The death of the guidebook

Is it the end of the road for the guidebook? Since Mariana Starke wrote Information and Directions for Travellers on the Continent in 1820, with tips on the most ‘tolerable’ inns and how to hire a horse carriage, travellers have been packing a volume of advice alongside their identity documents before setting off for foreign terrain.

But last week, one of the world’s most widely read guidebook publishers, Lonely Planet, changed course. It released the first half-dozen of 35 ‘Anti-guidebooks’, declaring that the guidebook is dead. This new series – including Ireland, Portugal, Scotland and Japan – boast the familiar blue spine and two-tone globe logo that has accompanied my trips over decades. But any association with the On the Cheap titles – every 1980’s backpacker’s badge of belonging to a proud, penniless wandering tribe – advances no further. These are ‘Experience Guides’ without a timetable or ‘Top 10 Sights to Visit’. They don’t provide vital information to help plan your trip, such as the best pensione close to the railway station or the frequency of trains to Oporto.