Rick Steves Paris 2018

by Steve Smith, Gene Openshaw, Rick Steves

Book Overview

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in the City of Light--Paris. With the self-guided tours in this book, you'll explore the grand Champs-Elysees, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1631216678
• ISBN13: 9781631216671
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Rick Steves
• Length: 780 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

If you can only take one guidebook...

Rick Steves is a real-live "regular" traveler, who understands that most of us don't stay at the Ritz Carlton, don't eat at 3-star Michelin restaurants, and that we crave authentic travel experiences. His guidebooks are updated every year, and they are meant to be used and tossed. Try tearing out the pages you need for a museum or site, instead of taking the entire book--it's liberating. You can also download free podcasts that will give you Paris tours! The advice is practical and affordable--with just one guidebook, you will have the best possible travel experience.

Perfect for self guided visit

I just came from my first ever trip to Paris. The book is great for self guided tours. Clear descriptions and historical notes are enough for the first visit, since there is no way you will be able to visit all interesting places within 7-10 days. Prices for museums are up to date (yes, get Museum Pass after all) as well as business hours.

The Best

I borrowed quite a number of tour books on Paris before our visit and did the comparison. This book is the best and we ended up buying it and followed almost exactly the itinerary in the book. It was excellent because we got to see the tour sites and the local places too. Highly recommended.

The only guide you'll need

Rick Steves has been traveling in Europe since 1969...in 1976 he started Europe Through The Back Door, a travel business that introduces travelers to the back doors of Europe. You don't view Paris (or any other European city) through the windows of a tour bus...you are able to get up close and personal with the city and its occupants...explore the city. Paris is a big city...there's so much to do, so little time. This is the only guide book I took with me for my first trip to Paris (in addition to a phrase book) and the only book I'm taking my fifth trip to Paris. Armed with this book, you can easily navigate through the Louvre, stroll through the Marais district and take a day trip to Versailles, just to name but a few. There's a wealth of information in this book. Rick gives it to you straight...you get the good, the bad and the ugly. There are many tips in this book including information on hours and admission prices of museums, good places to eat and sleep, shopping sites, tourist traps, day trips out of Paris, in addition to some survival phrases. Highly recommended!

"A Paris Guide without boring detail!"

It is refreshing to read a travel guidebook that is devoid of hundreds of hotel and restaurant listings and concentrates mainly on the principal attractions of a city.Rick Steves' book Paris 2002 published by Avalon Travel Publishing can be described as having a tour guide at your personal disposal. The author presents a very brief introduction dealing with the general topics of when to go, trip costs, exchange rates, etc. This is in sharp contrast to many of the guides that devote too many pages to these details. You sometimes get the feeling that some of these authors are trying to fill up the pages.Immediately after the introductory chapter Reeves gives us the global picture in his "Orientation" chapter. In other words, the author tells us this is what you should see in Paris and this is how you should go about visiting these sites. Stated simply, lets get down to the "nitty gritty" and let us not be carried away by a multitude of facts and boring detail.We are presented with suggested itineraries that may be 3, 5 or 7 days. It is very similar to the format we receive when we book an organized trip through a travel agent. Each day is mapped out for us in short detail and broken down into three parts: morning, afternoon and evening. For example, day one would be a morning-walk through historic Paris featuring Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame, Latin Quarter etc. This would be followed by an afternoon tour of the Louvre and ending in the evening with a cruise on the Seine.What is very noteworthy is that subsequent chapters describe in more detail the suggested tours featured in the Orientation chapter such as the Orsay, Louvre, Champs- Elysée, Rodin Museum, Versailles and Les Invalides. These are all presented in a compact and uncluttered manner.For example, the "Champs --Elysées Walk" is accompanied with a simple map precisely indicating the highlights of the walk such as the Arc de Triomphe, Grande Arche de La Défense, Montparnasse Tower, and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Furthermore, the author provides us with succinct information pertaining to these attractions.I particularly enjoyed reading the brief chapter dealing with the Louvre Tour. We all know we can literally spend months in this most famous museum. Within this chapter Steves points out to us the "must see" exhibits and even provides us with thumbnail black and white photos of some of the most famous artwork.An added feature of the book is a brief section outlining day trips within a short radius of Paris such as Giverny, Auvers-Sur-Ise, Disneyland Paris, Fontainebleu, Chantilly and many more. All of these are not only briefly described but also we are provided with a simple map pointing out where all of these attractions are located in proximity to Paris. There is no shortage of Paris guides, however, Steves' guide is unique in its ability to present comprehensive information in a succinct and organized manner packed with invaluable advice.Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com