reliable source.
As Rick Steves says in his travel videos, a good guidebook is a $30 investment to help you make the most of a $3,000 vacation.
I agree.
Here is a summary of the guidebooks and their uses followed by more description of how I used them.
Travel Guidebook Summary
Travel-Guidebooks-for-different-stages-of-life-grid-030419Here are some of the guidebooks I relied upon at various stages of my life. As you will see, my travel preferences evolved pretty significantly over the years. Perhaps this can be a useful reference for you depending on what stage you are in yourself.
In My 20s
The Kind of Traveler I Was
When I was in my 20s every trip was an adventure! I tried to go to the most exotic locations I could. I wanted to soak up all of the exotic locations I could. I never understood the practice of saving travel until retirement.
I also picked some of the most exotic locations on my bucket list just in case some future spouse was not cool with $12 a night hotel rooms in dodgy parts of town in developing countries.
There was plenty of time to see places like Paris, Venice and Madrid when I was older. During these years I turned my attention to places like Thailand and Guatemala. I looked for places that were heralded as the cheapest places on earth to travel to in the 90s, so I was all in, stretching what few dollars I had.
Lonely Planet
Back then my guidebook of choice was Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet was great for the young adventurer on a budget. These were trips where I wanted to get knee deep in the local culture and be among the locals, all while not breaking the bank. Lonely Planet was great for that.
If you wanted four-star hotels, Michelin star restaurants and guided bus tours, you needed to look elsewhere. Lonely Planet was all about putting on that backpack and getting out there.
They also had a companion Lonely Planet TV show on PBS that I was addicted to. It’s still on, but now it’s called Globe Trekker.
The destination they feature says it all. I just did a quick scan of their homepage and they list the top 10 countries to visit in 2019 as follows: Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Panama, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Indonesia, Belarus, Sao Tome & Principe, and Belize.
Talk about exotic locations. How many of your friends have been to Kyrgyzstan? Not many of mine. And Sao Tome & Principe? I had to look that up. I didn’t even know that was a nation!
This is what Lonely Planet provides. They virtually dare you to explore parts of the world you would never have considered on your own. And that’s what makes them so great.
Not What They Used to Be?
In fairness, I have not used Lonely Planet Guidebooks since I left that phase of my travel life over a decade ago. Over the years I’ve used them for Thailand, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Tanzania, and Kenya. While they are still the most popular guidebook out there, many travelers are starting to say Lonely Planet has lost its edge after being acquired several years ago.
I would do some research on their books, even if it’s just going to the book store and thumbing through the book, before buying and decide for yourself.
Lonely Planet Summary
Pros: Great if you’re a young backpacker looking to take on some of the most exotic locations on earth.
Cons: If you’re not a young backpacker looking to take on some of the most exotic destinations on earth it may not be for you. Many are saying the golden age of Lonely Planet guidebooks is over and that they are not what they used to be.
How to use it: As a travel guide on your trip
In My 30s
The Kind of Traveler I Was
By the time I reached my 30s I was getting along in my corporate career, so the term disposable income was no longer foreign to me.
I still wanted to travel to exotic locations but I wanted significance as well. I didn’t want affordability to be my only qualifier.
This is when I traveled to Belize to participate in an EarthWatch Expedition on the barrier reef, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar for the turn of the millennium, and Hong Kong before the reunification with China.
These big trips were often followed by a shorter hastily planned trip since I had not fully quenched my travel thirst. For example, my EarthWatch Expedition was followed by a quick trip to London four weeks later. There was something spontaneously satisfying about quickly planning trips after these monumental adventures.
The locations were still exotic, but there was a purpose to the location and the timing. I could also afford to take full advantage of the locations by staying in decent hotels and booking additional adventures like going on safari in the Serengeti.
Lonely Planet was still a constant companion, but it was supplemented. This was a challenging period where I sampled a variety of guidebooks including Fodor’s, Frommer’s and DK Eyewitness Travel Guides.
DK Eyewitness Travel Guides
The only one I purchased more than once was DK Eyewitness Travel Guides. These books were great because they had those detailed cutaways of important sights, museums, castles and attractions, giving you amazing detail. I still by DK guidebooks as a planning tool but find that when I’m on the road, I don’t end up using them as much as planned. There just doesn’t seem to be enough practical information in them.
DK Eyewitness Travel Guides Summary
Pros: Beautiful pictures and cutaways of attractions you’ll want to see.
Cons: A little lacking on the information
How to use it: As a planning tool before your trip
Frommer’s
Frommer’s guidebooks are written with the budget traveler and older traveler in mind. While I didn’t use the Frommer’s guidebooks that often, I did refer to Frommer’s magazine Budget Travel. It was a great source for finding the nations that offered the most bang for the buck.
While I no longer wanted to travel like a young backpacker like in my Lonely Planet phase, I’m always interested in good value and saving money. Maybe that’s why I didn’t use the guidebooks, I was already getting Frommer’s budget message through their magazine.
I don’t know if they are still printing Budget Travel magazine but they still run a website. It’s worth checking out.
Frommer’s Summary
Pros: Great for the budget traveler and older traveler
Cons: May not meet the needs of young, adventurous travelers or premium travelers looking for a more high-end experience.
How to use it: As a reference on your trip
Post 30s
The Kind of Traveler I Am
At this point in my life I was not only traveling on my own but was doing a significant amount of travel for work. I was fortunate enough to travel to Sweden and Japan on business. I also crisscrossed the US for years on business trips.
All of this business travel resulted in a lot of frequent flier miles and loyalty points available for redemption.
I was also looking for more relaxation than adventure on my trips. I needed to recover from a much more demanding career than I had in my 20s.
I needed less riding elephants in Chang Mai, whitewater rafting in Bali, climbing Live Volcanos in Costa Rica and hot air balloons over the Serengeti. Those were replaced by more leisurely strolls through museums, tours of castles and exceptional meals at the end of the day.
My destinations of choice were the European capitals I had put off visiting for all those years. I also had friends who were equally advanced in their corporate careers and as a result, assigned to regional offices around the world, making meetups on the road one of my favorite travel objectives.
On one such trip I met with a friend who live in London. Then a couple on assignment in Gothenburg met me in Amsterdam. Another colleague assigned to Germany traveled with me in Spain and Portugal and then I finished off the trip on my own in Segovia and Madrid before heading home.
Rick Steves Guidebooks
For a trip like this I found myself turning to guidebooks that I scoffed at when I was in my 20s. Yes, at this point in my life, if I’m traveling to Europe at least, I find the Rick Steves travel guides invaluable.
I’m less willing to take risks and put it all on the line. One of my fondest recent travel memories was a double date trip to Prague. Nothing outlandish, just old friends and new, coming together to discover a city together. For this, Rick Steves is great.
I also find that the Rick Steves guidebooks and videos have a lot of common sense tips that are not so common. The kind of detail that is crucial if you’re navigating a nation that you’ve never visited before.
Rick Steves Summary
Pros: Current and thorough Europe guides that are hard to beat. My current favorite resource.
Cons: He only covers Europe and Iran.
How to use it: As a travel guide on your trip
National Geographic TRAVELER
Before a recent solo trip to Paris in October 2018, I picked up a copy of National Geographic Traveler. I have always held the magazine and the brand in high regard and was eager to take the guidebook for a test drive.
The things it does well are what you’d expect: in-depth writing, history and great photography. Unfortunately, that is not enough to help you navigate a foreign country.
The first thing you’ll notice about the guidebook is there is no year on the cover.
A good guidebook should always have the year on the cover (or published date easy to find inside) and you should only buy a guide book made for the year you are intending to travel. So much can change from one year to the next that you must use a current guidebook.
I found out the hard way that the National Geographic guidebooks are not necessarily current.
On my last trip to Paris, I was staying in Le Marais, a great part of Paris that I had never explored before. The National Geographic Traveler guidebook covered the Musee Carnavalet is such an enticing way I decided I must see it while I was there.
At the last minute I found out the museum was closed for renovation through 2019. National Geographic made no mention of the renovations. The 2018 Rick Steves Paris guidebook did mention the renovations however.
It would be nice to not have to double check everything through a second source. While a museum closure is not a major trip destroyer, who knows what other information is not current?
I also felt like their coverage of the little day-to-day tips and information travelers need was not comprehensive enough to be your only source of information.
For this reason I would not recommend National Geographic guidebooks as your only source of travel information when traveling.
National Geographic Traveler Summary
Pros: Expert behind the scenes coverage of destinations
Cons: Not enough basic information to be your only source. Hard to know how current the information is which can, at least, be inconvenient and at most, ruin your trip.
How to use it: As a trip planning tool
Travel Guidebook Summary
Travel-Guidebooks-for-different-stages-of-life-grid-030419Conclusion
Obviously, my list is not comprehensive. But hopefully it has provided some useful insights into how some of the travel guides available are different from each other and which may be suitable for your next trip.