These guide books are the biggest and most comprehensive guides to Spain on the market. They are usually pretty weighty volumes and will take up a lot of space in your bag, but they're the best value and cover just about everything you could ever want to know about Spain.
1. Lonely Planet Spain
Along with the Rough Guide (below) this is the most famous and comprehensive guide to Spain. It is the guide that I personally use when I am discovering a new city. It has a few small errors and the maps shouldn't be depended on, but in all it is an excellent guide to Spain.Both Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide have one big disadvantage - they're almost too popular - the small budget priced hotels they list are going to be fully booked before you get there because everyone else has already reserved a room!
2007 edition available.
2. Rough Guide to Spain
Along with the Lonely Planet, the best guide book on the market.Another problem with both of these books is that they give the impression that they are all-seeing bibles to Spain, when each city is usually only covered by a single author. While we at About.com admit that we only give our personal opinions, guide books such as the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide give the impression that the authors know everything about a city and that the restaurants and hotels they suggest are the best in town, period. The truth is that, as with any guide, what is written is just one person's opinion.
2007 edition available.
3. Rick Steves' 2007 Spain (English)
Probably the most popular guide to Spain among Americans, Rick Steves has written a number of guides to many of Europe's most popular travel destinations. Provides a very personal approach in his books, but you have to wonder how a man who lives in Edmonds, Washington, can claim to be the authority on every country in Europe!2007 edition available.
4. AA Spiral Guides Spain
The unique spiral binding on this guide means that you can remove the pages you know you won't need before you pack your bags. With good pictures, this is a good one to read at home and then select the pages you want to take with you when you actually go. Text isn't overly dense.5.
6. Michelin Green Guide to Spain
Michelin's green guides are hefty volumes but narrow enough to fit in a (large) coat pocket. They feature a nice mixture of pictures and dense text. Its unique shape makes it just about the biggest guide book that you could realistically carry around without needing a pack to put it in.7. Dk Eyewitness Spain
Another big guide to Spain with some handy 3D cutaway pictures of Spain's famous landmarks. Visually, one of the most innovative guide books on the market, though, as with the Insight Guide (below), it may have too many pictures to be truly practical when you're on the move in Spain.2007 edition available.
