Tour Guide Wanted Preferred European tour guide books.

[Bertilak]

Lonely Planet - Fodors - Rough Guide - etc etc.
What guides do people like for moho touring?
Most of these originated as guides for backpackers, but as we age we are not interested in hostels, nightlife, 30 miles mountain hikes etc. Also, as we travel by van, we prefer smaller cities where access is easier, and still don't have the budget for Michelin restaurants.

Is there a trusted paper based resource?
I find the web sources frustrating as they are either local government, who are commercially driven so don't tell you the prices, or the existence of free stuff, or what's in the next parish;
or influencers showing you their holiday snaps without a thorough understanding of a full area.

Specifically interested in Italy, in autumn.
- all advice appreciated.

 

[AladinsaneUK]

I used the Robbie Roams guide to France when we visited last year - I liked it a lot
He has just done one for Spain that looks interesting

he does do videos on YouTube that draw on the guidebooks

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- france

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- spain

one thing of note - until very recently he used a Van - not a motorhome... I think he may well be doing updated things soon!

 

[Mister Rob]

For the first time this year on a 10 week tour of Spain and Portugal we used AI. Chatgpt and Gemini. Despite my original massive sceptism they are actually very good and gave us some invaluable advice. We also had some really great experiences based on that advice.
The great thing is there's no ads or websites it's just like chatting to a tour guide.

 

[hja]

We used to use the green guides. Do they still exist

 

[Bertilak]

We used to use the green guides. Do they still exist

I looked for them, being aimed at motorists: alas not, the last English language edition of the Michelin "Green Guide" to Italy was 2018. They still do a "guide" which I suspect will be more restaurants than sightseeing, and possibly Green versions in French.

 

[JHuwJ]

If you want a non-standard guide that tends to be focused on the Wild areas of a country, then try the Wild Guides. I have Andalusia, Portugal and Wales. They also do Wild Swimming guides of various locations. I’ve used Robbie Roams guide to France but I’m waiting to get feedback on his Spain guide because it all seemed a bit rushed (judging by his YouTube channel). I’ve found the Lonely Planet guide to Spain useful.

I use ChatGPT and give it an overview of our likes and dislikes. I then tell it to provide me with, say, five places I should visit in Normandy, five places in Western France, 5 places in NW Spain. Once I have the locations I do a bit of research and if they don’t float my boat, I adjust my likes and dislikes. Generally it works well. You can also say 5 places worth visiting within 35 miles of Lyon and generally it will come up with good ideas.

To give the information it provides some structure, I used ChatGPT to write an application. A couple of pages attached but you can ask it to include any information you like. It’s the sort of app you can adjust as you go along.