Rough Guide to France - Softcover

Andrew Sanger; Kate Baillie; Tim Salmon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0710204388 ISBN 13: 9780710204387

Publisher: TBS The Book Service Ltd, 1986

Synopsis

This is a comprehensive guide to one of the world's most popular destinations. Revised and updated, this edition includes a 24-page colour introduction to France's highlights, from the standing stones in Carnac to the Moulin Rouge in the Montmartre district in Paris. Throughout the guide, there is practical information on exploring France's landscapes, from the rolling hills of the Ardennes to the lavender fields of Provence. There are also listings and reviews of the best places to stay, eat and drink, for all budgets.

About this title

Review:

The Rough Guide to France follows its now well-established format that puts cheap eats, clubs and accommodation above comfort and style. That is its appeal for the student traveller intent on making the most of limited resources. The 2001 edition adds and updates a host of Web site addresses and includes euro price equivalents. Its 100 maps have improved measurably and its listing of map sources in England remains very helpful.

Yet the guide, despite its assurance that this is an "updated" seventh edition of the book, is a remarkably similar--and unfortunately sometimes outdated--version of much earlier guides in the France series that was launched in 1995. In this Rough Guide edition, for the most part, there are fewer restaurant listings and many of the recommendations remain the same as those touted five years ago. Those with a bit more change in their pocket might find better gastronomic satisfaction from Fodor's France or Cadogan Guide to France for upmarket touring.

On the plus side, the Rough Guide to France goes to great lengths to explain and encourage public transportation rather than driving. For cyclists, the list of routes, rentals and means of transporting bicycles across the Channel is one of the best for a broad-based guidebook. The camping section, too, has more depth than its competitors.

Take the name of the book as a guide: it's for those who want to rough it. --Kathleen Buckley

Review:

"If you can take only one book on your trip...this is it." A reader from Mass. USA, amazon.com, 13 March, 1999

About this edition

• Publisher: TBS The Book Service Ltd
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0710204388
• ISBN 13: 9780710204387
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 535