I'd agree with Ollie - definitely the Green Michelin Guides, for places to see in France,(choose the one for the area you want to visit) and Le Guide Offiiel for campsites in those areas!
But do read as much as you can about the areas you want to visit - check out your library, or post extra questions on here!
I quite like the Dorling Kindersley or DK Eyewitness series, see here Whilst informative the Michelin Green Guides are a little old fashioned in comparison but it will depend of what style of book you are looking for. If you just want information go for the Michelin but if you want a visual walk through consider the DK range.
David
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
A comprehensive book on France would be a huge tome - so get any old thing out of the library, chose which region(s) you want to vsit/stay in then buy a good book for the region. We use Rough Guides which give lots of info that's not in the more conventional guides; I think they're now available on-line so are kept up-to-date quite well ... Rough Guides, as the name implies, tend to concentrate on cheap eating and accomodation, public transport and walking. When we last used a Michelin Guide it did seem to concentrate on restaurants and hotels; and drives rather than walks!
We have quite a stock of rough guides bought from charity shops: quite a good way of getting a variety of views; however, we have learned from experience not to rely on them for up-to-date information - always check out htels and isolated restaurants by phone! In these times no book is reliable (and some web-sites are also dodgy).
Quote: Originally posted by nichel on 28/12/2011
Can anyone recommend the best guide to France, I've been looking at books on Amazon but have only managed to confuse myself.
Depends what you want from a guide. But in addition to all the Michelin type guides, our "bible" for 30 yrs has been :-
Not only does it give you an insight into the wine regions in depth, and the local producers, but also restaurants, places of interest, and a mass of local information. Not what everyone wants, but it has introduced us to any number of producers/degustations, and if you have it with you, it is the key which opens many doors, cos the authors are well respected in the territory.
The Rough Guides are very comprehensive and can contain information that other guides dont have. This is because they often have a narrative as well as facts so you can get a feel for places, and as Paul M says other guides often focus on specifics.
Its worth getting to a good book shop and comparing styles and content. For example i find DK is more visual and a clear layout, but has less information. Theres sure to be something to suit you.
------------- John
May/June.....France
Aug.......somewhere else in France
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Quote: Originally posted by savanne1 on 29/12/2011
I reckon the info on this forum takes some beating, I've learnt so much and often write down the names of places etc recommended on here.
I'd have to agree: I've had better advice off UKCS than from all the books I've read
I think the problem with travel guide books is sometimes the people who write them! They sometimes have a fixed interest - so if someone who loves old churches is writing the book then it becomes mostly a catalogue of all the old churches in an area. Similarly, if someone is sporty then you'll find all the possible sporty opportunities........ and so on! Such guides tend to mention other areas of interest only very briefly.
I say this partly because at St Pons this year we met and chatted to someone who edited travel books for a living - and she was just editing a new edition about the Languedoc. She said the 'manuscript' as it stood was very one-dimensional, and she was trying to get more of a feel for the place, by staying there and seeing and doing lots of things. I have a feeling that some of our 'over-more-than-one-bottle-du-vin' discussions late into the evenings, of all the fantastic opportunities the less well known parts of the Languedoc offers, may now have found their way into the latest version of the guide she was editing!
We found a whole new perspective to Aigues Mortes, for instance, when walking the walls with our friend who is a history teacher, and who brought the place to life for us with his knowledge of all the wars which had led to the place being built, occupied and falling into disuse. Similarly, walking around La Couvertoirade with a craftsman mason made us more interested in all the old stonework, doorways, and passages!
I think this is why forums such as this are so good - we all have different interests, and so everyone can add their own specialness to the answers to questions. So we get a wide range of interests, and a much broader view of what is offered in an area.
Haven't posted here for a while, gave camping a miss last summer and stayed in Barcelona. Watching 'A Place in the Sun' on TV this week and realised how much I missed France.
In the past I've used Rough Guide, and various library books, but they're always too generalised, as France is such a big country. A regional guidebook often doesn't even give your idyllic local small town a cursory mention, such is the sheer diversity of the place. The best places we've found over the years have tended to be serendipitous, or from local tourist offices - nearly every village has one, and campsite receptions often have buckets of local information which would never be included in a book.
Here'san example of one of many sites, in this instance a Provencale guide.
Campsite web pages often link to websites of local attractions.
Borrow a book full of nice photos to get yourself in the mood (InSight guides are good for this), then trawl the internet during the dark winter months.
Then ask Val.
------------- Johnny Hamster
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Like many others, I have a 'library' of guides including Michelin, Rough, Eye-Witness etc.
However ... this year I came across the 'Daddy' of them all ... it is in french, but the entries themselves give a good clue ... it's called 'Les 1000 Lieux qu'il faut avoir vus en France' by Frederick Gersal; published by Flammarion, ISBN: 978-2-0812-3848-0. Cost 20 euro.
It splits the country up into the various departments, and lists the major places/things to see/do.
It also lists the top ten of each of the following subject areas: Cathedrals, Abbeys and Basilicas, Chateaux, Islands, Natural Marvels, Gardens, Art Museums, Monuments, Beautiful Villages, Places by water, Major historical sites, Antiquities, Most unusual places, Most beautiful mountain sites, Best in Paris.
It's just under a thousand pages and is very comprehensive ... now, my bible.
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Topic: Best guide to France?
