Rating: 
Summary: The BEST!
Review: I just spent five days in Paris and this book was our how-to-get-to bible!
Rating:
Summary: Very useful
Review: I kept it in my pants pocket and used it all the time (that is, every few blocks) while we walked around Paris and took the Metro. Great maps. Much easier to use than the fold-out orange Michelin map (we did not have the little Michelin map book). It is not a substitute for a guidebook by any means, and I consider the short descriptions of sites to be wasted pages. I would gladly use it on my next trip to Paris.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent. Don't go to Paris without this book.
Review: I work in Paris but do not speak French. For work, my company speaks English. I also like to bicycle or skate around the city, but have found myself lost on several occasions using other maps. My son brought The Paris Mapguide with him when he came to visit. His French teacher had told him about the book. Since I've begun using Middleditch's Mapguide, how to get around Paris on skates, on my bike, in my car or via the Metro/RER is no longer a mystery. During the past six months or so that I've been here, I've bought many maps and guides -- the Middleditch Mapguide is by far and away the best of the lot -- and also the least expensive!!! For anyone wanting to explore this city on their own, this book is indispensable.
Rating:
Summary: You're going to LOVE FRANCE!
Review: I've made >20 visits to France all together. Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!
MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the Metro. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the center of the city.
Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!
Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)
Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.
Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide
Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.
Rating:
Summary: You need this guide, and its also a great gift
Review: I've never written a review before, but this map-guide is so great I can't just scan past it without stopping to heartily recommend it. What is so remarkable about this guide is that in addition to identifying streets it also locates hotels, pharmacies, jazz clubs, cinemas (a particularly French passion), concert halls, cafes, shops and markets. Although once you have found Au Bon Marche- how much else do you need to know? (Yes- those of you who have been there know it is at Sevres-Babylone, but the ingenue doesn't.) Of course, knowing the direction of the closest Monoprix (or grocery store)can come in handy too.
The silly thing is I had used the maps in this guide happily on several trips without ever bothering to read the printed sections. When I paused to do that (waiting for a metro or dallying in a cafe) I was amazed by the amount of concise information they contain. They even tell you (in the entertainment section at the end) where the half-price ticket kiosk is located!
This map-guide has replaced the old, out-dated, out-of-print "American Express" pocket guide as my favorite. The Michelin plan is..., afterall,... French (meaning, after the fashion of Adam Gopnik (author of "Paris to the Moon"), that there must be three levels of explanation- that of the unique romantic individual ("I don't like Michelin as much because unlike the old out-of print American Express pocket guide I have never found it as an antique treasure at a garage sale), that of ideological absolutes (it doesn't have all the really key functional places such as stores and auditoriums located) and finally that of the futility of explanation (I can't really explain it, the Middleditch Map-guide is just more enjoyable and more useful than the Michelin Plan).
Oh by the way, you might want to check out Gopnik too.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: If you are going to Paris and plan on using the public transportation system, then you should definitely purchase this mapguide. We found this most helpful for the bus routes, which are clearly marked by bus number(s). Metro stations and major attractions are also easily found.
Rating: 
Summary: Great maps in a compact book
Review: If you ever expect to find that little bistro on Pas. de Clery, or a park on R. du Fouarre, you'll need a detailed map. This is it. This has the stuff that is not on the other tourist maps. There's a key map (a city map with a numbered grid showing the page numbers of the detail maps that follow for each section of the city). And there's a complete street index. The 29 detailed city maps are divided into two-page spreads. They're labeled with sights, Metro stops, and establishments. The bus routes are shaded gray, and the bus numbers are printed in red alongside the streets. I spent some time in Paris and came to love commuting by bus on clear days. If you plan to try it, leave some extra time to figure it all out, it's worth the effort. You'll need more info than is provided here. A current bus map would be a big help in planning your day trips, ... Metro stops are marked on the street maps, but the metro routes are not shown. There's a small metro map on pages 2-3, followed by some very condensed practical information for tourists. (If you need guidebook information, don't rely solely on this book, get a Michelin.) The detail maps leave out substantial parts of the 12th, 13th, 15th, 18th and 20th arrondissements. If you want something comprehensive, though not as user-friendly, look for "Paris par Arrondissement - Plan Net" by Editions Ponchet. That guide also has detailed bus routes. I prefer the book map format over fold-out maps, because it gives me a detailed map, but I don't have to fight with it to get it folded and back into my pocket. Ironically, I did end up folding this book to get it into my back pocket. I wish the form factor were slightly narrower. Bon Voyage!
Rating:
Summary: Easy read and easy find, good for travel !!
Review: It devides Paris's differnt divisions into differnet pages, so travelers will be able to find where they are and how to get to their destination.
And a list of museums and sight seeing locations is helpful, too.
You can put it in a pocket, read it on a cafe without unfold a hugh map. I was in France for 3 weeks in summer 2004, and it helped me a lot !
Rating:
Summary: My constant companion in Paris
Review: Middleditch's mapguides are the best I have used (I also have used his London mapguide). The maps are larger in scale than most others, which makes them much easier to use. He indicates bus routes on the maps themselves and includes a larger-than-most Metro map. He gives you everything you need to get around in a compact booklet--no irritating folding and unfolding. His commentary on the museums and sights is informative with a personal touch. I just returned from a week in Paris and feel like I couldn't have done without it. If you purchase only one guide to Paris, make it this one!
Rating:
Summary: My constant companion in Paris
Review: Middleditch's mapguides are the best I have used (I also have used his London mapguide). The maps are larger in scale than most others, which makes them much easier to use. He indicates bus routes on the maps themselves and includes a larger-than-most Metro map. He gives you everything you need to get around in a compact booklet--no irritating folding and unfolding. His commentary on the museums and sights is informative with a personal touch. I just returned from a week in Paris and feel like I couldn't have done without it. If you purchase only one guide to Paris, make it this one!
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