Several publishers and groups of publishing houses run travel guide series in print form (booklet or book), which are published again and again and, as city guides or regional guides, offer an up-to-date overview of the travel destinations covered. The market is large, around 25 million travel guides are sold in Germany every year.
The following article gives a general overview of these series in alphabetical order. Individual titles are only listed as examples, the complete list would go beyond the scope here, see the overview of the current titles at the publisher.
Older, used or no longer reissued editions are usually much cheaper to obtain from second-hand bookshops or over the Internet; everyone has to decide for themselves how up-to-date they are.
Travel guides as special literature on special topics are not dealt with here and are listed in the corresponding topic articles, see the Overview of special literature at the end of the article.
Running series
Here you can find current series of conventional travel guides with information such as accommodation, hotels, sights, restaurants, etc.
ADAC travel guide
The concept of the ADAC travel guide series comes from the travel editorial team of the ADAC automobile club; the series is published by the travel book publisher MairDumont.
The approximately 250 individual titles appear on travel destinations around the world, but the focus is on Europe. They have the pocket book format 12 x 22 cm and give an overview, the volume is around two hundred pages. With a price of approx. € 9-10 per title, the series is in the lower price segment and thus belongs to the "always and always with you" travel guide.
The ADAC Travel Guide plus series combines the travel guide series with a map.
Page to the series at www.adac-shop.de;
Baedeker
Karl Baedeker was an extremely precise observer and known for his meticulously accurate descriptions. The derisive name has been handed down through Baron Gisbert von Vincke, Coincidentally, Baedeker's companion on the ascent of the Milan Cathedral in 1847.
Baron Vincke then observed how Baedeker had taken a pea out of his waistcoat pocket every twenty steps and then put it in his trouser pocket. On the way back, Baedeker put the peas from his trouser pocket back into the other vest pocket and was able to determine the number of steps with a cross-check.
The term bean counter nowadays has a derogatory meaning for a pedantic overaccuracy. Out Jacques Offenbachs Operetta "Parisian life”(1866) comes the sentence:“ Kings and governments may err, but never Mr. Baedeker ”.According to tradition, the Baedeker Travel Guide is the oldest German-language travel guide that has been published Karl Baedeker in 1827 in Koblenz founded, the first travel guide appeared in 1832. The series was the standard work and the classic for Germany until the end of the last century. With the increasing competition for more modern concepts towards the end of the last century, the series was at times considered somewhat "antiquated".
The series is now being published by the German-language travel book market leader MairDuMont and appeared for a few years under the name Baedeker Allianz. The concept was completely overhauled from 2005, and the book series has been considered contemporary again since then.
The titles are in paperback format (approx. 12 x 18.5 cm), they are usually 400 - 500 pages extensive and detailed, also with background information, the price, depending on the size, is around 25 €.
The overview at www.baedeker.com.
Bruckmann
The Bruckmann publishing house was founded in 1858 by Friedrich Bruckmann in Frankfurt am Main and is now based in Munich. The publisher specializes in tourism, the outdoors and sports. As early as 1862, a "Guide to London and its surroundings" was the first travel guide to appear.
In addition to the tour guides and illustrated books, the publishing program includes the series "zeit für das Beste" as a travel guide series for general travel destinations with a focus on Europe and in the format 12.0 x 18.5 cm with several hundred pages each. Price per title: € 14.95;
Side of the Bruckmann Verlag.
Dorling Kindersley
The publishing house founded in 1974 Dorling Kindersley comes from London and specializes in non-fiction and encyclopedias for adults and children.
- Below the row "Vis a Vis travel guide" a series with over 100 travel manuals in German for worldwide destinations has been published. The paperbacks have about 400 - 600 pages and cost on average between 18 and 30 € (rounded).
- The series "Top 10" deals with around 100 pages and in a series with over 50 travel guides worldwide as travel destinations attractive cities, price € 9.95 each.
- The publisher also has books on travel in general.
Page of the publisher: www.dorlingkindersley.de (in German).
GEO special
The magazine series on travel topics appears as a series of the Geo magazine of the publishing group GEO from the publishing house Gruner Jahr. The first year appeared in 1999, and since then there have been six issues a year in which travel destinations around the world are dealt with in a magazine style with a thematic focus.
The almost 80 titles to date appear as a large-format illustrated booklet in "almost DIN A4 format", with a volume of around a hundred pages. The price is approx. € 8.50 per title, with DVD the price is € 15.90.
Overview of the titles GEO special.
Ivanovsky's
The series is published by Iwanowski’s travel book publisher, Dormagen, and has been published on travel destinations around the world since 1983. Iwanowski's has been part of the MairDumont publishing group since 1997.
The travel guides are primarily aimed at individual travelers, the 90 running titles are pocket-sized approx. 13.5 x 19.5 cm, with 400 to 850 pages they are extensive and detailed, including the background information. Depending on the size, the price is around € 13-26.
Iwanowski Verlag website: www.iwanowski.de
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet (in German: "Einsamer Planet") is a travel guide from English-speaking countries. The company was founded by world travelers Tony and Maureen Wheeler Belfastwho released their first title in the early 1970s. The publishing house has had its headquarters in Melbourne since the beginning and branch offices in London, Paris and Oakland / USA. The global company now sees itself as the world's largest travel guide publisher.
Lonely Planet has mainly backpackers ("low budget") as its target group; there are now around 650 titles in 14 languages and 200 countries, as well as various licensed editions from other publishers. The first German editions appeared in 2006; they are published by MairDumont.
The current titles of the German-language series are translations from English, they are in paperback format and are extensive and detailed with up to 1000 pages, the price is around € 20-30.
The side of lonelyplanet.de.
MairDuMont
The publishing house MairDuMont emerged in 2005 from the merger of the DuMont travel publishing house Cologne with the Stuttgart Media company Mair to MairDuMont. Numerous other travel guide series as well as the Falk maps are published by the publisher. Kompass Karten GmbH also belongs to the company and is involved in the online travel guide tripwolf. MairDumont is the largest travel publisher in German-speaking countries.
The MairDuMont travel book series has been published since 1968 and now includes around 500 travel guides to cities and regions around the world.
The titles are in paperback format, are extensive and detailed with several hundred pages, and the price is around € 20.
There are special series as an art guide.
The overview at DuMont trip
Dumont Pictorial Atlas
The booklet series continues the tradition of HB picture atlases which they have replaced since 2010 and is published by MairDuMont Verlag.
The around 130 titles to date appear as a large-format illustrated magazine in "almost DIN A4 format", with a volume of around a hundred pages. The booklets appear on regions and cities and deal with the respective travel topic in focus. The price is around € 8.50 per title.
The overview at DuMont trip
Marco Polo
This series is also published by DuMont. The series, which is compact and clearly arranged in A5 format, fits in almost every jacket pocket, the series is also available as an e-book. Maps and atlases are also published under the name Marco Polo.
A total of around 1,500 titles are listed, and the series is the market leader in Germany even after its edition. With around 250 current titles, the focus of the series is on Europe.
The individual titles are in paperback format and provide a quick overview; they are around a hundred pages in length. With a price of around € 8-13 per title, the series is in the lower price segment. The series is therefore an inexpensive offer for an "always and always with you" travel guide.
The overview www.marcopolo.de at the publisher.
Merian
The Merian booklet series is one of the oldest regularly published travel guides in the German-speaking area; the first booklet was published in July 1948. Heinrich Leippe was the founder of the series. The series was published by Hoffmann und Campe until 2000 and has been published by Jahreszeiten Verlag (Ganske publishing group) ever since.
The Merian booklets appear monthly in A4 format and cover travel destinations worldwide and in magazine style. The booklets are illustrated in large format, the number of pages is a good 100 pages. The price for new editions is less than ten euros.
Merian Live
The series of compact travel guides appears in small format approx. 11 x 18.5 cm with a number of approx. 150 titles and with a length of approx. 120 to 200 pages each. The focus is on cities in Germany and Europe. The price for a copy is around ten euros, depending on the size.
Publisher page too Merian Live;
Michael Müller Publishing House
Under the publisher's name, the Michael Müller travel guide publishes over 200 travel guides as hiking guides, e-books and apps on travel destinations in Germany and around the world. After the edition, the series is now the second most important travel guide series in German-speaking countries.
After a trip to South America, Michael Müller was the co-author of Martin Velbinger, who was a travel acquaintance in 1977 "South America Handbook". At that time, this travel guide was the standard work for the region for a long time. In 1979, Müller published his first own work and on Greece, in 1982 von Müller and the travel book author Eberhard Fohrer wrote in gain Michael Müller Verlag was founded.
The travel guides are primarily aimed at individual travelers; the current titles are pocket-sized, with 250 to 750 pages extensive and detailed, including the background information. The price is around 15-25 €, depending on the size. In terms of format, the publisher attaches particular importance to the fact that the in-house authors of the respective travel guides are personally named and presented; the writing style is considered subjective and personal.
Side of the Michael Müller Verlag;
Michelin
The "Green Travel Guide" series is the German translation and adaptation of the "Guide Vert" by the French company Michelin, and is published by Travel House Media. Around 140 titles are currently available in French, around twenty of them also in German.
The German-language editions mainly deal with cities and regions in France and Europe, but also worldwide destinations. The travel guides are in pocket book format approx. 11 x 22 cm, the size is around 400 - 500 pages, the price is around 18 € per title. The writers are independent and named freelancers.
Page from Michelin: Reisen.michelin.de;
Nelles
Nelles-Verlag offers
- Travel guide Nelles Guide, approx. 50 guides, each 250-300 pages, price € 11.99
- Travel guide Nelles Pocket, approx. 50 guides with 96 pages each, price € 4.99.
- Maps, price € 8.90.
The printed guides are also available as e-books. Some of these are available as free downloads (18 pages).
Side of Nelles: www.nelles-verlag.de
Piper
The Piper publishing house specializes in Instructions for use, be it for new York or China.
Example:: : Instructions for use for traveling. Munich: Piper, 2018, ISBN 978-3-492-27719-8 .
Polyglot
The Polyglott travel guides are published by GVG TRAVEL MEDIA, based in Hamburg.
Polyglot on tour
The first guide in the series appeared in 2001.
The around 150 individual titles that have appeared so far deal with cities and regions in Europe and are in pocket book format approx. 11 x 19.5 cm, with a volume of around 150 pages. In terms of content, they primarily provide a quick overview. With a price of around € 8 per title, the series is in the lower price segment. This series is one of the "always and always with you" travel guides.
Page of the publisher: www.polyglott.de
Polyglot APA
The concept for the first "APA Guide" came from Hans Hoefer, a German graphic designer. Hoefer wrote his Bali Guide in the hotel room of the Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur in 1968, and equipped it with high-quality hand-drawn graphics. The series initially appeared exclusively in Singapore, the first German editions of the APA Guides were published by the Bertelsmann Group. The APA guides have been published as a premium segment by Polyglott since around 2002.
The target group of the travel guides are study and long-distance travelers, the around 40 individual titles published so far deal with cities and regions mainly in Europe and have the pocket book format of approx. 15 x 22.5 cm, the volume is approx. 300 - 400 pages, the price is around 20-25 euros per title. For the Premium Edition (with additional DVD) there is an additional charge of € 5.
Page of the publisher: www.polyglott.de
Travel expertise
In addition to the travel guide series, which currently (June 2016) covers 101 countries, the publishing houses of the Reise Know-how group, such as Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump GmbH in Bielefeld, include the gibberish phrasebook series and the KulturSchock series of books.
Publishers' side: www.reise-know-how.de
Stefan Loose
Stefan Loose wrote his first travel guide in 1976 after his fourth long trip to Asia, in 1978 he published it himself as the beginning of the publishing house Stefan Loose. In 2002 Loose sold the publishing house to DuMont, which in turn merged with Mair to form MairDuMont in 2006.
The series "Stefan Loose Travel Handbooks" is run as a premium segment by the travel book publisher MairDumont. The travel guides are themed according to the nation states of the world.
The current titles are in pocket book format, they are extensive and detailed with up to 1000 pages, the price is around 15-25 €. They have also been published as an eBook since 2011.
Page of the publisher: stefan-loose.de;
Terra Press
Terra Press GmbH in Berlin is a book and magazine publisher and emerged from Edition Terra / Jana Kotte. Publications are published with a focus on travel and excursion destinations around Berlin.
Page of the publisher: www.terra-press.de;
Trescher Verlag
Trescher Verlag was founded in Berlin in 1992 and specializes in individual travel guides to Eastern travel destinations such as Russia, the CIS countries and Central and East Asia. The travel guides now include over a hundred titles, they appear in paperback format and are several hundred pages in length.
Page of the publisher: www.trescher-verlag.de
VISTA POINT
VISTA POINT Verlag, based in Potsdam, has been publishing travel guides since 1988. There are currently around 200 titles on offer in several series:
- 1000 Places To See Before You Die
- Go Vista Info Guide, book (approx. 100 pages) with map € 3.99
- Go Vista City Guide, book (approx. 100 pages) with map € 3.99
- Travel guide, approx. 200-350 pages, € 22-30
- Travel guide - travel day by day, 200-350 pages, 22 € - 30 €
- Tour planner, travel guide, in a DIN A 5 folder
- Travel Guide - Special Editions
- Leisure guide
- Gaia travel guide
- Illustrated books
- Info Maps
Page of the publisher: www.ullmannmedien.com/vistapoint;
Abandoned series
Abandoned series of conventional travel guides
Goldstadt travel guide
Under the name of Goldstadt travel guide Goldstadtverlag Pforzheim, which went bankrupt in 2004, published a series of travel books and traveling literature in paperback format. The editions of the series are often still offered in relevant shops and on the Internet.
Mundo
The Mundo Verlag from Empty published a number of travel books to various countries around the world under the name "Express Travel Guide". The manuals are extensive and detailed with background information, they are in pocket book format and are around 500 pages thick.
Mundo Verlag was taken over by Hayit Verlag in 1993 and the series was discontinued.
HB-Bildatlas
The series of HB picture atlases appeared from 1977 to 2010 by HB Verlags- u. Vertriebsgesellschaft and then from 2010 onwards from Dumont Pictorial Atlas replaced. Global goals were dealt with, but the focus was on Europe and the German-speaking area. In addition to the travel guides, there was also a series as HB picture atlases and the magazine "outside" under the HB label.
The booklets were published in A4 format, they are well illustrated with large-format pictures and have around 100 pages. You are e.g. Still often available in second-hand bookshops or in relevant stores, the price is between one and 10 euros, depending on the condition.
Unconventional travel guides
Not every travel guide adheres to the classic scheme with general information about the travel destination and addresses for overnight stays and hotels, sights, restaurants, etc .:
piper
The piper publishing house was founded in Munich in 1904, is a subsidiary of Bonner Media Deutschland and specializes in fiction and non-fiction.
The publisher operates a series of "Instructions for Use for ..." on cities, countries and regions around the world, with a total of around 100 titles. The series is published as a paperback with around 200 pages, the price is € 12.95 per title.
This series is not a matter of "conventional" travel guides (information such as accommodation, hotels, sights, restaurants), but rather of "essayistic approximations", i.e. literature by well-known authors in some cases.
Page of the piper publishing house too Travel reports.
Heyne
At Heyne, until 2001 independent and today a label of the Random House publishing group for Bertelsmann AG, a book series was published in 2007 as a parody of common travel guides:
- : Molwania. Land of the damaged smile.. RM Book and Media GmbH, 2007, ISBN 978-3453811386 ; 200 pages.
It is a travel guide parody as a collection of bad travel experiences and in the style of a professional travel guide with tourist tips and background information about the fictional country of Molwanîen. The travel guide about Molwanîen was followed by other paperbacks, e.g. to San Sombrèro (Caribbean) and Phaic Tan in Asia.
Overview of special literature
Topical articles on current special literature:
literature
Accompanying literature on the subject of travel guides:
- : The world of Baedeker. Campus publishing house, 2012, ISBN 978-3593396156 ; 354 pages. 29.90 €; A media culture history of the travel guide 1830-1945
Web links
- The tourist's stars: An American's praise on Baedeker's travel guide to Zeit Online;
