When my friend and I went to France for the first time, we decided that our trip would consist almost totally of Paris, which has so must to see that it deserves about two weeks in itself. When the time came to start looking for guidebooks, by coincidence a letter writer in a travel magazine raved about this Access edition, so I picked it up. I wasn't disappointed.

If you're only spending a few days it isn't a good choice - you'll only be dealing with must-sees like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame anyway. It is ideal, though, if your're staying for 2 weeks or longer, sectioning off neighborhoods of the city into chunks that are tourable in a day. This is definitely a mark-up book, begging for sights you want to see, restaurants you want to eat at, and stores you want to shop in to be highlighted or circled. The color highlighting is a useful tool, the drawings are wonderful, and the entries fun and informative - a delight to read when you're actually sitting down at the destination being described.

A good guidebook for the tourist making more than a token visit and who's willing to do a little work beforehand.

This guide breaks Paris into neighborhoods, the most recommended way to explore the city. The color coding is highly useful. The maps are handy. The descriptions lively and charming. lt's condensed yet packed with invaluable informational tidbits. Don't leave home without it. lt's the one to take along every day all day.

The ACCESS guides are so smartly organized by neighborhoods that you'll be lurking like a local in no time. The color coding for attractions, restaurants, hotels and shopping make skimming for your favorites a breeze. More often than not, their sly 'insider' comments are right on the money. I used ACCESS Washington, DC to acclimate myself to my new home, and I still use it whenever company comes to town. Like any travel guide, the latest edition is a must (but even that won't compensate for fickle diners and undercapitalized restauranteurs) and it's certainly time for a newer version than the 2000 edition. But having said that, I still purchase an ACCESS guide if I'm going to spend any time in a city I haven't fully explored.

Once again a jewel of a guide. Comprehensive, lively, logical and coherent. Like so many other city guides by Richard Saul Wurman, this book combines an architectural overview with historical, anecdotal and practical aspects of the city in such a way that makes it a great companion to have before during and after the visit. As a matter of fact even if you don't go, you get the pleasure of intimate knowledge of the place.

The Access series are very good and the Las Vegas book is a favorite of mine. When ever I go for business or pleasure, I take the current Access along. I have found that with the multitude of changes the earlier editions help to remind me of Casinos and attractions that are no more. As Vegas continues to develope at an extraordinary pace, I find I look forward to the new release more and more.

Access Las Vegas brings a colorful guide to the subject of the city of light, Las Vegas. With reviews of Hotels and Casinos with resturant ratings as well as a nod to the arts and sciences (Museums), this is one book I will not leave behind when visiting Nevada's most famous city.

Ther are maps that section the city into easy to cover areas and color coding to help distinguish the variety of critiqued locations. Backround and history with many best fo lists by the knowledgable and famous citizens give excellent insights to getting around and geating the most from your visit. Concise examination of the many casino games help the novice may their way through a bewildering array of choices.

All in all perhaps the best book for the money of it's kind. The access line of books are all quite good.

I've used various Access travel guides and find them to be consistently witty and on-track. I like being able to focus on a neighborhood, and see what restaurants are near the attraction I'm visiting. The color-coding (red print for restaurants, blue for hotels, black for sights) makes it particularly easy to scan for an entry. Although there aren't extensive hotel listings, the information provided is useful to determine what area I'd like to stay in. You may need more detailed maps than those in the book, however.

My son went to college in New Orleans so I have visited this wonderful city for varying lengths of times. I own several New Orlean's guidebooks, but this is my absolute favorite. I like the format--restaurants,hotels,sights and shopping all in different colors. We tried many of the places recommended in the "Bests" sections and enjoyed each and everyone of them! There was not one thing in this book that steered us wrong, which I can not say about any other book that I have used. If you want to see the New Orleans that the residents enjoy, then this is the book for you. (I hope they update it as restaurants are always changing and this is a wonderful city to enjoy myriad types of cuisine.)

This is the best book on/about NYC, for Virgos anyway. If you can appreciate a step by step approach to getting to know NYC then this is the book for you. It goes through all the neighborhoods, shows you buildings, historical sites, shopping, trains, restaurants, quirks, whatever! I've lived in the NYC region all my life and discovered things about NYC I never knew existed!

The Access books are always well written, concise, and packed with interesting trivia. My only complaint is that Hawaii hasn't been updated in a while (about 3-4 years) so most of the restaurants we came across weren't listed, which was disappointing. The tourist spots generally don't change, though, and the maps and other factual information is terrific. Whether you are a first time visitor to the islands or a seasoned traveler, you will find these books to be well organized, helpful, and packed with useful information.

I have many in the series of Access guides. I love the color coded key. Blue for Hotels, Green for shopping, Red for food, etc. The numbered maps make it easy to find your hotel and everything nearby! The Hawaii book was outstanding, as expected.

For the last 40 years I have been visiting the Hawaiian Islands, for the last 15 I have been using "Access Hawaii" as my guide. It gives you the tools to have a great day of adventure, sharing the not so common places of interest that some of us find exceptionally interesting. They also tell of all the typical "tourist traps" but give you the inside story on it. From Hotels to dining, excursions, basic island info and the "Best Of" sections, this book is like gold. I have read them all and have yet to discover a better guide to help you have a perfect vacation. The reviews they provide in the book are as accurate as I have ever seen and I have never been dissapointed when arriving at or eating at the locations they suggest. This is definately a "two thumbs up" way to explore the Hawaiian Islands!

This book was the most useful book I purchased to plan our trip to San Francisco. I can't say enough good things about it. It divides the city into neighborhoods then goes through each one not only listing the good points and points of interest, but also listing the bad. The information is practical and easy to find and understand. His carefully researched data helps one understand the city and the culture that make it so unique. From parking garages to street vendors this is the book to have on San Francisco.

I have used various versions of this guide over the last few years and have found it to be the most organized and enjoyable of all the guidebooks I've seen on the market. The traveler is guided almost building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood through this beautiful city. It's the best guide for hotels, sights, shopping, and general information. You can't go wrong!

I have visited SF many times but never was able to get a clear picture in my mind of the different neighborhoods. This book's presentation of splendid neighborhood maps (and comments on the architecture and history) has allowed me to get a hold on the city which I much appreciate.

Just returned today from a week-long trip to New Orleans (my first). This book was an absolutely indispensable resource. Must have checked it 5-10 times per day. The best maps (by neighborhood) I've found in a travel guide, and the concise, informative notes on restaurants, parks and attractions were very helpful.

Best plan is to combine this book with another (like Delahanty's Ultimate New Orleans) that contains more history and culture information. Taken together, you've got everything you need.

But even by itself the Access New Orleans book is extremely useful. I found the information in the book to be spot on in every case, and it's so easy to use it makes you want to refer to it more...

I've taken two 2-week trips to the Crescent City and have planned 60-70% of the activities around advice the first edition of this book gives. It's neither stodgy nor preachy, and doesn't cater exclusively to upscale or downscale crowds, either -- so no matter your mood/budget, you'll find something good to do or eat in the city when you plan with this book. Also, it gets deep into the stuff the natives like: my best anecdote is Sid-Mar's, this crawfish shack we eat at that's WAY off the beaten path, having read the recommondation from the book. While we were staying at a B&B, the proprietor asked us where we were eating one of the nights we were staying there. When we answered "Sid-Mar's," she looked at us cross-eyed and said "How on earth did you figure out to go there? It took us two years to find that place, and we go there all the time now. Ain't it great?" The book is concise and pithy when the situation calls for it, is hip yet down-to-earth enough that you can trust it. Can't say anything else, except that I'm upgrading to the fourth edition so I can plan this year's return to New Orleans.

I love the ACCESS travel guides because they fit my travel needs -- I like to explore. Unlike traditional guides that are arranged alphabetically or categorically (a section for restaurants, a section for hotels, etc.), these are arranged geographically. Why is this important? Suppose you are staying in the French Quarter and don't have a car...going to visit the (albeit very interesting) sights on the north shore of Lake Pontchatrain may not be feasible. This books helps you find the sights that are near where you are staying, or where you are shopping, or where you are eating. And, the book is not only organized in a useful way, but it is also quite complete. Granted, not every hole-in-the-wall bar on Bourbon Street is listed, but all the major ones are. This book is certainly a necessary and sufficient resource for a tourist's quick trip to New Orleans.

I found this book to be an excellent guide for New York because it focuses on places to go, not so much the history of the place like other guidebooks. I don't know who comes to New York just for the history, anyway! (There's Paris for that.)But for restaurants, hotels, and even some clubs ACCESS was better than even my hotel concierge. Although there was no way to try everything mentioned in the book, every place I did go to, or restaurant I dined at, was current and good even though sometimes the chef was different. Maybe even more details on the downtown scene would be good, instead of pages on boring Upper West Side, etc., but overall this is a tres bon map to a good time to what is still the greatest city in the world. And that's coming from a Frenchman...vive le New York!

The Access New York City Guide is divided into sections for each region in the city, with separate maps for each area and detailing, in color code, destinations and places of interest in each area, including hotels, restaurants,(both rated for quality and expense), and shopping. It is the easiest New York guide book I have used, because I am able to find where I want to go, see the easiest way to get there, and know what's there when I do. The guide contains maps for subway and bus travel and airport access. I prefer this area-by-area format because I can see easily all the attractions in each part of the city. This has a distinct advantage over guides which group by topic; for example, I might find a hotel that suits my needs, and by checking the area on the map, I can find a restaurant on the same page, in my price range, within walking distance, and know what's cooking for dinner. Other guides would have you searching another chapter. This is the latest of many editions of the Access New York City guide, and is just as enjoyable from your armchair at home as it is from your tourbus. Also included are such fun tidbits as a list of movies filmed in the city, books written about New York, and little-known facts about the histories of the most famous landmarks. Altogether this guide and its logical format would make your hundredth trip to the city as exciting as your first.

I lucked into buying this guide when I first moved to New York seven years ago, and it served as a perfect introduction to the city. Even in a city that changes as rapidly as New York, I continued to find this book useful for several years after I bought it, and I still frequent some of the off-the-beaten-path restaurants that the author recommends. (But I'm not telling you the names; you'll have to discover them for yourself!)

As much as I liked this book, I can see how it might not be ideal for everyone. For one thing, unlike a lot of guidebooks, it doesn't go out of its way to prioritize the different sites and to dictate what you ought to see as a visitor. Unless the book has changed since the edition I bought, you won't find any walking tours or suggested itineraries. But if you have enough time and are willing to give serendipity a chance, the best way to experience in New York is on foot, exploring neighborhood by neighborhood, with this book in hand. Whether you're interested in architecture, shopping, arts, or history, you will find this book an excellent travel companion.