People love to say guidebooks are dead. They said it when blogs arrived, they said it again when Instagram came along, and they said it for the third time when AI started spitting out travel tips. Yet here we are in 2025 and people are still buying travel guides. Why?
Because a proper guidebook never runs out of battery, does not care about Wi-Fi, and tells you where the nearest bus actually stops instead of trying to sell you a sponsored tour. Some have aged better than others, though. Here are five travel guides that still matter in 2025.
Table of Contents
5. Lonely Planet
Once the king of travel guides, Lonely Planet has taken a few knocks over the years. The old-school backpackers still swear by it, but let’s be honest, the glory days were back when people used printed maps and booked buses in person. That said, Lonely Planet is still relevant because it covers everywhere. Even if the writing can feel corporate these days, the depth of information remains unmatched. You can still pick up a copy in a Phnom Penh bookshop and plan a whole route across Southeast Asia without touching your phone. The layout is clear, the maps work, and for many people it is still the first name that comes to mind when they hear the words “travel guide.” And to think they were once THE travel guide.
4. Rough Guides
Rough Guides always aimed at the smarter, slightly older crowd who wanted context along with the destination. Less about which bar has the cheapest beer and more about why the temple exists in the first place. They never quite had the cult following of Lonely Planet, but they aged gracefully. The modern editions are sleek, well-written, and surprisingly up-to-date given how many smaller publishers folded. For those who want a bit of history, culture, and detail without endless fluff, Rough Guides still hold up well in 2025.
3. Marco Polo Guides
If you have ever been in a random train station in Eastern Europe or a budget bookstore in Germany, you have seen the compact red Marco Polo Guides. They are short, practical, and built for people who want the essentials without reading a novel. The information is punchy and direct, the maps are reliable, and the local tips are usually solid. They work best for quick trips or as a supplement to online research. Marco Polo Guides have managed to survive because they know what they are – practical travel companions, not lifestyle accessories.
2. DK Eyewitness
DK Eyewitness guides are the prettiest of the bunch. Thick pages, full-colour photos, and diagrams that make even the most boring museum look exciting. They are heavy to carry but brilliant for planning a trip. Unlike many rivals, DK actually sends writers to places rather than relying entirely on updates from locals or interns. The visuals are the real selling point though. If you want to see what a temple, castle, or ruin looks like before going, DK is unbeatable. In a world where most travel content is recycled stock photography, these guides still make travel feel like discovery.
1. Bradt Travel Guides
And now the king of 2025. Bradt Travel Guides have quietly outlasted almost everyone. They were niche before niche became fashionable. Bradt specialise in the weird and wonderful, the countries most people cannot place on a map. While the others chase clicks and big markets, Bradt still produces guides to places like South Sudan, Transnistria, or the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan. If Young Pioneer Tours were a book publisher, it would be Bradt. Their writers actually go to the countries, drink the vodka, eat the street food, and talk to locals who have never met a tourist before.
A Bradt guide reads like travel journalism, not corporate copy. They are full of real-world advice on border crossings, warzone etiquette, and how to find a room when there are no hotels. You can use one in the field and trust that it was written by someone who has been there, probably on the same dodgy bus you are now sitting on.
For anyone travelling off the beaten track, Bradt remains the only travel guide that matters. It is raw, honest, and written by people who travel for the right reasons – curiosity, adventure, and a mild disregard for comfort.
The Final Word
Despite all the apps and AI travel planners, nothing beats holding a real guidebook in your hands. It makes you look up instead of down. You read it on the bus, scribble in the margins, spill beer on it, and leave it behind in a guesthouse for the next traveller. The best travel guides are not there to sell you anything, they are there to remind you that travel is still about discovery, mistakes, and human contact.
So, ignore the algorithm for once. Pick up a proper guide, get lost somewhere interesting, and remember what travel was like before every destination had a hashtag.
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