Buy The Best Travel Guidebooks

Different people like different books to aid them on their travels, whether it's because of layout, detail, tone of voice or historical facts.

When you travel a lot, you become accustomed to having a guidebook with you. What tends to amuse me, though, is how people can become almost patriotic to their favourite guidebook brand. Some people prefer Rough Guides, others Footprint, others Bradt and others Dorling Kindersley.

Personally, most of the ones I have in my ever-growing library* are Lonely Planet guidebooks. This is partly for professional reasons (they tend to have the extra little details that I need when writing my own articles, which makes it easier to verify later on), and partly for personal reasons (I know the layout, and I know what I’m looking for). This said, I do understand the arguments in favour of other brands, and if I’m being honest, I’ll largely get a Lonely Planet because I’ve always got a Lonely Planet before – it’s easier working your way round something you know.

*It’s quite a collection now, and I’ve clearly not got room for all of them. The list is as follows:

Lonely Planet France

Lonely Planet Spain

Lonely Planet Italy

Lonely Planet Australia

Lonely Planet New Zealand

Lonely Planet China

Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring

Lonely Planet Canada

Lonely Planet USA

Lonely Planet Eastern Europe

Lonely Planet Western Europe

Lonely Planet Germany

Lonely Planet Hungary

Lonely Planet Slovenia

Lonely Planet South-East Asia on a Shoestring

Lonely Planet Morocco

Lonely Planet The Gambia and Senagal

Lonely Planet Great Britain

Lonely Planet Best of Barcelona

Lonely Planet Portugal

Rough Guide Directions Malta

Rough Guide France

Rough Guide Florida

Rough Guide World Party