Travel to France

Rick Steves' Paris 2007 (Rick Steves)

Format: Paperback
Author: Rick Steves
ReleaseDate: 28 September, 2006
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Rating:

Rick did our homework for us.
We have plans for the spring and were apprehensive about how to spend our time and money wisely while we are there. We haven't visited Paris yet. Rick Steves' spelled it all out for us and now we know we will get the best vacation for our money and will experience the most that we can of Paris. Thanks Rick, for doing our homework for us. Now, can you just help us lose the weight we plan on happily gaining there while checking out the great resturants? .

Accurate information- great for planning your trip
I always use his books as a tool to book reservations and am never disappointed. All of Rick Steves' guides are amazingly accurate and helpful.
Feel free to use his suggested "walks" loosely. You can use your own creativity to decide exactly where and what you want to see. You can think of this book as a compilation of great reccommendations from a friend who's been there. . . . . RECENTLY!.

for the dull
Big mistake. I picked this up instead of the Let's Go guide because the latter got terrible reviews on amazon. The bulk of this guide is a sort of hyper-planned series of walks through varous districts. I don't know about you, but my idea of fun is not having someone tell me "now turn right, and look upwards. "

The guide also has a big habit of repeating information that is presumably on the walls of museums that it guides you through. What on Earth? The Louvre walk is fine, but Steves on the Centre Pompidou (the main 20th century art collection) can only be described as juvenile.

What I look for in a guide is for someone to give me the layout and must-see parts of a few of the central districts. Paris is not some dark corner of the world that nobody's heard of -- so why do we get pages and pages on the history of Paris as described in a museum? There's so much extra weight here that the book could be literally slimed to 1/3rd the size.

Finally, the section on nightlife -- i. e. , good bars, what's up with the music scene, etc. etc. -- is literally HALF a page. I am not joking. You will know nothing about what to see and what to avoid if your idea of fun doesn't stop when the Louvre closes. (Steves' other nightlife suggestions are to repeat walks from the day -- and he has the surreal suggestion that you try to "tour" Paris by taking a Taxi! That's right, everyone pile into a cab, hand the driver a (translated) series of directions, and off you go -- sounds miserable. )

In the end, it seems this guide is useful only for families and more sedate folks who plan to religiously follow the walks and go to bed at eight. Even if that's you, beware: the information in the guide is organized in such a way that makes it hard if you want to deviate from "the Rick Steves way. " This is NOT a guide for those wishing to experience Paris in a spontaneous fashion.

Two stars because the "sleeping" section is actually very good at giving helpful advice on finding a hotel in the right neighborhood.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these France travel books.

	Rick Steves' French Phrase Book and Dictionary
	Rick Steves' France 2007 (Rick Steves)
	Streetwise Paris (Streetwise)
	Paris Made Easy: The Best Walks and Sights of Paris (Open Road Travel Guides)
	Rick Steves' London 2007 (Rick Steves)