A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying detail and historical and cultural information are often included. Different kinds of guide books exist, focusing on different aspects of travel, from
adventure travel
Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in r ...
to relaxation, or aimed at travelers with different incomes, or focusing on sexual orientation or types of diet.
Travel guides can also take the form of
travel website
A travel website is a website that provides travel reviews, trip fares, or a combination of both. Over 1.5 billion people book travel per year, 70% of which is done online.
Categories
Categories of travel websites include:
;Travelogues and blo ...
s.
History
Antiquity
A forerunner of the guidebook was the ''
periplus'', an itinerary from landmark to landmark of the ports along a coast. A ''periplus'' such as the ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
'' was a manuscript document that listed, in order, the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. This work was possibly written in the middle of the 1st century CE. It served the same purpose as the later Roman
itinerarium
An ''itinerarium'' (plural: ''itineraria'') was an ancient Roman travel guide in the form of a listing of cities, villages ( ''vici'') and other stops on the way, including the distances between each stop and the next. Surviving examples include ...
of road stops.
The ''periegesis'', or "progress around" was an established ''literary'' genre during the Hellenistic age. A lost work by Agaclytus describing
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
() is referred to by the
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
and
Photius
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
.
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...
(literally, Dionysius the Traveller) was the author of a description of the habitable world in
Greek hexameter verse written in a terse and elegant style, intended for the ''
klismos
A klismos (Greek: κλισμός) or klismos chair is a type of ancient Greek chair, with curved backrest and tapering, outcurved legs.
Ancient Greece
Klismoi are familiar from depictions of ancient furniture on painted pottery and in bas-reliefs ...
'' traveller rather than the actual tourist on the ground; he is believed to have worked in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
and to have flourished around the time of
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
. An early "remarkably well-informed and interesting guidebook" was the ''Hellados Periegesis'' (''Descriptions of Greece'') of
Pausanias of the 2nd century A.D. This most famous work is a guide to the interesting places, works of architecture, sculpture, and curious customs of
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, and is still useful to Classicists today. With the advent of Christianity, the guide for the
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
religious pilgrim
A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...
became a useful guidebook. An early account is that of the pilgrim
Egeria, who visited the Holy Land in the 4th century CE and left a detailed itinerary.
In the
medieval Arab world, guide books for travelers in search of
artifacts and treasures were written by Arabic treasure hunters, magicians, and
alchemists
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
. This was particularly the case in
Arab Egypt, where treasure hunters were eager to find valuable
ancient Egyptian antiquities. Some of the books claimed to be imbued with magic that could dispel the magical barriers believed to be protecting the artifacts.
Travelogues
Travel literature became popular during the
Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
(960–1279) of medieval
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The genre was called 'travel record literature' (youji wenxue), and was often written in
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...
,
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
,
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
and
diary style. Travel literature authors such as
Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and
Xu Xiake
Xu Xiake (, January 5, 1587 – March 8, 1641), born Xu Hongzu (), courtesy name Zhenzhi (), was a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery ...
(1587–1641) incorporated a wealth of
geographical and
topographical
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
information into their writing, while the 'daytrip essay' ''
Record of Stone Bell Mountain'' by the noted poet and statesman
Su Shi (1037–1101) presented a philosophical and moral argument as its central purpose.
In the West, the guidebook developed from the published personal experiences of aristocrats who traveled through Europe on the
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
. As the appreciation of art, architecture and antiquity became ever-more essential ingredients of the noble upbringing so they predominated in the guidebooks, particularly those devoted to the Italian peninsula.
Richard Lassels
Richard Lassels (also ''Lascelles'') (–1668) was a Roman Catholic priest and a travel writer. Lassels was a tutor to several of the English nobility, and traveled through Italy five times. He is best known for his work, ''The Voyage of Italy, or ...
(1603–1668) wrote a series of manuscript guides which were eventually published posthumously in Paris and London (1670) as ''The Voyage of Italy''. Grand Tour guidebooks poured off the presses throughout the eighteenth century, those such as
Patrick Brydone
Patrick Brydone, FRSE, FRS, FSAScot, FSA (5 January 1736 – 19 June 1818) was a Scottish traveller and author who served as Comptroller of the Stamp Office.
Life
Brydone was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, on 5 January 1736, the son of ...
's ''A Tour Through Sicily and Malta'' being read by many who never left England.
Between 1626 and 1649, the Dutch publisher,
Officina Elzeviriana (House of Elzevir), published a bestselling pocketbook series, the ''Respublicae Elzevirianae'' (Elzevirian Republics), which has been described as the "ancestor of the modern travel guide". Each volume gave information (geography, population, economy, history) on a country in Europe, Africa, the Near East or the Far East.
An important transitional figure from the idiosyncratic style of the Grand Tour travelogues to the more informative and impersonal guidebook was
Mariana Starke
Mariana Starke (1761/2–1838) was an English author. She is best known for her travel guide to France and Italy which served as a popular companion for British travellers to the Continent in the early nineteenth century. She also wrote plays and ...
. Her 1824 guide to travel in France and Italy served as an essential companion for British travelers to the Continent in the early 19th century. She recognized that with the growing numbers of Britons traveling abroad after 1815 the majority of her readers would now be in family groups and on a budget. She therefore included for the first time a wealth of advice on luggage, obtaining passports, the precise cost of food and accommodation in each city and even advice on the care of invalid family members. She also devised a system of !!! exclamation mark ratings, a forerunner of today's
star ratings. Her books, published by
John Murray, served as a template for later guides.
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, the first published guidebook was Gideon Minor Davison's ''The Fashionable Tour'', published in 1822, and Theodore Dwight's ''The Northern Traveller'' and Henry Gilpin's ''The Northern Tour'', both from 1825.
[Richard Gassan, "The First American Tourist Guidebooks: Authorship and Print Culture of the 1820s," ''Book History'' 8 (2005), pp. 51–74.]
Modern guidebook
The modern guidebook emerged in the 1830s, with the burgeoning market for long distance tourism. The publisher
John Murray began printing the ''
Murray's Handbooks for Travellers'' in London from 1836. The series covered tourist destinations in Europe, Asia and northern Africa, and he introduced the concept of "sights" which he rated in terms of their significance using stars for Starke's exclamation points. According to scholar James Buzard, the Murray style "exemplified the exhaustive rational planning that was as much an ideal of the emerging tourist industry as it was of British commercial and industrial organization generally."
In Germany,
Karl Baedeker
Karl Ludwig Johannes Baedeker ( , ; 3 November 1801 – 4 October 1859) was a German publisher whose company, Baedeker, set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists.
Karl Baedeker was descended from a long line of printers, book ...
acquired the publishing house of Franz Friedrich Röhling in Koblenz, which in 1828 had published a handbook for travellers by Professor Johannes August Klein entitled ''Rheinreise von Mainz bis Cöln; ein Handbuch für Schnellreisende'' (''A Rhine Journey from
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
to
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
; A Handbook for Travellers on the Move''). He published this book with little changes for the next ten years, which provided the seeds for Baedeker's new approach to travel guides. After Klein died, he decided to publish a new edition in 1839, to which he added many of his own ideas on what he thought a travel guide should offer the traveller. Baedeker's ultimate aim was to free the traveller from having to look for information anywhere outside the travel guide; whether about routes, transport, accommodation, restaurants, tipping, sights, walks or prices. Baedeker emulated the style of
John Murray's guidebooks,
but included unprecedented detailed information.
In 1846, Baedeker introduced his star ratings for sights, attractions and lodgings, following Mrs. Starke's and Murray's. This edition was also his first 'experimental' red guide. He also decided to call his travel guides 'handbooks', following the example of
John Murray III
John Murray III (1808–1892) was a British publisher, third of the name at the John Murray company founded in London in 1777.
Life
The eldest son of John Murray II (1778–1843) by Anne Elliott, daughter of Charles Elliot, the Edinburgh publis ...
. Baedeker's early guides had tan covers, but from 1856 onwards, Murray's red bindings and gilt lettering became the familiar hallmark of all Baedeker guides as well, and the content became famous for its clarity, detail and accuracy.
[James Buzzard. "The Grand Tour and after (1660–1840)" in ''The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing'' (2002), pp. 48–50.]
Baedeker and Murray produced impersonal, objective guides; works prior to this combined factual information and personal sentimental reflection.
[ The availability of the books by Baedeker and Murray helped sharpen and formalize the complementary genre of the personal travelogue, which was freed from the burden of serving as a guide book.][ The Baedeker and Murray guide books were hugely popular and were standard resources for travelers well into the 20th century. As ]William Wetmore Story
William Wetmore Story (February 12, 1819 – October 7, 1895) was an American sculptor, art critic, poet, and editor.
Life and career
William Wetmore Story was the son of jurist Joseph Story and Sarah Waldo (Wetmore) Story. He graduated from H ...
said in the 1860s, "Every Englishman abroad carries a Murray for information, and a Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
for sentiment, and finds out by them what he is to know and feel by every step."
After Karl Baedeker died, his son, also named Karl, inherited the Baedeker travel guide business; however, he was killed in action during World War I. British nationalism and anti-German sentiment resulted in some British people labeling Baedeker guides "instrumental to the German war effort", and their popularity in the United Kingdom dropped considerably. As a result, the two editors of Baedeker's English-language titles left the company and acquired the rights to Murray's Handbooks
''Murray's Handbooks for Travellers'' were travel guide books published in London by John Murray beginning in 1836. The series covered tourist destinations in Europe and parts of Asia and northern Africa. According to scholar James Buzard, the ...
. The resulting guide books, called the Blue Guides
The Blue Guides are a series of detailed and authoritative travel guidebooks focused on art, architecture, and (where relevant) archaeology along with the history and context necessary to understand them. A modicum of practical travel informa ...
to distinguish them from the red-covered Baedekers, constituted one of the major guide book series for much of the 20th century and are still published today.
Post-WW2
Soon after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, two new names emerged which combined European and American perspectives on international travel. Eugene Fodor, a Hungarian-born author of travel articles, who had emigrated to the United States before the war, wrote guidebooks which introduced English-reading audiences to continental Europe. Arthur Frommer
Arthur Frommer (born July 17, 1929) is a travel writer. He founded the Frommer's brand of travel guides.
Frommer was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, and moved to Brooklyn, New York when he was 14. He graduated from New York University in 1950 ...
, an American soldier stationed in Europe during the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, used his experience traveling around the Continent as the basis for '' Europe on $5 a Day'' (1957), which introduced readers to options for budget travel in Europe. Both authors' guidebooks became the foundations for extensive series, eventually covering destinations around the world.
Since then, Let's Go, Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...
, Insight Guides, Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...
, Eyewitness Travel Guides
Eyewitness or eye witness may refer to:
Witness
* Witness, someone who has knowledge acquired through first-hand experience
** Eyewitness memory
** Eyewitness testimony
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Eyewitness'' (1956 film), a Britis ...
and many other travel guide series have been published.
For specific activities
Specialist guides for mountains have a long history owing to the special needs of mountaineering
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...
, climbing
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...
, hill walking
Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultiv ...
and scrambling. The guides by W A Poucher
William Arthur Poucher (1891–1988), known as Walter, a nickname he acquired during his Army service,
was one of the leading British mountain photographers and guide book writers during and following World War II. He personally explored and phot ...
for example, are widely used for the hill regions of Britain. There are many more special guides to the numerous climbing grounds in Britain published by the Climbers Club
The Climbers' Club is the senior rock-climbing club in England and Wales (outside the Lake District). The club was founded in 1898. The CC one of the largest publishers of climbing guidebooks in many of the main climbing areas of England and Wale ...
, for example.
Travel guides are made for diving destinations and specific dive sites. These have been published as magazine articles, stand-alone books and websites, often publicising the dive sites in the vicinity of specific service providers.
Digital world
With the emergence of digital technology, many publishers turned to electronic distribution, either in addition to or instead of print publication. This can take the form of downloadable documents for reading on a portable computer or hand held device such a PDA
PDA may refer to:
Science and technology
* Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books
*Personal digital assistant, a mobile device
* Photodiode array, a type of detector
* Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...
or iPod
The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
, or online information accessible via a web site. This enabled guidebook publishers to keep their information more current. Traditional guide book incumbents Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...
, Frommers, Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...
, and In Your Pocket City Guides
In Your Pocket City Guides is a publisher of free guide books for many European cities, available in print, via website or via mobile app. It also publishes guide books for major events in Europe including the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European ...
, and newcomers such as Schmap or Ulysses Travel Guides are now offering travel guides for download. New online and interactive guides such as Tripadvisor, Wikivoyage
Wikivoyage is a free web-based travel guide for travel destinations and travel topics written by volunteer authors. It is a sister project of Wikipedia and supported and hosted by the same non-profit Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). Wikivoyage has ...
, and Travellerspoint
Travellerspoint is a travel and social networking site for people who want to learn from or share experiences with other travellers. Members of the site participate through forums, blogs, photo galleries and a wiki travel guide, similar to Wiki ...
enable individual travelers to share their own experiences and contribute information to the guide. Wikivoyage, CityLeaves, and Travellerspoint make the entire contents of their guides updatable by users, and make the information in their guides available as open content, free for others to use.
Guide book publishers
This list is a select sample of the full range of English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
guide book publishers - either contemporary or historical.
* W.J. Adams WJ may refer to:
* Jeep Grand Cherokee (WJ), a generation of Jeep Grand Cherokee
* Air Labrador, based in Canada (IATA code WJ)
* West Jersey Railroad, a West Jersey and Seashore Railroad#West Jersey Railroad, predecessor of the West Jersey and Sea ...
* AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
/CAA
CAA may refer to:
Law
* Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India
** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
* Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...
TourBook
TourBook is the brand name of a series of United States travel guides published by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The books are published annually in editions that cover one to five states each (depending on size). Editions covering ...
* D. Appleton & Co.
* Baedeker
* Berlitz
* Adam and Charles Black
A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels.
History
The firm was founded in 1 ...
* Blue Guides
The Blue Guides are a series of detailed and authoritative travel guidebooks focused on art, architecture, and (where relevant) archaeology along with the history and context necessary to understand them. A modicum of practical travel informa ...
* Bradt
* Cicerone Press
* Citysearch
Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city ...
* Thomas Cook & Son
Thomas Cook & Son, originally simply Thomas Cook, was a company founded by Thomas Cook, a cabinet-maker, in 1841 to carry temperance supporters by railway between the cities of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham. In 1851, Cook arranged ...
* DOM publishers
DOM publishers, founded in Berlin in 2005, publishes architectural guides and specialist publications on architecture, urban planning, and design within an international context. The publishing house is owned and managed by Philipp Meuser and Na ...
* DK Eyewitness Travel
* FalconGuides
* Fodor's
* For Dummies
''For Dummies'' is an extensive series of instructional reference books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success with editions in numerous lang ...
* Forbes Travel Guide
Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide or Mobil Travel Guide) is a star rating service and online travel guide for hotels, restaurants and spas. In 2011, Forbes Travel Guide published its last set of guidebooks and on November 15, 2011 ...
* Foursquare City Guide
* Footprint Books
Footprint Travel Guides is the imprint of Footprint Handbooks Ltd, a publisher of guidebooks based in Bath in the United Kingdom. Particularly noted for their coverage of Latin America, their ''South American Handbook'', first published in 1924, ...
* Frommer's
Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company ...
* Green Book - specialized for Negro car drivers in segregated America
* Harper & Brothers
* Insight Guides
* In Your Pocket
* Let's Go
* Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...
* Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...
- specialized in restaurants
* Moon Handbooks
Moon is a travel guidebook publisher founded in 1973 in Chico, California. The company started with travel guides to Asia and later also published guides to the Americas. The company is now based in Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a cit ...
* John Murray
* National Geographic Traveler
* Nicholson Guides
* Not For Tourists
* Rick Steves
Richard John Steves Jr. (born May 10, 1955), known professionally as Rick Steves, is an American travel writer, author, activist, and television personality. His travel philosophy encourages people to explore less-touristy areas of destination ...
* Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...
* Spartacus International Gay Guide - specialized in gay tourists
* Spotted by Locals
Spotted by Locals is a publisher of a series of travel guide
A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, r ...
The Longest Way Home
* Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
* Touring Club Italiano - covering tourism in Italy
* Vinologue
Vinologue is a publisher of an enotourism guidebook series of the same name. It was founded by Miquel Hudin in 2007 with Èlia Varela i Serra as editor and the guides are designed to allow those interested in enotourism to visit "Big Wines from S ...
* Wallpaper City Guides
* Ward Lock & Co.
* Weird US
* Wikivoyage
Wikivoyage is a free web-based travel guide for travel destinations and travel topics written by volunteer authors. It is a sister project of Wikipedia and supported and hosted by the same non-profit Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). Wikivoyage has ...
- edited by users
* wordtravels.com
See also
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (for academic 'Guide Books' i.e. brief reference works)
* (selective guide to print and online reference sources)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guide Book
Guide book
*Guide book
Travel gear
Non-fiction genres