Good guide to get your trip planned properly
From Amazon
I used this book for my trip planning way before I even left. This gave me the backbone of what to see and when and the cost. I got a good feel for the different areas of London as well. I used this book to formulate and research my itinerary. It had good info on all the major and minor things to do/see/eat in London. Also had information on the underground, English customs, weather, travel tips, etc. It was pretty much a one-stop shop for planning a London vacation. I did bring this book with me as a reference in London (I was there 8 days) but did not carry it with me out and about. It was easier to bring with me a smaller fold-out map guide type book (like Knopf Map Guide London). This book, while not huge, was a tad bigger than I'd like to carry with me. Not to mention blurting out tourist when you open it.
You're going to LOVE BRITAIN!
From Amazon
I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.
Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!
Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide
MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for pubs, hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the underground and the double decker buses. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the city centre. When you get to be an old London hand, remember that the classic Londoners guide will always be an A to Z (zed) map and guide. If you want to go a bit beyond the central core of the city (perhaps to Windsor, Hampton, or further away) you really need the proper AtoZ to be able to find exact routes and streets.
Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!
Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.
Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.
Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.
Best London Travel Guide
From Amazon
I've bought several London travel guides over the years - even worked as a grad student at a London University Library as well as several bookstores, so I've owned or seen all the guides out there - and this one is far and away the best. It gives lots of good tips such as best time of day to visit, detailed info on all the popular attractions and extensive write-ups on the major museums and galleries such as the British Museum, the Tower of London and the National Galleries. Several of these reviews include ratings for things like historical interest, whether it is good for kids, and value for money. The guide is organized perfectly for a travel guide - small blocks of text accompanied with hundreds of color photos so that you can get a good feel for what the attractions are like beforehand to determine if they're worth seeing. The guide is organized into sections for travel in the UK, the sights, things to do, maps of London walks, eating and planning. These sections are marked with color-coded tabs for quick reference, and each includes detailed maps marking the places mentioned in each section. There are also extensive maps of the city at the back including a tube map. This guide also includes URLs for London websites and tips on purchasing discounts and passes for attractions. The planning section includes photos of all the British coins and pound notes, clothing size charts, a chart giving the approximate cost of everyday items including cigarettes, film, bottled water, pint of beer, etc. There is a short glossary of UK terms and their American English equivalent. This is a great value for the money and very useful for the average London tourist.
I also recommend the London Mapquide - a good pocket size booklet with a one-mile radius of town mapped out on each page - in addition to all the major attractions, it even shows all the large hotels on the map so you can plan your day accordingly. My upcoming trip I'm staying at the Thistle Marble Arch and the London Marriott at Grosvenor Square, and I was happy to see that both of these are marked on the map.
The Time Out Visitor's Guide magazine is also a great resource for restaurants from cheap to pricey, shopping, bars and clubs. You should also pick up a weekly copy of Time Out when you arrive to find all the events, shows, bands, etc. for the week. It's like a TV Guide of nightlife; if it isn't in there, it isn't happening.