The Truth about Travel Guidebooks

Old Chinese Postcard



National Geographic Adventure

Pelton's World

Cooking the Books

Five things travel guides never tell you.

Robert Young Pelton



I confess. I used to edit a travel guidebook series. The kind of books that said "eat here," "stay there," "visit this." I hired cool, funny people to boil down firsthand travel accounts into a few pithy pages, figuring that truly curious travelers would want to discover local gems in both the most touristed and most dangerous places. Well, I was wrong. The world didn't seem to want to be too far from the madding crowd—they wanted to know what time to get in line for the Louvre. The experience did, however, afford me the chance to compare, investigate, and become one of the world's greatest experts on the travel guide business. So from me to you, I will pass along the top five secrets, in no particular order, that guidebook publishers don't want you to know about their products.



1) THEY'RE OUTDATED.



It can take up to two years to get a book from drawing board to bookstore. If the guide clutched in your jet-lagged hands is "annually updated," I guarantee large chunks of its information were gathered long before the publication date. There's no way even a freshly published guide could address the current conditions in, say, Iraq in their latest editions. When looking for the most up-to-date, reliable safety information, I trust Google ("tourist + killed" usually does the trick).



2) THEY FUDGE THINGS.



Have you ever noticed how writers avoid telling you if they have actually been to a place or, if they have, how long ago? You can't expect a poorly paid guidebook writer with a three-month deadline to actually visit every listing in the book, especially if it's a guide to a country the size of Russia or Brazil. Whenever they start to use autopilot vocabulary to describe a standard budget hotel room—"cheap and cheerful," "cozy and comfortable"—chances are the writer has never seen the place.



3) THEY WEAR ROSE-COLORED GLASSES.



Developing countries need tourist dollars, but mass tourism needs a pretty face—even if the business bolsters some of the world's uglier inequities: underpaid labor and prostitution, to name just two. If a travel guide to Cancún or Thailand told you the whole truth about the impact tourism has had on the region's society, you probably wouldn't want to go, let alone buy the guidebook.



4) THEY KILL WHAT THEY LOVE.



Ever since Marco Polo came back from the East raving about the Gobi, travel guides have been sending battalions of tourists to destroy the world's treasured destinations. The "ant trails" carved by these hordes are usually infested with beach vendors (Goa), touts (the Great Pyramids), and thieves (take your pick)—not smiling locals wearing grass skirts or lederhosen. Attractions in popular guidebooks are never quite the idyllic places you imagine them to be. Even travel guide writers like Rick Steves can't book a room at some of their "off the beaten path" places anymore.



5) THEY WORK BEST IN COMBINATION.



No single guide has it all. I will say, however, that Lonely Planet provides some excellent city maps, Rough Guides have great cultural backgrounders, Michelin Red knows where to get a good meal, and if you like ancient monuments the Blue Guides rule. I'll even give a big thumbs up to the Trailblazer series. But most of this stuff can be scrawled into a notebook at the library and added to the up-to-date info you've culled from the Web. As for me, yeah, I still write guidebooks—but they skip hotels, restaurants, tours, and attractions. Ask the locals where to go and what to do. Travel is still an adventure, after all. That's something that the guidebooks seem to forget.



10 Better Choices



Tired of clinging to that guidebook like it's a security blanket? Try reading something that tells you how to appreciate the art of travel rather than how to spend money. Here are ten insightful travelogues that will inspire rather than dictate.



The Beach, by Alex Garland

First-Time Around the World, by Doug Lansky

Globetrotter Dogma, by Bruce Northam

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca, by Sir Richard Francis Burton

The Practical Nomad, by Edward Hasbrouck

Traveler's Handbook, edited by Amy Sohanpaul

The Traveler's Tool Kit, by Rob Sangster

Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, by Ibn Battuta

The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo

Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts



National Geographic Adventure Column by Robert Young Pelton on Travel Guidebooks

Fodor's Forum on Biggest Tourist Rip-Offs

The World of Suzi Wong



What's the biggest tourist rip-off that you have ever experienced?



Author: garyt22

Date: 09/19/2004, 10:56 pm

Message: Just wondering... we just paid $160 for our family of four to just "walk around" the Polynesian Cultural Center... seemed pretty steep for what we saw... anybody experience a similar rip-off on any of their travels? PS Please don't try to defend the PCC... i was there.



Author: Ryan

Date: 09/20/2004, 08:23 am

Message: With a volunteer organization here in NYC, I took a group of kids on the NBC studio tour a few years ago. It was expensive and about the only thing visually interesting was a short film on NBC. But, for what they charged it really was underwhelming.



The other was the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The home of the Singapore Sling now sells them premade in souvenier glasses.



Author: Jayne1973

Date: 09/20/2004, 09:01 am

Message: Meteor Crater, Arizona



Spent about $60 for our family to go stare at the big hole for a few minutes. We are intersted in that type of thing, but for us it was just an overpriced pit stop.



Author: DonnaD44

Date: 09/20/2004, 12:24 pm

Message: Disneyworld! Sorry fans, but I just loathe the place.



Author: Dreamer2

Date: 09/20/2004, 12:33 pm

Message: While I do love Disney World, we took our first trip to Calif last April and went to Calif Adventure at Disney Land. It was so crowded, I actually got on only 2 rides the entire day - even with FastPass and our family riding as "singles!" (Kids and Dad did a couple more, but I designated myself as the FastPass line-waiter.) Plus we had a pretty horrendous lunch at the Vineyard style restaurant. Pretty expensive day for a family of four, with very little "return on investment."



I'm also always amazed at the lines waiting to get into the "Witch House" in Salem, MA. It's a fine historic home, but really nothing to do with "witches" except that it was owned by one of the Judges of the trials. Very boring tour of antiques, more suited to historians than kids. None of that "living history" stuff the younger generation is accustomed to. The Witch Museum, however, does give a historic presentation with low-tech theatrics. I do enjoy that and the Hawthorne House of 7 Gables - for those of you heading to Salem next month!



Fodor's Forum on Biggest Tourist Rip-Offs

New York Times on Travel Guidebooks

Morning Sun



New York Times

August 22, 2004



PRACTICAL TRAVELER

A Guidebook for Every Taste

By SUSAN STELLIN



PLANNING a trip involves many difficult decisions, but near the top of my list is standing in a bookstore trying to choose from a daunting lineup of guidebooks, a purchase that brands the owner as much as an army duffel bag or a Louis Vuitton suitcase.



Fifteen or 20 years ago, the choice was simpler. Backpackers and budget travelers hit the road with Let's Go, Rough Guides or Lonely Planet. Those taking a break from a job or enjoying retirement packed Fodor's or Frommer's, less adventurous but good for nuts and bolts like museum hours and restaurant addresses. Art and culture connoisseurs carried a Blue Guide, and high fliers relied on Michelin Guides to steer them to Europe's notable hotels and chefs.



To some degree, those characterizations still hold true. But as the budget guides have broadened their focus to retain readers now older and earning a decent salary, and the mainstream guides have tried to become more hip, the lines have blurred. Plus, established publishers have started new books aimed at a wider range of travelers taking different types of trips, and there are the niche guidebooks to consider: titles for hikers, bikers, women, families, gay travelers and people who won't leave home without their pets.



With all these choices, it may be time to branch out from a favorite series and experiment.



Publishers scaled back new projects in response to a decline in travel after 2001, but with Americans again packing their bags, travelers can expect to see more titles. One trend that's catching on, partly in response to post-Sept. 11 travel patterns, are mini-guides designed for short trips to a single city.



Hitting Highlights, in Color



The British publisher Dorling Kindersley started its Top 10 series in 2001, shorter versions of its DK Eyewitness Guides, which are known for glossy pages and color photographs. Now available for 40 cities, in the United States and abroad, the Top 10 books (about $10) choose 10 attractions as the best to see or do, plus give additional lists like the top 10 Belgian beers in the Brussels book.



Fodor's introduced a similar "See It" series this spring, now available for 12 cities. The See It guides, which start at $22.95, are nearly 400 pages, compared with 150 to 200 pages for the Top 10 books, but Fodor's also sells a smaller City Pack guide ($11.95) to a city's top 25 sights, plus a foldout map. Both series feature lots of color and pictures.



Michael Spring, publisher of Frommer's Travel Guides, said that although color guidebooks were more difficult to update frequently, Frommer's also planned to add more photos and color to its books. He said Frommer's and other publishers were also moving toward more lists highlighting what travelers shouldn't miss. A chapter at the beginning of most Frommer's guidebooks showcases the "best of" a destination. For example, Frommer's Italy 2005 guide ($22.99) offers its take on the best museums, ruins, cathedrals, restaurants and romantic getaways, like a visit to the hilltop town of Todi, south of Florence.



"What people want is information that will take them where their neighbors haven't been," he said. The Frommer's Portable Guides are among the most compact available; I bought one for $10.99 for Rio de Janeiro last year and found it covered the basics I needed for a three-day visit.



Lonely Planet has also tried to broaden its line to reach a wider audience, in part by introducing a shorter "Best of " series of city pocket guides ($11.99 to $14.99) and another "Road Trip" series ($10) focused on weekend road trips, which complement its core lineup of country and regional guides, and its "On a Shoestring" series ($23.99 to $33.99), still popular with the backpacker set. "Historically, Lonely Planet had been primarily about long-haul travel," said Robin Goldberg, vice president for marketing and business development for Lonely Planet Publications. "But that's typically not a traveler when they're in their 30's in the middle of their career and have a week to travel."



Ms. Goldberg said Lonely Planet was adding more color, as well as insights from insiders. "I think people are looking for ways to pull out what they want quickly," she said.



Not to miss the boat, the Rough Guides introduced a new Directions pocket series ($10.99) in June, with more color and photos than its other guidebooks. It, too, is designed for shorter trips. Geoff Colquitt, the company's director of marketing for North America, said the smaller guides still have a writing style "on the edgy side."



Sorting the Choices



So which guidebook should you choose? One guide definitely does not fit all: paper quality, the book's weight, the writing style, the size of the type, the number of photos, the quality of the maps and even page layout are all personal preferences - which often vary depending on the trip's length, the destination and who else is traveling.



"Customers always ask, 'What's the best book?' " said Lee Azus, owner of Get Lost Travel Books, a travel bookstore in San Francisco. "And I say: 'Who are you? What do you like to do?' "



For example, Mr. Azus said that if someone asks what's a good guidebook for Cuba, he steers them toward the Moon Handbooks, another series aimed at more adventurous travelers. Moon specializes in the Americas and Asia. I just bought Moon's Alaska guidebook ($19.95) - my first foray into the series - and found it had a good mix of history, opinion, and nuts and bolts listings.



In a similar genre, Mr. Azus said he took a Footprint Guide on a trip to Laos, and though he likes Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, he said he was glad he had the Footprint Guide ($19.95) because the listings aren't as well known. Otherwise, he recommended looking at a place you know well and comparing different series' entries for that destination; if one book recommends a restaurant you know is mediocre, it's likely the series doesn't match your tastes.



Also, look at the copyright date on any book you're considering; newer is definitely better.



David Garber, travel buyer for Barnes & Noble, said that among the series selling well at Barnes & Noble are the Rick Steves guides, which focus on Europe. "He tries to give you the best value for your budget, and his books are very opinionated," Mr. Garber said. Lonely Planet still seems to be "the guidebook of choice for solo travelers," he said, though the Moon Handbooks are selling well for domestic travel, while Frommer's and Fodor's "are still pretty big as far as mainstream guidebooks are concerned." The DK Eyewitness Guides are also popular with Barnes & Noble customers, in part for their photos and cultural information.



There are dozens of other series; the ones mentioned here barely scratch the surface. Get Lost Travel Books has helpful descriptions of more than 25 series at www.getlost books.com/p_books.html.



My advice: don't be a slave to the same series you've always bought - or to what the book recommends. Sometimes, the best restaurants, cafes or hotels are the ones you stumble across on a side street. So let serendipity - and your own judgment - be your primary guide.



New York Times on Travel Guidebooks

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