Rick Steves doesn’t just list where to travel in Europe, he leads travelers through the “Back Door,” and reveals how to give every journey an extra, more authentic dimension. He shows travelers how to delve into European culture, make friends with the locals, and experience each region’s natural wonders — economically and hassle free. Rick Steves’ France 2003 covers Paris, Normandy, the Loire Valley, Burgundy, Alsace, Dordogne, the Alps, Languedoc, and Provence. “I… More >>
#1 by Anonymous on July 7, 2010 - 10:17 pm
The descriptions in this books are very good and he makes many good recommendations for sites, hotels, and restaurants. However, I think this book left out a lot of wonderful destinations (such as Fontainebleau, Aix-en-Provence, Dijon, etc.) and lacks the detailed maps that can be found in other French guidebooks. What he does put in this book is very good, but he could have added a lot more to it. I was less pleased with this guidebook than I have been with some of Rick Steves’ other books.
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by Anonymous on July 8, 2010 - 1:14 am
I was surprised how little new content there was. I returned the book and took mine from last year (2002) and still discovered all new things in its suggestions. Don’t waste the money on the latest when it’s not the greatest. 2003 and 2002 are created equal. Whoever decided to put out a new book each year so we’d get rid of the old and get the new one is CRAZY! I understand updates every few years, but there was not enough difference to spend $… on.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by Mr. D. S. Stadler on July 8, 2010 - 3:35 am
I haven’t seen the 2003 edition (my latest is 2001) but I would be shocked if Steves has cut Dijon out of the book, as it was in previous editions. This is a great starting point for a trip to France, but it’s predecessor was a book about the best 2-22 days in France and I think it shows.
A marked problem with the Steves guides is that his guided tours businesses tend to fill up his top-rated hotels in many cities so that guidebook customers cannot get in. I encountered this myself in Bacharach in the Rhineland and in Venice. Frustrating.
That said, he is an excellent writer and the Rick Steves guides, unlike the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide series, do tend to discriminate between the top-flight and the ordinary. Unfortunately the Steves guides also miss things that way. I’ve never been able to understand why Rothenburg is in the German guide instead of any number of other German cities such as Bamberg or Schwabisch Hall for example, which possess similar ambiance without the touristic hordes. Nor do I necessarily agree with his choices in the Dordogne.
I use the Steves Guides as a starting point, then branch out and do my own research.
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Karen Penate on July 8, 2010 - 5:33 am
I absolutely hate to give a Rick Steve’s book a bad review but in this case I am going to have to. I will preface this however that if you have access to a car this book is proably great for you!
AND therein lies the main difficulty with this book. Most independent (and in my case young) travelers that visit Europe do so via rail. Why not? The service is good in most places and absolutely top notch in others (i.e.: Switzerland). It’s also affordable and allows you to get to many places at a relatively inexpensive price.
This books, however, seems to ignore the rail traveler and focus instead on the person with a car or the person who wants to go and take a lot of local tours. For example, he’ll list places in the Dordogne and then inform you that most of them are only accessible by car. Ditto for Provence. He’ll also list cute little hotels and again tell you they are only accessible by car. He even lists a whole bunch of recommended auto routes. In addition, because he leaves out certain places that are easily accessible by train (i.e: Aix) the rail traveler feels left out!
That would be all good and fine if that’s what one had come to expect from Rick Steves — but at least in my case it is not! I have used the Rick Steves books before and I LOVED them! In fact I can HIGHLY recommend “Best of Europe” and “Mona Winks” (believe the title has changed). Those books were great. Serioulsy, Mona Winks made Florence come alive for me. We would read it in every museum we visited. And Best of Europe led me to some of the most fabulous places — including Gimmelwald. But what I really liked is that those books really felt as though they were meant for a rail traveler.
I’ve bought Rick Steve’s France 2005 but I’ve also come to the conclusion that it’s not for me. If at all possible I will be returning it!
That is not to say however that I won’t be taking my Best of Europe or Mona Winks books with me — I wouldn’t leave home without them!
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by D. Irvine on July 8, 2010 - 7:21 am
I brought this book with me on a recent trip to Paris, the Loire valley and Brittany. Whenever we could, we used the recommendations for places to go and stay and eat from the book and never came away dissapointed. The book does a great job of getting you to the best sights and avoiding the crowds.
The only bad thing I can say about it is the coverage is not very good. There are many cities that there is no information on making this not a good resource for answering the question “Gee, I wonder what is in this little out of the way town we are driving thru”. If you stick to the big sights however, this is not a problem. You can also use this book to determine what the big sights are.
Rating: 4 / 5