A good guide is often a valuable asset during a trip or for preparing your trip… if you have well chosen to start! If I order some books on the internet without problem, I always preferred to go in the radius of a library to choose a travel guide. It is indeed significant in view of providing content to see the quality of the illustrations, the distribution of different sections and the overall direction of the work, etc.. And this little excursion is already as the first step of the journey…
The first question to ask when you are about to choose your guide is what you expect. What geographic boundaries should be covered by (a city, region, country)? What information would you find? What elements are most important to you (addresses and ratings of restaurants, listings of places to visit or fewer sites, but more developed)? How do you travel (rather adventurous and backpack or museums galore!)? The answers to these questions will first make an initial selection of guides among those proposed, – sometimes a good decade for a single destination! Browse them; compare the information for each site and the importance given to each party (lodging, restaurants, tours, descriptions…) to make it your choice.
A second choice can then be made on purely material: two for the price guides as well as the release date (tourist information can be exceeded by 1 or 2 years old!), the quality of the illustrations if you choose an illustrated guide or just your general assessment once the document in your hands… Do not rely only on the cover: a great photo can hide a poor content! And if you still hesitate, then you are left with only two choices: pull a coin or buy both books!