The Rough Guide to Beijing (Rough Guide (Pocket). Beijing)

Rating:
Summary: Reliable, Up-to-Date, Far Better than Lonely Planet
Review: If you plan to go to Beijing and you don't speak Mandarin,
you *need* a good guide book. I consistently found this
to be accurate, and it gave good advice. I met other travelers
using the Lonely Planet, and they didn't find it nearly as
useful.

Rating:
Summary: Reliable, Up-to-Date, Far Better than Lonely Planet
Review: If you plan to go to Beijing and you don't speak Mandarin,
you *need* a good guide book. I consistently found this
to be accurate, and it gave good advice. I met other travelers
using the Lonely Planet, and they didn't find it nearly as
useful.

Rating:
Summary: Must-Have if you go to Beijing
Review: This book was great--I don't know how we would have managed without it--it gives great, accurate information about places to go (not the nightclubs though), had great maps. We went to some of the most amazing restaurants that we would never have been able to find if not for the really detailed directions in the book (for example, this famous, but out-of-the-way roast duck restaurant hidden in the depths of the hutongs at Qianmen.) The maps were very useful, especially to show taxi drivers where you want to go, though you have to read the pinyin names to them since they can't read english. But definitely, you can't go wrong in Beijing with this book.