Cadogan Guide to France - Cadogan

The great advantage the Cadogan guides to France have over the many competitors in the area is that they have a personality. Largely written by the same people (Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls), their sense of humour and wonder shines through in the lively writing and choice of some less usual places to highlight. The guides are aimed at a relatively affluent, mature audience (unlike the Lonely Planet/Rough Guides), but will also appeal to anyone who likes to take a cultural holiday and is most interested in locating themselves near places of interest. They pretty much assume you've got a car ... more

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 ... more

I was personally very disappointed by this guide. I was looking for a book that covered both the Cote d'Azur and the area around Montpelier. On the face of it this guide fitted the bill perfectly, but unfortunately in most respects other than its geographic scope I found it to be entirely inadequate, patronising, stuck-up and uninformative. Why people who obviously dislike most of the area, especially the touristy bits, should write a book like this is beyond me. It tries and largely fails to be amusing. It tries and fails to be intellectual, rarely getting under the skin of individual resorts ... more