Cadogan Guide to France - Cadogan > Reviews (3)

As one of the most underrated publishers, I feel that their books deserve a good review. ..

Cadogan books focus mainly on travel guides though there are lesser known chess books as well. Based in London, they have been providing quality guides for over 20 years by a dedicated team who will not compromise on quality of the writing despite the recent trends for snappy, quick and vague reviews in other guide books.
National newspapers love them, they rountinely provide a glowing review of the books as does Michael Palin! The Guardian voted them in the top 3 best travel guides in 2004. Many of the writers, such as European guide writers Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls routinely wirte for papers and magazines including the Sunday Times Travel section or the National Geographic Traveller.

The quality of the writing is very high and I find myself immersed in some tid bit of historical information which no matter how dull, the authors always seem to make it fascinating! One can really see the level of research that has gone into writing these guides and the level of expertise and experience of the authors. My other favourite guides are the Rough Guides but i would never buy Lonely planet and the like, they just skim over the essentials and seem more concerned with design and listings, or like DK books which just fill the guieds with photos. Dull....

The style of the guides, no matter the country, is an depth appreciation of the history, culture, arts written in an interesting and often humourous tone. The emphasis lies in helping the reader to understand the country they are in and providing a base of knowledge to appreciate the sites and museums that will be visited.

So much of the guide if focused on all this that the sections relevant to where to eat, accomodation, shopping etc...are often shortened and brief. However, they are accurate and cover the needs of all travellers (financial situation, gay, children, disabled etc...). I buy these guides because I find that restaurants and other activities such as shopping sections not particularly necessary and can be found by myself once I am there, its the joy of travelling...being able to discover hidden gems by yourself and not relying totally on a guide. If the locals pile in there for dinner, it must be good! All the "where to stay "and "where to eat" sections are divided up by price and by area so you can see at a glance what you can afford.

The books aften have a few coloured photos in the front which capture the essence of the country/region and put you in the mood before you travel there! Some of the guides also have themed sections which can be useful such as marked walks around a neighborhood in Lyon to see the architecture or a romantic day out in Paris with appropriate sights, restaurants and cafes.

The maps in the book are mostly in colour and detailed with many of the sights in the books marked on it so that you can find them easily. As the books themselves are divided into the different geographical regions, a local map at the beginning of each section makes planning what to do easy and quick.

The books themselves are of good quality with nice paper (silly I know, but when you drag a book around all day, the quality of the book matters!) One fault which i found with some of the guides is the glue binding the pages started to come off during a very hot summer and the pages started to fall off, but I blame the heat more than the factory!

The guides themselves cost around £10-12 but are often cheaper on sites such as Amazon. Waterstones stock a large variety of the books, WHSmith has only a few. Independent book stores aften seem to have quite a good selection.

Overall, if you are an independent minded, curious traveller who enjoys learning about what you are seeing instead of just following the other busloads of camcorder toting tourists than this is the guide for you!