Pauline
Forums Admin
The Cadogan travel guidebooks were considered by many to be the best Europe travel guides, but they were sold twice (I think) in recent years, and the current owner New Holland does not plan to update them. In the Arrivals forum, Dana Facaros co-author of many of the Cadogan guides, said that she and Michael Pauls were getting the rights back to the guides they wrote and plan on publishing them as e-books. They are considering removing hotel and restaurant recommendations since they think most people get those from the web and no longer rely on guidebooks for that.
There has also been discussion recently about the Frommers guidebooks. They were owned by Wiley and sold in 2012 to Google. Now Arthur Frommer has bought them back from Google and he and his daughter Pauline plan to start publishing them again, but with a different focus - smaller, more specific guides instead of large books. They will publish Easy Guides, smaller guides (256 pages), and Day by Day guides with itineraries and walking tours for 1 - 4 days of travel (180 pages).
Arthur Frommer says, in the Washington Post article, "the print guidebooks are still outselling the e-book 8 or 9 to 1".
Read more on these two articles:
I used Frommer's Europe on $50 a Day in the late 80s when Steve and I spent a year traveling in Europe. But when we started traveling in Italy in the mid 90s, I switched to the Cadogan guides.
Personally, I still like a printed guidebook. And I rely on guidebooks more than travel blogs. But when trip planning, I like to talk to other travelers (forums, facebook, friends). I travel with a Kindle and an iPad, so I will probably switch over to e-book travel guides (eventually).
I don't use guidebooks for hotel or restaurant recommendations. I used to, but now I use reviews online.
What does everyone else here think?
There has also been discussion recently about the Frommers guidebooks. They were owned by Wiley and sold in 2012 to Google. Now Arthur Frommer has bought them back from Google and he and his daughter Pauline plan to start publishing them again, but with a different focus - smaller, more specific guides instead of large books. They will publish Easy Guides, smaller guides (256 pages), and Day by Day guides with itineraries and walking tours for 1 - 4 days of travel (180 pages).
Arthur Frommer says, in the Washington Post article, "the print guidebooks are still outselling the e-book 8 or 9 to 1".
Read more on these two articles:
- Nomadic Matt - Interview with Pauline Frommer
- Washington Post - Travel guidebook publisher Arthur Frommer discusses old and new beginnings
I used Frommer's Europe on $50 a Day in the late 80s when Steve and I spent a year traveling in Europe. But when we started traveling in Italy in the mid 90s, I switched to the Cadogan guides.
Personally, I still like a printed guidebook. And I rely on guidebooks more than travel blogs. But when trip planning, I like to talk to other travelers (forums, facebook, friends). I travel with a Kindle and an iPad, so I will probably switch over to e-book travel guides (eventually).
I don't use guidebooks for hotel or restaurant recommendations. I used to, but now I use reviews online.
What does everyone else here think?
- Do you still use guidebooks?
- If so, e-book or printed?
- If not, where do you get travel information?
- Where do you get your hotel and restaurant recommendations?