Discover France [Anglais] [Broché]

Comparing and contrasting the Lonely Planet Discovery Series to the Classic Country Guide edition I would be hard pressed to recommend the Discovery series even if it was half the price - which it should be. If you cut the number of pages, use larger type and add lots of photos you can guess that it is the actual words which get eliminated. Although the page count is trimmed by 60% I would say the content is trimmed by about 75%. Paris suffers less, but places like Colmar only get 2 sentences versus several pages. Across the board, instead of getting 6 or 7 restaurant recommendations for an area, you get 1 or 2. To be clear, the photos are no 'DK Eyewitness' level you could probably get bigger photos from brochures.

What's Different with the Discovery Edition vs. the Classic edition
- Far less written content
- Less eating, drinking and sleeping suggestions
- Elimination of smaller cities
- Larger type, probably 12 point vs. 8 point in classic
- 408 pages vs. 1012 pages
- Heavier paper (so its probably 3/4 the weight of the 1012p edition)
- Less maps, but they are in color
- Same number of 'best of suggestions'
- Generally the same number of itinerary suggestions
- A few full page color photos
- Lots of small inline color pictures which are so small they aren't terribly valuable.

I highly recommend against the Discovery guide and recommend using the classic country guide for the same price. If you only plan on going to a few areas, it's easy enough to crack the binding and staple together segments you need to save weight and still get very detailed information on the places you want to visit.

Like all Lonely Planet books, Discover France, is profusely illustrated and gives a decent overview of France. Normally, these are the questions I have before and during the trip to a new place and the answers this book provides.

1. DO I WANT TO VISIT FRANCE? Yes, the book gives a good overview of the country, different regions, and all the big cities with a section devoted to each major area of France: Paris, Champaigne & the Northeast, The Loire & Central France, Brittany & Normandy, Bordeaux & the Southwest etc. The whole first chapter is France's Top 25 Experiences- Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysees, Chamonix, The Pont Du Gard and so on so forth.

2. THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR TO VISIT FRANCE? Pages 374-375 cover the climate in different cities at different times of the year.

3. HOW DO I PLAN MY TRIP? Top itineraries have a separate chapter but they are covered very briefly. Again, planning the trip on page 39 is also very rushed.

4. HOW DO I GET THERE AND HOW DO I GET AROUND THERE? Transportation is well covered from pages 384 to 394 and is the strength of this book.

5. WHERE TO STAY? A very small number of hotels are described, for example, two under SLEEPING in the chapter on Champagne. Descriptions in a couple of sentences are rather laconic, not like the AAA books "Staying at this three star place from center is like being a personal guest of Monsieur". Hotels are poorly covered and I wouldn't depend on this book to find me a place to stay.

6. WHAT DO I DO WHEN I AM THERE? This part is mostly well covered as ACTIVITIES under the description of each region although sometimes lacking in details.

7. WHERE DO I EAT? Restaurants are also very poorly covered, like hotels: for example only 2 in Burgundy. Then they are described in couple of terse sentences.

8. HOW DO I FIND PLACES, RESTAURANTS ETC.? There are plenty of region level maps but very few street level maps; you would want to take a European GPS with you.

9. HOW ABOUT OTHER PRACTICALITIES LIKE CELL PHONE, Wi-Fi etc.? The book describes the GSM bands in France but does not cover things like which carriers, how to get the SIM card or get 3G Internet access etc. It tells you that some cafes have W-Fi without specifying which ones.

This book does not come in Kindle or iPad or any electronic format, as of May 2010. Travel guides like these ought to be in portable electronic version that you can have with you at all times while traveling, on cell phone. With Google Android & iPhones, in US we have the hotel & restaurants and their reviews on our electronic fingertips.

There are other travel guides on France which will give you lot more detailed information. I also own Rick Steves' France 2010 with map and like that better. Frommer's France 2010 (Frommer's Complete) gives you more detailed information about restaurants and hotels. Discover France (Full Color Country Guides) gives you the big picture but is lacking in lot of practical details. Before your trip, you can read it to plan your itineraries and when you are there you can use it to decide the places to see. But it won't be of much day to day use in France in choosing hotels, restaurants, streets etc.

My work involves visiting the world's major shipwrecks. Whilst I may not be looking for those major tourist attractions which are always found in the places I visit, I do have need of local information which tells me where I can stay and eat and so forth. Consequently, I am often found seeking the same information in some out-of-the-way port as any other visitor.

Over many years I have consulted a great many books which claim to be visitor guides. Because I have neither the time nor the patience for false, misleading, out-of-date or simply inaccurate information, most of those so-called guides have ended up in the bin. This is not so with the Lonely Planet country guides and this one is as good as they get.

In short; Thoroughly recommended. Just make certain you purchase the latest edition.

NM