London Travel Guidebook Reviews

Helping you choose a London travelguidebook

DK Eyewitness Travel London is my personal favorite of all the London guidebooks. It has all you need to know from the Survival Guide to wonderfully detailed illustrations of major attractions. I have learned more from this book than from actually visiting some of the places in London!

Lonely Planet travel guides have a dedicated following but should Lonely Planet London be bought as you "always use Lonely Planet" or should you consider another book this time?

Fodor's call this book "The colorful guide that's also practical" and this time I think they've got it right. We're talking glossy paper and full-color throughout, and this makes the difference as London is a colorful city so I believe you need a guidebook with plenty of color photos to help you really get to know the place. I would almost say Fodor's See It London could be a rival for my favorite, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to London, but DK still win because of their beautiful cutaway illustrations.

Fodor's aim to help you plan your trip and give you ratings you can trust from their 'local experts'. Sounds great but it needs some fact checking.

Frommer's is the largest selling series of guides in the US and 2007 is the 50th anniversary of Frommer's first guidebook. Frommer's London intends to be suitable for cost-conscious travelers at every level.

The DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 London travel guidebook is packed with reams of Top 10 lists on all there is to see and do in London.

DK Real City London aims to "discover the city as locals know it". This probably wouldn't be great for first time visitors to London unless they are already familiar with the UK. It has only a small section on survival information but has some great listings information for restaurants, shops, pubs, hotels, etc., which includes websites and color photos.

"68 great things to do together in the city and beyond". My first thought is why 68? They could easily have added a couple more to make a round number; I would suggest Coram's Fields and the Museum of Childhood.

Wallpaper* has a cult following who will be this book's target audience but for most visitors this will be unhelpful. Few big sights are listed but for a designer's take on London this could be a supplementary guidebook. (Note, the asterisk is part of the magazine's name.) I read the whole book in less than an hour.

Let's Go London is a great book for researching London before you go on your vacation and is a good guidebook to keep at your hotel but it's probably not the one you will want to lug round with you all day.

Fodor's London 25 Best has 25 "must see" sights in London, plus a full-color removable streetmap. The book is divided into London neighborhoods and has good focussed maps for each "London by Area" section. Each area includes listings for sights, nightlife, accomodation, eating out, as well as interesting walks.

It's not the 'National Film Theatre' as many London friends thought but the Not for Tourists Guide to London - their first international edition outside the US. NFT guides intend to show you more about a city than traditional travel guides so should be good for locals and visitors.