Lonely Planet Guide Books

Lonely Planet Publications  is one of the largest travel guidebook publishers in the world.  There are over 500 titles in print in 8 languages, and the books are aimed largely at backpackers and budget travelers. There is also a website at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/, with a community of over 500,000 members.

Frommer´s Guides

Frommer's Guides are one of the most popular travel guides series in the United States.  It began with a single book by Arthur Frommer, "Europe on $5 a Day."  Since then, the series has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks in 14 different categories, including Memorable Walks, For Dummies Travel Guides, Driving Tours, With Kids, and Complete Guides.  There is also the Frommers.com website, covering over 4000 destinations.

Eyewitness Guides

The Eyewitness Guides are sometimes describes as "the guides that show you what others only tell you." They are packed with color photographs, maps, drawings and diagrams to bring popular tourist destinations to life, color-coding the city´s districts or neighborhoods, making it easy for readers to find where they are and where they want to go.

Backpackers may find that these guides can add a lot of weight, and they are not focused on budget traveling, but the Eyewitness Guides contain a huge selection of hotel and restaurant listings.  Currently, over 100 destinations are covered. 

Let´s Go Travel Guides

Let´s Go Travel Guides have targeted students and other budget-minded travelers for more than 40 years.  The first guide was a 20-page mimeographed pamphlet, intended to be passed out to students heading out to Europe on charter flights in 1960. 

Let's Go is still run by Harvard University students, and the books are produced by traveling student-writers that are paid a daily stipend intended only to cover basic expenses.  They are packed with helpful details for the budget traveler, including compact, easy-to-read maps, and every establishment listed in the guides has been visited and reviewed by the student-writers.