"Time Out" Paris Book

To listen to the media it would seem we're all getting our travel information from online blogs and downloading insider tips and local twitter feeds to our iphones as we wander around foreign lands. Maybe some of us are, but for many there is still a lot to be said for a good old-fashioned offline travel guide. The right guide can give us hours of anticipatory pleasure in the days leading up to a trip, allow the time-starved to cram some last minute planning into their train journey or flight, provide the solo traveller with a little company as they sit in the pavement cafe and even serve as a storebook of memories waiting to be pulled from the bookshelf in the years to come. Plus there's no need to worry about wifi reception!
There often isn't a lot to choose between the different well known guides but occasionally a destination and a particular guide seem to suit each other perfectly - Paris and Time Out is one such match. Compact and light enough to hold comfortably and fit easily into a bag, nevertheless its 400 pages are packed with up to date information, enticing photographs and useful maps. The guide is written in the cosmopolitan, cultured voice of a local who really loves Paris but there is nothing too trendy or snobbish about it. Time Out knows first-timers want to see the famous sites and it does its best to say which really merit their renown and which can be skipped. It knows you want to wander the streets of Montmartre and Saint Germain but also gives return visitors a nudge towards less familiar parts of the city like Belleville. The hotel and restaurant choices are excellent and the comprehensive arts, entertainment and shopping sections portray a vibrant, modern Paris and read like they are written by locals who really make the most of living in the city. There is a handy directory of useful information, some well-written introductory essays giving an overview of the city past and present, and the guide is dotted throughout with short features on specialist subjects, local oddities, walking routes and summaries of the issues, trivial and serious, that Parisians are argueing about in 2010. It's not perfect: some of the maps can be a little difficult to read especially in poor light, and the index could be better - it can be a pain trying to find that interesting sounding restaurant or quirky museum you were reading about in bed last night. Overall though, Time Out Paris is an excellent guide and this traveller will be staying offline for a little while longer.