Travel guides help plan perfect vacation

If you are not a frequent flier, you may have only one shot to make the most of your vacation. Planning ahead with a travel guide ensures you hit those 'not-to-be-missed” destinations, making these books a necessary carry-on item. Here is my take on the Iowa City Public Library's Guide to Travel Guides.

DK Eyewitness is a full-color guide with glossy pages and lots of photos. It is perfect for armchair travelers, providing rich information about the major attractions of a destination. It is a 'beaten path” guide that highlights history and culture.

Fodor's travel guides have full-color pages that tie in the Fodor's orange and navy blue branding. Fodor's excels at easy-to-read visuals - the guide has a ton of maps, logical rating systems, and illustrates average temperatures and cost comparisons. The guide seems to focus more on attractions and basic how-to information. The London guide I reviewed didn't offer set itineraries, which was its primary drawback.

Frommer's EasyGuide series advertises itself as 'quick to read, light to carry, for expert advice, in all price ranges.” It skips the glossy photos but still includes maps. The guide offers one-, two- and three-day itineraries.

It also evaluates day trips from the travel destination. The editors of this series allow some personality in the writing, including tips on how to not look like a yokel to locals. Cheaper and slimmer than other travel guides, it is a bare-bones, information-only travel guide.

Lonely Planet is another well-known and recommended name in full-color travel guides. It offers itineraries and practical 'survival guide” and 'need to know” sections. Lonely Planet is known for its frugal take on travel. One thing I liked about the London guide I reviewed was that it offered more tailored recommendations for smaller demographics like LGBT people and vegetarians. It also went beyond highlighting the 'night life” to talk about different music and literary scenes.

Have a favorite travel resource I missed? Let me know at melody-dworak@icpl.org.

' Melody Dworak is collections librarian at the Iowa City Public Library.