Rating: 
Summary: Fun to read, but question the recommendations
Review: Any "best of" list is bound to raise the hackles of fans and experts. The Doris Kindersley "Top 10" series books are no exception. I love books about France, especially about Paris and Provence. I've visited the two areas frequently over the last few years, so I feel a bit qualified to comment on the "Top 10 Paris" and "Top 10 Provence". Of the two the former is the more useful book. First the similarities: fun to read, nice price point, nice photos, fits well in the hand. If you're an infrequent visitor to Paris, the Top 10 book is helpful. The city maps and metro map are handy and useful. (Although I strongly recommend you also get the Michelin Paris Plan #14.) It's useful in recommending museums, parks, arrondisement highlights, etc. However, don't use this book for hotels or restaurants. Its weakness in hotels is excusable. How can one possibly pick Top 10 hotels in Paris, or in any part of Paris? Its failing in picking Top 10 restaurants is less excusable, and the reason I dropped the book down from 4 stars to 3. I go to Paris to eat. I have some credibility in this area (eating, if not reviews restaurants) and I found their choices disturbing and puzzling. The Top 10 restaurant list would be laughable, were it not so sad and infuriating. Even so, I`d recommend the book. It's fun, you'll find it helpful. I don't recommend "Top 10 Provence". It seems to be a collection of clichés gathered from other guide books. I wonder if the authors have any real experience in Provence. Almost all of the recommendations are predictable - and boring. I found little that matched my experience in Provence (except for the inclusion of Vaison-la-Romaine). The restaurant recommendations for every place I was familiar with were bad to horrible. The lists of places to visit were equally puzzling. Promise me one thing: if you do buy this book, immediately go to the wine section, rip out the pages, and burn them without reading them. I give this one star for photos and price point.
Rating: 
Summary: great guidebook for Paris
Review: I bought this book to show me what I should do on my vacation to Paris this spring. The book is fabulous. It has wonderful color pictures of all the sights. It organizes everything and is such an easy read.
I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A big help during my stay in Paris
Review: I spent four great summer days in Paris last year, and this little book was indispensable. Going through it before I hit Paris got me in the traveling mood, and I used it constantly while I was there. If you only have room for a single Paris guidebook, this is the one. The fold-out Metro map expedited my travels around the City of Lights (once I got the hang of how the trains ran). Each Top 10 section helped me prioritize my wanderings, locate various sites, and gave good concise historical background. For example, the Top 10 exhibits in the Louvre are pictured and described, which provided a necessary focus in such a huge, overwhelming museum. However, the guide's Louvre map was not quite up to speed, although I didn't consider that to be a big issue. The compact format was easy to use, and the color pictures were a great visual aid. It also fit perfectly in my Eagle Creek shoulder bag or my pantleg cargo pocket, so it wasn't a burden. When I was getting ready to depart Paris for London at the Gard du Nord, I left the book on a table and watched from the upstairs to see who would take it. I hoped the guide would serve them as well as it did me. Looking for other information on Paris or France to prep for your trip? I found Rick Steves' books and the "Let's Go" guides helpful as well, and "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow is great for insight into France and the French. Happy travels!
Rating:
Summary: A big help during my stay in Paris
Review: I spent four great summer days in Paris last year, and this little book was indispensable. Going through it before I hit Paris got me in the traveling mood, and I used it constantly while I was there. If you only have room for a single Paris guidebook, this is the one. The fold-out Metro map expedited my travels around the City of Lights (once I got the hang of how the trains ran). Each Top 10 section helped me prioritize my wanderings, locate various sites, and gave good concise historical background. For example, the Top 10 exhibits in the Louvre are pictured and described, which provided a necessary focus in such a huge, overwhelming museum. However, the guide's Louvre map was not quite up to speed, although I didn't consider that to be a big issue. The compact format was easy to use, and the color pictures were a great visual aid. It also fit perfectly in my Eagle Creek shoulder bag or my pantleg cargo pocket, so it wasn't a burden. When I was getting ready to depart Paris for London at the Gard du Nord, I left the book on a table and watched from the upstairs to see who would take it. I hoped the guide would serve them as well as it did me. Looking for other information on Paris or France to prep for your trip? I found Rick Steves' books and the "Let's Go" guides helpful as well, and "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow is great for insight into France and the French. Happy travels!
Rating:
Summary: a great guide
Review: If you are going to be in a city for 3-4 days, the Top 10 Travel Guides are perfect. It gives you the top 10 sites to see and the top 10 things to see at each site. In addition, it goes into more depth in each area of the city...giving you additional top 10 lists. For a first time visit to a particular city, you can feel overwhelmed with the amount of site seeing involved. These books are perfect in helping you decide what are the most important sites to see. I have personally used the London and Paris versions of the guide books. I can't wait until more books in the series are published.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect travel guide for a quick trip
Review: If you are going to be in a city for 3-4 days, the Top 10 Travel Guides are perfect. It gives you the top 10 sites to see and the top 10 things to see at each site. In addition, it goes into more depth in each area of the city...giving you additional top 10 lists. For a first time visit to a particular city, you can feel overwhelmed with the amount of site seeing involved. These books are perfect in helping you decide what are the most important sites to see. I have personally used the London and Paris versions of the guide books. I can't wait until more books in the series are published.
Rating:
Summary: The best city guide
Review: If your European trip will be focused on one or two cities as oppossed to an entire country, the Eyewitness Top 10 guides are the best value for your money. The books contain fold out maps (including a metro map), photos (and often maps) of the top ten attractions, and great bar, restaurant and shopping recommendations. Also, since the book is slim, it can easily fit in your pocket or bag and you won't be as obviously touristy as you would be walking around with a behemouth "Let's Go Europe" in your hands. A must for your first or next trip to Paris!
Rating:
Summary: Portable
Review: Perfect for someone who would only be in Paris a day or three, this book specializes in giving you the highlights in a lightweight, compact book that is ideal to carry around with you when on the streets. The classic DK/Eyewitness travel guide for Paris covers so much material it is almost too heavy to carry around all day. I left the heavier guide in the hotel room, reading in the morning or evening about places we had been or were going, took this Top Ten guide out with us, along with the excellent Insight Fleximap, having put post-it-notes in the Top Ten guide if there was some additional data for the day (for example, the Top Ten guide mentions nothing about the Catacombs).
This is not the book to get in depth historical or architectural information, but handy for use in the street.
Rating:
Summary: a great guide
Review: This book was great! It is concise and accurate, and fits in your pocket. It gives you great highlights, plus suggested walks and places to eat. It has no extraneous information, so you don't have to sort through it to find the good stuff, like most guide books.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for a 4 day trip.
Review: This book was very useful in my 4-day trip to Paris. It helps you locate all the hot spots in each neighboorhood and of course the top 10 places to visit. What I did is, I chose a few of those top 10 places, then once I was there, I could check the book to find my way to the best restaurants, museums, streets and sights in that area. The map of the Metro is very helpful. The book fits in your pocket which is nice if you like to travel light. Bonne journee!
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