This is the best guidebook for Paris (in my opinion) for people who want hotel and restaurant recommendations and are interested in a bit of background history of the city. This book (and previous editions) have been my companions during several Paris trips over the past 13 years. This book introduced me to my favorite Paris restaurant, a place to which we return every time we are in town.

I am a guide book and travel fanatic and I generally buy and read a number of guide books for whatever destination I have in mind. I am also a Paris-phile and have been to Paris 5 times in the past 13 years for both business and pleasure.

This book stands out as the best for my demographic, the professional age 20 - 40 crowd.

The book stands above other travel books particularly in its hotel, bar, club and restaurant recommendations and is worthwhile for these alone. It also provides some fantastic historical insight into Paris, particularly with regards to 20th century Parisian history.

It is printed on a pulpy paper and is very light, something to keep in mind if you are just packing a single bag and taking off to Paris for the weekend.

I'm a travel book fiend. It's an addiction - I admit it's not healthy, but that's life. So, for my recent trip to Paris and London, I think I bought 10 books. This was the only one I brought with me. I found the Rough Guide to Paris easy to read, helpful, compact, and insightful.

If - unlike me - you only plan to buy one book for your trip, make it this one.

The book had hundreds of pages of small text, but very few pictures. The way my wife and I travel, by playing it by ear, this isn't appropriate. I'm not going to sit and read all that. I want a few pictures of a town, a small map to go along with my other maps, and some good ideas of what is good in that particular town. I don't need 80 pages of documentation on it.

Best book I've seen on France tourism

My husband and I took a couple of well known guide books with us on our recent trip to France...but this is the one we found most useful. One invaluable feature is the inclusion of maps. When we got lost in Avignon we had only to open the Rough Guide to find our way. Also, we were able to locate the bus and rail stations on the maps. There is much to be learned by reading a number of guidebooks before you go but this is the one to take with you.