Fodor's See It Paris, 5th Edition (Full-color Travel Guide)

By Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.

Book Overview

Fodor's See It Paris, 5th Edition highlights the best of the City of Light, from the literary Latin Quarter, to bohemian Montmarte, and the impressive Champs- lys es, all in one portable guide designed for on-the-go use.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876371373
• ISBN13: 9780876371374
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: Fodor's Travel Publications
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Just as expected!!

I had bought the London guide in this series for a trip last year. I had also bought a new envelope-shaped purse, about an inch and a half across the bottom, that would look small yet would hold a lot -- the guide book fit in it perfectly (along with makeup, cell phone etc.). So as long as you don't have a TINY purse (i.e. handbag), this book is easy to carry along -- no backpack/bookbag required. I bought the Paris edition hoping it would follow the same format with the same useful information as the London book. It is EXACTLY the same. (A good thing!) The first few pages tell you helpful tips like how to ride the metro. Then there's a few pages about the history of Paris from the beginning of time to the prest. Then the real guide book begins. It's organized into categories like museums and restaurants, and after listing the must-sees, there is a detailed (street-leve) map showing the area it just talked about. You will definitely need a metro map to get the "big picture" to get around, but in order to plan where you want to go and get an idea of what the City will physically be like, this is THE book to get. It's got all the best points of all of the other guides rolled into one. And yet it's not so "condensed" like some guidebooks that you have to either know where you're going or have read other books in order to really plan your trip. This is one stop shopping for your vacation!! I HIGHLY recommend this series (even above all the other Fodor publications)! (I looked into all the guidebooks for London -- Fodor included -- before chosing this series. This is THE one to get!)

Excellent guide

I used this book for my month in Paris and it was extremely useful in planning outings and visiting sights. The first section of the book contains practical information on living in Paris and the cultural mindset of the French, as well as a brief revision of history. The next section, "On The Move," has maps and routes, as well as prices and useful facts for taking the metro, bus, suburban trains, and high-speed trains. It also includes information on taxis and driving in Paris. The third section, "The Sights," includes all of the well-known museums, monuments and sights, as well as the much lesser known. Churches, palaces, parks and gardens find themselves in this section and many are rated in terms of historic interest, cultural interest, value for money, good for kids, and photo stops. For the larger sights, there are "tips" and "facts and figures." These will tell the busiest/least busy days and times to visits, places to eat nearby, tips for seeing the sight, and facts about the archetecture or history. Very useful, and never led me astray. I took the "tip" to visit the Louvre on Wednesday when it is open late. I got there after 5pm and there were several times when I found myself entirely alone in rooms of beautiful works of art. Thank you, Foder's. The next section is "What to Do," which gives information on shopping, eating, theatre/cinema/dance, clubs, sports and children's paris. The "Out and About" section gives suggestions for 6 different walking tours (including the Latin Quarter, Le Marais, Montmartre), and 6 different daytrip excursions (Versailles, Fountainebleau, Disneyland Paris and others). I didn't follow most of these, but they seemed like a good way to make use of short amounts of time. Most of the walks seem to take 1 to 2 hours and cover around 7 noteworthy sights. The next sections is entirely devoted to "Eating" and "Staying." I didn't use the food suggestions, as I preferred to wander into cafes and restaurants, and none of which were the expensive suggestions provided by the book. I also had already found a place to stay, so the hotel and hostels were unnecessary as well, but this book does contain a fairly comprehensive list. Every entry (Sights, Eating, What to Do, etc) contains detailed information including hours, pricing, nearest metro and bus stops, telephone numbers, availability of audio guides or guide books (including prices of each) for all the major and minor sites. The "Planning" section comes at the end, which seems very odd to me, but it is useful. Information on banking, newspapers, weather, rainfall, health, telephones and communications, post office, clothing/shoe size charts, websites, useful french phrases, and more. For a more in-depth phrasebook, I highly recommend the Lonely Planet French Phrasebook. Finally, there are pages of maps, though not very good. I would suggest buying a separate, fold-out map. I suggest the Berndtson Paris city streets map, it served me very well. Overall,

Great maps and quick information

Between this book and Rick Steve's Paris I was able to find my way around Paris. I found this book to be easy to find items quickly. Whereas, Rick Steve's Paris was good for pre trip information, this book was usually a good on the spot book with good maps.