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Classic packing-for-a-trip dilemma: Should you stash that guidebook in the iota of remaining space or use the precious real estate for some more socks?

Writer Taras Grescoe reviews guidebooks from top publishers. Photograph by Raymond Gehman

Well, as the well-traveled Taras Grescoe notes, “There’s only thing worse than having to carry guidebooks, and that’s having no guidebook. Without guidance, your afternoon stroll through the Spanish city of Bilbao might end with a hamburger wolfed down in a depressingly anonymous industrial zone.”

“It’s only when you get back to your hotel—where you left the guidebook, to avoid looking like a tourist—that you realize you’ve missed a reasonably priced temple of Basque cuisine just around the corner.”

Grescoe took on the enormous job of wading through the ever-growing universe of travel guidebooks so that TRAVELER readers could get a real sense of the differences between Fodor’s and Frommer’s, Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, Michelin and Moon—and more. He compares and contrasts, citing strengths and weaknesses—going well beyond the covers so that when it comes to packing for your next trip, you’ll be able to tuck a guidebook or two among the socks and underwear with confidence.

Read “The Ultimate Guide to Guidebooks” in the January/February 2000 issue of TRAVELER.