DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Paris Paperback – August 19, 2013

We just finished six weeks in Paris. We previously purchased, read, studied, marked up, and pondered Amazon's top three selling guides to Paris.We've concluded that DK Eyewitness Travel Paris 2014 was by far the best.First, Eyewitness has colorful glossy sheets of paper that are easy to read, enjoyable, and don't wrinkle-up when they're wet. The photos and time charts, for example, are informative and will help you to understand, appreciate, plan, and schedule, and reschedule. (I think these glossies cost you a little bit more, but it's worth it.) The Eyewitness photos help you to understand what you want to see.Second, Eyewitness gives you the most important things to see and do, and does so without a lot of unnecessary, self-congratulatory chat. Some of the other guides tell you to take seven steps in this direction, then turn to your right, and then . . . . Although sometimes hand-holding is helpful, really all of our steps are different. Again, Eyewitness shows you and doesn't tell you.Third, diagrams, such as how to walk through the Notre Dame and where the steps are out to go to the breathtaking view on Notre-Dame's roof, are so simple to understand and follow. The time-history charts at the bottom of the pages give a clear chronology as you progress through periods of Paris' history.Forth, it gives you options, depending upon your budget, your interests and delights, the time you have, your age from teenagers through seniors, whether the kids or grandchildren are with you, and your energy level. There's a clear emphasis on getting the most out of your time there depending on who you are and what you like. We especially appreciated Eyewitness's clear, big diagrams and maps and its conciseness when I pulled it out of my pouch and reviewed it while walking.As far as we know, all of the reviews and suggestions for restaurants were current, accurate, and insightful. Unlike we felt one of the other guides, Eyewitness does not have its "favorites," which may or may not be good and affordable for you. For example, in one restaurant recommendation, near the Musee du Louvre, Eyewitness said that the Cafe Marly was chic, delicious, a great experience, and "moderate in price." (We're not pushing for Cafe Marly; there are other great eating places near by the Louvre.) Yes, it was a lovely, enchanting, and affordable lunch with a distinct Parisian experience.In searching our minds for something that might be improved in the DK Eyewitness Travel Paris 2014, we thought that just possibly its height and width might be reduced, but this would result in it being thicker and perhaps the diagrams being too small or dispersed. It's already smaller than the other leading guides.Above all, enjoy Paris.

I have been blessed to have visited many foreign countries and, of course, cities. In the process, I always review several guide books, and have stacks of them lying around. While I probably will continue to use several sources, I have come to recognize that the one I always end up spending the most time with is a DK guidebook. In the case of Paris, with the feature of presenting and reviewing restaurants located in the vicinity of the sites I will be visiting on a certain day is so very helpful. Otherwise I always seem to have to start balancing something like Tripadvisor along with descriptions and locations of sites. DK makes the process unbelievably easier. In the case of Paris, the maps in the Guide seem to be excellent, and I'm really particular about maps.

As always, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide has pictures of the things you should not miss, which is very helpful. We found it more useful for some of the smaller places. For the large places (Louvre, etc), would have been nice to guide thru the highlights as well as showing the pics. We also like these guides bc they give info about culture, history, and food and the maps are pretty good.We were glad we had this

to buy if you are going to Paris, it has everything. The walks, the history, museums, cathedrals, districts, walks you would never have thought. I could spend a month in Paris and never see it all. Being in Paris is about the experience, just relax and enjoy because you,unless have lots of money, will never see everything in the book. But pick and choose as this book will give you every alternative and assist you in enjoying just being in Paris.Enjoy and love this City of Lights. Tip: Go to the Eiffel Tower at Night, walk to the second level and then take the elevator, you will understand the amazing engineering that went into the magnificent tower, and look at the lights from the top and when they flash.

Best book for paris hands down. My boss gave the 2010 version of this book and many other book including Rick Steves and Froders... This book was way better due to the awesome breakdown of the city into the Arrondissements with walking maps of each Arrondissement. I wanted to take just this book on our trip so I bought my own copy of 2014 book. Was perfect to pictch into the backpack and used the map in the back a lot to figure out what metro station I was by and need to go to. This book along with the App for the Metro is all you need for paris. We say everything to see in paris on our 9 day trip!!!

Buy this and skip the pricey audio tours at the sites. When the airlines lost my luggage with this book inside, the first thing we did was locate a book store and buy another one. It's a beautiful book and gives maps and details others don't. It's not cheap, but it will help you make the most of a trip to Paris. The trip is expensive enough. Why skimp on a book that helps you maximize every day?

DK has been creating great guide books for years, I own probably over 20 and have used them as great guide for the student trips that I have led over the past 12 years. The color maps are helpful, and the walking guides a good start for a novice traveler. The history helps a person to be ready to understand the place. I take one or two where ever I go.

I have been very happy with all the travel guides I have purchased in this series. The color pictures add a lot as they provide a first taste of places to visit. The short itineraries accompanying the descriptions of some neighborhoods are equally useful. The sole drawback of the books in series is their weight but it is a small price to pay for having so much information on hand.