Rating: 
Summary: Useful info but almost impossible to use
Review: I just returned from my first visit to Paris, and I took this book with me everywhere I went. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The maps helped me find everything, and the information was helpful, and fun to read!It was actually fun to walk around and see how many other people also had this book... turns out tons of people carried it with them, as I saw it every day in someone's hands. Get this book for your next visit... it's worth every penny.
Rating: 
Summary: Eyewitness Guide to Paris: A+++
Review: I just got back from Paris, and this was the BEST travel book I'd seen. It's perfect and covers EVERYTHING you need to know. It's like having your own personal tour guide right there with you!!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful format for a guide book
Review: I recently got back from my third trip to Paris, and of all the guidebooks I have brought with me over these past 10 years, this was the one I used, and enjoyed, the most. Let's face it, every good guide book out there has helpful hotel and restaurant recommendations, and since individuals ofter have very subjective and different perceptions of the same places, you can never please everyone with those picks. In advance of the vacation, I not only used these guide books but also browsed the web ... for info, and didn't always use picks from the Eyewitness book. I also purchased metro and museum passes online before the trip, which I highly recommend. So why did I like it so much? While most books will suggest places to go and give you helpful information such as opening hours, price, etc., no other book can match these books for illustrations, descriptions, and unique three dimenional "cut-out" sketches to give you an idea of the scope or architectural design of places like the Pantheon, Basilica Sacre Couer, Saint Chappelle, etc. The night before you visit an attraction such as those listed above, you can read a multi-page description, learning about the historical significance of the site, or of efforts to preserve it during WW II, etc. I would consistently get stoked to visit ancient churches, plazas, parks, museums and other attractions after spending ten minutes reading about them in the Eyewitness guide. Then, when standing in the splendor of St. Chappelle for example, you might understand the stained glass scheme a little better. I should also point out that these books are everywhere in Paris. It is the one guide book my wife and I consistently saw on other restaurant tables, or being held discreetly by other tourists at the Musee de Orsay, for example. There are helpful maps, not only of the city in general, but of individual neighborhoods making small walking tours easy. There are also very detailed guides to getting home from the airport, which made it easy to take the RER train into the city and avoid an expensive cab ride. Some have snubbed their noses at the book as being for people with no knowledge of Paris who need pictures - I think that's unfair. The 3-D cutouts and pictures are there if you want them, if you care to skip them you can, but the text is as informative and detailed as I have seen in others like Frommers, Fodors, Dummies Guide, etc. The book is also slim enough to stick in a camera bag, or in a handbag of your wife, for discreetly plucking it out during your metro trips. Buy it as far in advance of your trip as possible, and thumb through it at night to get psyched for your trip. Highly recommended. P.S. And if you buy it and like the format, there is also an excellent Eyewitness Guide to the Loire Valley, with unparalleled information about Loire Valley chateaus, lodging and dining, that I used and really liked.
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