Guide book
Encyclopedia
A guide book is a book for tourists or travelers that provides details about a geographic location, tourist destination
, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide
. Many travel guides now take the form of travel website
s rather than printed books.
It will usually include details such as phone numbers, addresses, prices and reviews of hotels and other lodging
s, restaurants, and activities. Maps of varying detail are often included. Sometimes historical and cultural information is also provided. Different guide books may focus on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or be aimed at travelers with larger or smaller travel budgets
, or focus on the particular interests and concerns of certain groups such as sexual orientation or dietary restrictions. Guide books are generally intended to be used in conjunction with actual travel, although simply enjoying a guide book with little or no intention of visiting may be referred to as "armchair tourism".
was an itinerary from landmark to landmark of the ports along a coast, a forerunner of the guide. A periplus such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
was a manuscript document that listed, in order, the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. It served the same purpose as the later Roman itinerarium
of road stops.
The periegesis, or "progress around" was an established literary genre during the Hellenistic age. A lost work by Agaclytus describing Olympia
is referred to by the Suda
and Photius
. Dionysius Periegetes
(literally, Dionysius the Traveller) was the author of a description of the habitable world in Greek
hexameter
verse written in a terse and elegant style, intended for the klismos traveller rather than the actual tourist on the ground; he is believed to have worked in Alexandria
and to have flourished around the time of Hadrian
. The most famous guide, however, still useful to Clasicists today, is Pausanias
' 2nd-century CE guide to the interesting places, works of architecture and sculpture and curious ancient customs of Ancient Greece
.
With the advenmt of Christianity, the guide for the pilgrim
became a useful guidebook. An early account is that of the pilgrim Egeria, who visited the Holy Land in the 4th century CE and left a detailed itinerary.
, treasure hunting
was established as as a major industry from around the 9th century. Many guide books for travelers in search of ancient Near East
ern artifacts
, monuments and treasures were written by experienced Arabic treasure hunters and alchemists
which became best sellers in the medieval Arab world
. This was particularly the case in Arab Egypt, where ancient Egypt
ian antiquities were highly valued by early Egyptologists
.
The first tourist guidebooks of the 19th century appeared in the United States, Gideon Minor Davison's The Fashionable Tour, published in 1822 in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Theodore Dwight's The Northern Traveller and Henry Gilpin's The Northern Tour, both from 1825. In Europe, the guidebook was pioneered by Mariana Starke
(1761/2-1838) whose 1824 guide to travel in France and Italy served as an essential companion for British travelers to the Continent in the early 19th century. Starke's guide was frequently revised and was the first to focus on practical information rather than descriptions of the places to be visited. The genre was further developed by Karl Baedeker
in Germany (1835) and Starke's publisher John Murray III
in England (1836). Baedeker and Murray produced impersonal, objective guide; works prior to this combined factual information and personal sentimental reflection. The availability of the books by Baedeker and Murray helped sharpen and formalize the complementary genre of the personal travelogue
, which was freed from the burden of serving as a guide book. The Baedeker and Murray guide books were hugely popular and were standard resources for travelers well into the 20th century. As William Wetmore Story
said in the 1860s, "Every Englishman abroad carries a Murray for information, and a Byron
for sentiment, and finds out by them what he is to know and feel by every step." During World War I the two editors of Baedeker's English-language titles left the company and acquired the rights to Murray's Handbooks; the resulting guide books, called the Blue Guides
to distinguish them from the red-covered Baedekers, constituted one of the major guide book series for much of the 20th century and are still published today.
, two new names emerged which combined European and American perspectives on international travel. Eugene Fodor
, a Hungarian-born author of travel articles
, who had emigrated to the United States before the war, wrote guidebooks which introduced English-reading audiences to continental Europe. Arthur Frommer
, an American soldier stationed in Europe during the Korean War
, used his experience traveling around the Continent as the basis for Europe on $5 a Day (1957), which introduced readers to options for budget travel in Europe. Both authors' guidebooks became the foundations for extensive series, eventually covering destinations around the world, including the United States. In the decades that followed, Let's Go
, Lonely Planet
, Insight Guides
, Rough Guides
, and a wide variety of similar travel guides were developed, with varying focuses.
Specialist guides for mountains have a long history owing to the special needs of mountaineering
, climbing
, hill walking and scrambling
. The guides by W A Poucher for example, are widely used for the hill regions of Britain
. There are many more special guides to the numerous climbing grounds in Britain published by the Climbers Club, for example.
or iPod
, or online information accessible via a web site. This enabled guidebook publishers to keep their information more current. Traditional guide book incumbents Lonely Planet
, Frommers, Rough Guides
, and In Your Pocket City Guides
, and newcomers such as Schmap
or Ulysses Travel Guides
are now offering travel guides for download. New online and interactive guides such as Tripadvisor
, Wikitravel
, World66 and Travellerspoint
enable individual travelers to share their own experiences and contribute information to the guide. Wikitravel, Travellerspoint and World66 make the entire contents of their guides updatable by users, and make the information in their guides available as open content
, free for others to use.
guide book publishers - either contemporary or historical.
Tourist destination
A tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide
Tour guide
A tour guide provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest...
. Many travel guides now take the form of travel website
Travel website
A travel website is a website on the world wide web, that is dedicated to travel. The site may be focused on travel reviews, the booking of travel, or a combination of both. Approximately seventy million consumers researched travel plans online in July 2006...
s rather than printed books.
It will usually include details such as phone numbers, addresses, prices and reviews of hotels and other lodging
Lodging
Lodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions.Lodgings may be self catering in which case no...
s, restaurants, and activities. Maps of varying detail are often included. Sometimes historical and cultural information is also provided. Different guide books may focus on different aspects of travel, from adventure travel to relaxation, or be aimed at travelers with larger or smaller travel budgets
Personal budget
A personal budget is a finance plan that allocates future personal income towards expenses, savings and debt repayment. Past spending and personal debt are considered when creating a personal budget...
, or focus on the particular interests and concerns of certain groups such as sexual orientation or dietary restrictions. Guide books are generally intended to be used in conjunction with actual travel, although simply enjoying a guide book with little or no intention of visiting may be referred to as "armchair tourism".
Antiquity
The periplusPeriplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
was an itinerary from landmark to landmark of the ports along a coast, a forerunner of the guide. A periplus such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
was a manuscript document that listed, in order, the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. It served the same purpose as the later Roman itinerarium
Itinerarium
An itinerarium was an Ancient Roman road map in the form of a listing of cities, villages and other stops, with the intervening distances. One surviving example is the Peutinger Table; another is the Antonine Itinerary....
of road stops.
The periegesis, or "progress around" was an established literary genre during the Hellenistic age. A lost work by Agaclytus describing Olympia
Olympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
is referred to by the Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
and Photius
Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople
Photios I , also spelled Photius or Fotios, was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886. He is recognized in the Eastern Orthodox churches as St...
. Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes was the author of a description of the habitable world in Greek hexameter verse written in a terse and elegant style...
(literally, Dionysius the Traveller) was the author of a description of the habitable world in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
verse written in a terse and elegant style, intended for the klismos traveller rather than the actual tourist on the ground; he is believed to have worked in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and to have flourished around the time of Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
. The most famous guide, however, still useful to Clasicists today, is Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...
' 2nd-century CE guide to the interesting places, works of architecture and sculpture and curious ancient customs of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
.
With the advenmt of Christianity, the guide for the pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
became a useful guidebook. An early account is that of the pilgrim Egeria, who visited the Holy Land in the 4th century CE and left a detailed itinerary.
Medieval Arab world
In the medieval Arab worldIslamic Golden Age
During the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
, treasure hunting
Treasure hunting
Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia. -In modern times:In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at...
was established as as a major industry from around the 9th century. Many guide books for travelers in search of ancient Near East
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
ern artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
, monuments and treasures were written by experienced Arabic treasure hunters and alchemists
Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Alchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by scholars in the medieval Islamic world. The word alchemy was derived from the Arabic word كيمياء or kīmīāʾ...
which became best sellers in the medieval Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
. This was particularly the case in Arab Egypt, where ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian antiquities were highly valued by early Egyptologists
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
.
Modern version
Mariana Starke
Mariana Starke was an English author. She is best known for her ground-breaking travel guide of France and Italy which served as an essential companion for British travellers to the Continent in the early nineteenth century. She also wrote plays and poetry early in her career but was discouraged...
(1761/2-1838) whose 1824 guide to travel in France and Italy served as an essential companion for British travelers to the Continent in the early 19th century. Starke's guide was frequently revised and was the first to focus on practical information rather than descriptions of the places to be visited. The genre was further developed by Karl Baedeker
Karl Baedeker
Karl Baedeker was a German publisher whose company Baedeker set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.- Biography :...
in Germany (1835) and Starke's publisher John Murray III
John Murray (publisher)
John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
in England (1836). Baedeker and Murray produced impersonal, objective guide; works prior to this combined factual information and personal sentimental reflection. The availability of the books by Baedeker and Murray helped sharpen and formalize the complementary genre of the personal travelogue
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
, which was freed from the burden of serving as a guide book. The Baedeker and Murray guide books were hugely popular and were standard resources for travelers well into the 20th century. As William Wetmore Story
William Wetmore Story
William Wetmore Story was an American sculptor, art critic, poet and editor.-Biography:William Wetmore Story was the son of jurist Joseph Story and Sarah Waldo Story...
said in the 1860s, "Every Englishman abroad carries a Murray for information, and a Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
for sentiment, and finds out by them what he is to know and feel by every step." During World War I the two editors of Baedeker's English-language titles left the company and acquired the rights to Murray's Handbooks; the resulting guide books, called the Blue Guides
Blue Guides
The Blue Guides are a series of highly detailed and authoritative travel guidebooks focusing almost exclusively on art and architecture along with the history and context necessary to understand them...
to distinguish them from the red-covered Baedekers, constituted one of the major guide book series for much of the 20th century and are still published today.
Post-WW2
Following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, two new names emerged which combined European and American perspectives on international travel. Eugene Fodor
Eugene Fodor (writer)
Eugene Fodor was an American writer of travel literature of Hungarian origin.-Biography:Fodor was born in Léva, Hungary...
, a Hungarian-born author of travel articles
Travel writing
Travel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
, who had emigrated to the United States before the war, wrote guidebooks which introduced English-reading audiences to continental Europe. Arthur Frommer
Arthur Frommer
Arthur Frommer is a travel writer, publisher and consumer advocate, and the founder of the Frommer's series of travel guides and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine. He has published many books for budget-conscious travelers and has been one of America's foremost budget travel authorities...
, an American soldier stationed in Europe during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, used his experience traveling around the Continent as the basis for Europe on $5 a Day (1957), which introduced readers to options for budget travel in Europe. Both authors' guidebooks became the foundations for extensive series, eventually covering destinations around the world, including the United States. In the decades that followed, Let's Go
Let's Go Travel Guides
Let's Go is the first travel guide series aimed at the student traveler. Researched, written, edited, and run entirely by students at Harvard University, Let's Go was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-History:...
, Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
, Insight Guides
Insight Guides
Insight Guides are a corporation based in London who create travel guides for commercial and domestic use. They produce travel guides and maps. They also produce globes. Insight Guides was founded by Hans Johannes Hofer...
, Rough Guides
Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
, and a wide variety of similar travel guides were developed, with varying focuses.
Mountain guides
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
, climbing
Climbing
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...
, hill walking and scrambling
Scrambling
Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...
. The guides by W A Poucher for example, are widely used for the hill regions of Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. There are many more special guides to the numerous climbing grounds in Britain published by the Climbers Club, for example.
Digital world
With the emergence of digital technology, many publishers turned to electronic distribution, either in addition to or instead of print publication. This can take the form of downloadable documents for reading on a portable computer or hand held device such a PDAPDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
or iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, or online information accessible via a web site. This enabled guidebook publishers to keep their information more current. Traditional guide book incumbents Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
, Frommers, Rough Guides
Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
, and In Your Pocket City Guides
In Your Pocket City Guides
In Your Pocket is a European city guide publisher and online tourist information provider. As of April 2008 it publishes city guides to 68 destinations and provides free online information to over 100 cities in 23 countries in Europe, from Athens to Zürich, Ljubljana, Belfast to Bucharest, Tallinn...
, and newcomers such as Schmap
Schmap
Schmap is a publisher of free digital travel guides for destinations throughout Europe and the USA, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand...
or Ulysses Travel Guides
Ulysses Travel Guides
Ulysses Travel Guides is a Canadian publisher.Specializing in travel guides, Ulysses publishes guides for independent travellers.In addition to publishing its own guides, Ulysses also acts as a retailer and distributor through its two Montréal bookstores and its distribution network which supplies...
are now offering travel guides for download. New online and interactive guides such as Tripadvisor
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor.com is a travel website that assists customers in gathering travel information, posting reviews and opinions of travel-related content and engaging in interactive travel forums. It is part of the TripAdvisor Media Group, operated by Expedia, Inc. TripAdvisor is a pioneer of...
, Wikitravel
Wikitravel
-External links:* *...
, World66 and Travellerspoint
Travellerspoint
Travellerspoint is a social networking site for people who want to learn from or share experiences with other travellers. Members of the site participate through forums, blogs, photo galleries and a wiki travel guide.- Major Features :...
enable individual travelers to share their own experiences and contribute information to the guide. Wikitravel, Travellerspoint and World66 make the entire contents of their guides updatable by users, and make the information in their guides available as open content
Open content
Open content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....
, free for others to use.
Guide book publishers
This list is a select sample of the full range of English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
guide book publishers - either contemporary or historical.
- AAAAmerican Automobile AssociationAAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
/CAACanadian Automobile AssociationThe Canadian Automobile Association , commonly known as CAA, is a non-profit federation, founded in 1913, of nine clubs across Canada, providing roadside assistance service, a complete range of auto touring and leisure travel services, insurance services, and member discounts with preferred...
TourBookTourBookTourBook is the brand name of a series of United States travel guides published by the American Automobile Association . The books are published annually in editions that cover one to five states each . Editions covering Canadian provinces are also available, created in association with the... - BaedekerBaedekerVerlag Karl Baedeker is a Germany-based publisher and pioneer in the business of worldwide travel guides. The guides, often referred as simply "Baedekers" , contain important introductions, descriptions of buildings, of museum collections, etc., written by the best specialists, and...
- Berlitz
- Blue GuidesBlue GuidesThe Blue Guides are a series of highly detailed and authoritative travel guidebooks focusing almost exclusively on art and architecture along with the history and context necessary to understand them...
- BradtBradt Travel GuidesBradt Travel Guides is a publisher of travel guides founded by Hilary Bradt who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to the Tourist Industry and to Charity....
- DK Eyewitness TravelDorling KindersleyDorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
- Fodor'sFodor'sFodor's is the world's largest publisher of English language travel and tourism information, and the first relatively professional producer of travel guidebooks...
- Forbes Travel Guide
- Footprint BooksFootprint BooksFootprint Travel Guides is the imprint of Footprint Handbooks Ltd, a publisher of guidebooks based in Bath in the United Kingdom. Particularly noted for their coverage of Latin America, their South American Handbook, first published in 1924, is in its 87th edition. The company now publish more than...
- Frommer'sFrommer'sFrommer's is a travel guidebook series and one of the bestselling travel guides in America. The series began in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day. Frommer's has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks across 14 series, as well as other media including the award...
- Insight GuidesInsight GuidesInsight Guides are a corporation based in London who create travel guides for commercial and domestic use. They produce travel guides and maps. They also produce globes. Insight Guides was founded by Hans Johannes Hofer...
- In Your PocketIn Your Pocket City GuidesIn Your Pocket is a European city guide publisher and online tourist information provider. As of April 2008 it publishes city guides to 68 destinations and provides free online information to over 100 cities in 23 countries in Europe, from Athens to Zürich, Ljubljana, Belfast to Bucharest, Tallinn...
- Let's GoLet's Go Travel GuidesLet's Go is the first travel guide series aimed at the student traveler. Researched, written, edited, and run entirely by students at Harvard University, Let's Go was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-History:...
- Lonely PlanetLonely PlanetLonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
- Michelin GuideMichelin GuideThe Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
- Moon HandbooksMoon PublicationsMoon is a travel guidebook publisher founded in 1973 in Chico, California as a collective of world travelers and writers. the company started with travel guides to Asia and later became the top publisher of guides to the Americas. Moon was an early advocate of independent travel, and their authors...
- Mr. & Mrs. SmithMr. & Mrs. Smith (travel guide)Mr & Mrs Smith is a travel publisher and hotel booking service specialising in boutique, individual and small luxury hotels and is based in London, United Kingdom. Set up by husband and wife team James Lohan and Tamara Heber-Percy in 2003, the company now has offices in Melbourne, covering the...
- National Geographic TravelerNational Geographic TravelerNational Geographic Traveler is a magazine published by the National Geographic Society in the United States. It was launched in 1984. Local-language editions of National Geographic Traveler are published in Armenia, Belgium/the Netherlands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latin America,...
- Nicholson GuidesNicholson GuidesThe Nicholson Guides are a set of books now published jointly by Bartholomew and the Ordnance Survey as guides to the navigable waterways of England and Wales ....
- Not For TouristsNot For TouristsNot For Tourists is a series of guides to major cities. Unlike traditional tourist guide books, NFT guides are designed for people who live in or commute to their subject cities. As such, they differ in several ways from the typical guide book...
- Rick StevesRick StevesRichard "Rick" Steves is an American author and television personality focusing on European travel. He is the host of the American Public Television series Rick Steves' Europe, has a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific travel...
- Rough GuidesRough GuidesRough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
- SchmapSchmapSchmap is a publisher of free digital travel guides for destinations throughout Europe and the USA, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand...
- Spartacus International Gay GuideSpartacus International Gay GuideThe Spartacus International Gay Guide is an international gay travel guidebook published annually since 1970, originally by John D. Stamford, currently by Bruno Gmünder Verlag in Berlin, Germany.-Content:...
- Spotted by LocalsSpotted by LocalsSpotted by Locals is a publisher of a series of Travel guides on European cities. In each of the 33 cities, 4 to 6 local authors , share information about their favorite spots in the city where they live, and update this information....
- Time Out
- Ulysses Travel GuidesUlysses Travel GuidesUlysses Travel Guides is a Canadian publisher.Specializing in travel guides, Ulysses publishes guides for independent travellers.In addition to publishing its own guides, Ulysses also acts as a retailer and distributor through its two Montréal bookstores and its distribution network which supplies...
- Wallpaper City Guides
- WeirdWeird (Travel Guides)Weird is a series of travel guides written by various authors and published by Sterling Publishing of New York, NY. Started by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman with a magazine called Weird N.J., together or separately, they often write, collaborate, edit and/or write the forward of the other guides...
- WikitravelWikitravel-External links:* *...
- WikivoyageWikivoyageWikivoyage is a free web-based travel guide for both travel destinations and travel topics written by volunteer authors. The name is a blend of the words “Wiki” and “Voyage”, the French word for travel, journey, voyage, or trip.The project has been founded in September 2006 by a German...
- wordtravels.comWordTravelsLaunched in 2001 Word Travels has become one of the most popular independent series of travel guides available on the internet. The guides were originally developed for use within travel agencies, offering travel consultants reliable and authoritative information on thousands of worldwide...
See also
- Audioguide
- Mirabilia Urbis RomaeMirabilia Urbis RomaeMirabilia Urbis Romae is a much-copied medieval Latin text that served generations of pilgrims and tourists as a guide to the city of Rome. The original, which was written by a canon of St Peter's, dates from the 1140s...
- De mirabilibus urbis RomaeDe mirabilibus urbis RomaeDe mirabilibus urbis Romae, preserved in a single manuscript, is a medieval guide in Latin to the splendors of Rome, which was written in the mid-twelfth century by a certain Magister Gregorius of Oxford. The outlook here is even more secular than the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, Roberto Weiss noted...
- TourismTourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
- Travel websiteTravel websiteA travel website is a website on the world wide web, that is dedicated to travel. The site may be focused on travel reviews, the booking of travel, or a combination of both. Approximately seventy million consumers researched travel plans online in July 2006...
- Travel writingTravel writingTravel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
- Travel literatureTravel literatureTravel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
- TextbookTextbookA textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
(for academic 'Guide Books' i.e. brief reference works) - Guide to ReferenceGuide to ReferenceGuide to Reference, published in 2008 as the online successor to Guide to Reference Books, is a selective guide to the best print and online reference sources. An editorial team of reference librarians and subject experts have selected and annotated some 16,000 entries, which are organized by subject...
(selective guide to print and online reference sources)