Best Travel Guide Publisher
Insight Guides
Tell me about Insight Guides ...
Insight Guides do exactly what the name suggests - they provide an insight into the culture, history and people of a destination as well as its sights, attractions, hotels and restaurants. The imagery in the guides has always been one of their defining characteristics - each one contains hundreds of photos evoking the atmosphere of the place and what everyday life there is like.
There are more than 180 Insight Guides to destinations around the world - cities, countries and regions. They are designed to be three books in one - a travel planner, an on-the-spot companion, and a collection of photographs to remind you of your trip. The newly revised guide to France, which contains more than 250 photos, features a brand new editor's choice section, giving the author's take on quirky and interesting things to see and do.
Tell me more about Insight Guides ...
Great Breaks is a series of guides to 11 destinations in the UK, with information on sights and attractions and suggestions for at least eight walks and tours in each book. The Select Guides cover six major world cities and are aimed at experienced travellers who already know a destination well and are looking for fresh insights into it. The company also publishes series called City Guides, Smart Guides, Step by Step Guides, Pocket Guides and Compact Guides, as well as Shopping Guides, Eating Guides and Museums and Galleries Guides.
Insight Guides publishes two series of maps: laminated Flexi Maps of destinations around the world, and Travel Maps, which are road maps. As well as its Family World Atlas and its Pocket World Atlas, it publishes the World Travel Encyclopedia, which has information about the geography, population, culture, economy, history and political system of every country in the world, as well as a 50-page atlas. The 1,300 photographs include panoramic images of the Earth's natural wonders and greatest monuments. The Insight Travel Photography Guide has sections on everything from the history of travel photography to digital processing, lighting, and selling your photos.
Who are Insight Guides?
When German graphic designer Hans Hoefer travelled to Bali in the 1960s, he wanted a guidebook that would tell him about the people, their culture, their history, their politics, their beliefs and their values. He couldn't find one, so he wrote one himself, with financial backing from a local hotel. The Insight Guide to Bali was published in 1970 and won a photography award and a gold medal from the American Society of Travel Agents.
Hoefer wrote eight more guides to Asian destinations in the 1970s, and the series found huge success in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, there were more than 100 guides and they had been translated into more than 10 languages.
Who are Insight Guides aimed at?
Anyone who's looking for something beyond the tourist trail - a real insight into the people and the life of the country they're going to. And anyone who enjoys and appreciates impressive photography.