Since I’m about to travel to a country that I’ve never visited before (Japan), I thought it might be interesting to find out which travel guidebooks Dopers prefer. The poll is following 
Bradt… because they publish books for weird places I like to go (Sudan, Iran etc.)
Should have allowed multiple options. I use mainly Lonely Planet, but also sometimes Moon Handbooks and occasionally Rough Guides.
Perhaps, but I thought it might be more interesting if people had to choose their favourite.
My favorite is Rick Steves, but he only covers Europe. Some guidebooks are aimed at budget backpackers (not me), some at wealthy people who want to stay in expensive international hotels (also not me). RS books seemed to be aimed at people who want to stay in smaller places and try to learn a lot about the destination while not spending a ton of unnecessary money. So for Europe, it’s Rick Steves every time.
Outside of Europe, it’s harder. Lonely Planet is good but sometimes a bit too backpacker-y. Good info, though. Frommers and Fordors are sometimes a bit too conventional - suggesting major chain hotels and restaurants, but they are reliable and their listing of activities is decent. So usually when I’m going somewhere not in Europe I combine these books along with whatever else the library has.
I used Eyewitness for my first trip to New York and found it reasonably good. I’ve bought the San Antonio one as we are going in August.
With our New York one, we didn’t really refer to it during the trip, it was used more for preparing before the trip, getting a sense of where stuff is and how stuff works. We might have referred to it at the end of the day back in the hotel, but we didn’t have it ‘on hand’ as we were out and about during the day.
Lonely Planet, more often than not. I have used Moon Guide but didn’t like it quite as much. But, looking back, I suspect it’s mostly familiarity with their format, I think.
The ‘getting there/getting away’ is hard to switch from once you’re used to it. At least it was for me. Also they include much more lower end options, in my experience. Also I always liked that they often included a lot more, off the beaten track stuff, rather than just the mainstream stuff. Ditto for the odd, unusual, and rarely visited.
Of course when I first began to travel seriously, there really weren’t a lot of choices. It was Fodor’s, mostly Euro centric, at that time, or Lonely Planet, back before they published guides for individual countries, just regional tomes, like ‘SE Asia on a Shoestring’ !
I usually go with Lonely Planet or Rough Guide, whichever one seems meatier. I like all the cultural and historic notes, and I’m a huge fan of books with self-guided tours.
I usually swing by the library and get at least two guides. I’m not fussy; I’ll take whatever they have. I think the most common ones are Fodor’s, Frommer’s, and Lonely Planet.
I like Rick Steves also, especially for his excellent walks through various cities. When we had a day each in cities during our Baltic cruise this was very helpful. We also got videos of him visiting the cities from his TV show from our library, and it was nice to see some of the places we were going to.
I look through other guides from the library also, but they have too much of their space devoted to expensive restaurants, hotels and shopping. Today you can do a much better job on-line finding a hotel if you need one than in any book.
The other guide we like are the small city guides, which are small enough to carry in your pocket and have excellent maps.
For the big books we often copy the relevant pages for a city, which is a lighter than carrying the entire book with us, again especially when you are seeing multiple cities.
Multiple options would have been nice. Besides Lonely Planet, we also have used Let’s Go, Rough, and occasionally Frommer’s – and, decades ago (but still great), Michelin Green.
I voted Lonely Planet but want to add that I have a love/hate relationship with guide books. I love the information but I hate how cool off-the-beaten-path spots too often get spoiled once they are included in a popular travel guide.
I used to like Lonely Planet for the whole country and then DK Eyewitness for a specific site within the city, plus Luxe City Guides for the city itself. Now, I just use my iphone and kind of poke around myelf. Mostly I like travel guides for just broad planning, but leave them behind when I go.
Rick Steves kicks everybody’s butt. I love the self-guided tours, the silly jokes, and the time-saving tips about which entrances to use and how to avoid crowds.
Insight Guides are my favorites. Awesome photography that always helps me relate to the local scenery.