Concise up to date guidebook. One for taking with you (nice and light and only contains the essentials.)

Concise up to date guidebook. One for taking with you (nice and light and only contains the essentials.)

I'm not a seasoned or jaded traveler ... yet! Neophyte European travellers will find that experience and time are the limiting resources when it comes to pre-planning a first trip to a destination as large and complex as the City of Lights. The Eyewitness Travel Top 10 format provides more than enough details to allow for an informed choice between competing destinations but unlike many of the competing alternative guides, it makes no attempt to be encyclopedic drowning an unsuspecting reader in so much knowledge that choices become next to impossible.

Eyewitness Travel Guides seem to have the market beat by a long margin! That's not to say that Lonely Planet, Frommer, Michelin or the Blue and Green Guides miss the mark entirely but the Eyewitness series, in general, seems to be more informative. The photographs and illustrations instill a higher degree of keen anticipation and provide a better means of choosing in advance between a world of competing destinations and alternative tourist attractions. And I can't say enough about the Top 10 format ... dozens of lists - events, restaurants, hotels, museums, walks, churches, bars, great spots for children, insider tips and so much more. Whether your taste in vacations runs to exploring the hot night life spots or scoping out the most exciting history that museums and art galleries have to offer, Top 10 Paris will make your trip easier to plan and more enjoyable in the doing.

Portability, durability, sensible layout and organization not to mention the included maps of the city and the metro system make Top 10 Paris the correct choice to tote along with you while you're actually out and about in Paris as well.

Finally, Top 10 Paris is a great way of post-filling information and details into some of the holes or places that you might miss or have to rush through when you're actually on the trip. Along with photographs and trip journals, it's also a wonderful way to resurrect detailed memories of a trip long after you've returned home.

Paul Weiss

For the major sites, I found this guide superb! It gave concise and relevant details about each site which I found great. Also, the map in the back was easy to read yet detailed enough to easily navigate us around the City. I highly recommend this guide.

For the major sites, I found this guide superb! It gave concise and relevant details about each site which I found great. Also, the map in the back was easy to read yet detailed enough to easily navigate us around the City. I highly recommend this guide.

This was nearly the most useful item I took on my recent trip to Paris. As previous reviews mentioned, the fold-out maps were great.

Every time I needed to go somewhere or return to my hotel, I'd first review the map in the front to see where I was and determine which Metro station I needed to find. Then, I'd flip to the Metro map in the back to navigate the route home. The "zoomed in" section of the front map which is in the back helped me find my way after I went astray and was critical in planning our walks through Paris.

And although you know you want to see the Eifel Tower and the Louvre and what not while you're in Paris, you might not know exactly where they are in relation to each other. That map in the front is great - just look for the purple splotches. Each one is a site you won't want to miss.

The other Top 10 listings were great too. Once you see all the major sites, you might have a little time left to do something completely random. The different restaurants, stores, and parks listed offer many great ideas. And locating them with the maps enclosed are half the fun!!

I'd recommend this and the Rick Steve's Paris book to anyone going. And, for my next trip, I will check out the Top 10 Eyewitness book for my next destination.