Where can I find free/cheap travel guides in ebook or pdf format?

November 7, 2010 1:50 AM

Where can I find free e-book (pdf or any e-book format) travel guides?

I'm about to travel to Europe, spending time in Luxembourg, Brussels, Leipzig and Berlin. I have a linux-based e-book reader/mobile tablet that I am trying to stuff full of useful goodness.

I have covered the reading-for-fun, maps, and media side of things, but I would like to download ebook-format guidebooks for my target cities.

I tried to google, but wading through the pools of spam and crap that shows up (and services that provide "free" ebooks when you sign up and pay a subscription fee) got too much for me.

Any ideas? I would spend a few dollars if necessary, but if it's going to cost the same as the physical book, I'm not interested.

And if anyone has ideas for other useful stuff I should load up my device with before travelling, that would be great too. Note that I can install anything that runs on ubuntu, but not apps designed for android or iphone, and don't have 3G or flash.

posted by lollusc to computers & internet (8 answers total)

Could you print parts of this site out to eBooks or PDFs?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:02 AM on November 7, 2010

In Your Pocket does free downloads. You can also purchase stand-alone Lonely Planet chapters at an extremely fair price. Seconding making PDFs from Wikitravel, too. I emailed massive chunks of wikitravel to my blackberry when I was on an unplanned trip and it was super helpful.
posted by acidic at 1:09 AM on November 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

note: the In Your Pockets vary wildly in size (just downloaded a 2-page and a 27-page) but they all have very tiny print and many pictures.
posted by acidic at 1:12 AM on November 7, 2010

That's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, acidic! The Berlin one is great! They don't have one for Leipzig or Luxembourg, though. You are right about the reasonable price of the Lonely Planet chapters, too. I will do that if I can't find anything else. (Although there's still nothing for Leipzig, as far as I can see.)

And of course I will download stuff from non-ebook websites - the Wikitravel one doesn't look bad. I guess I can use instapaper or something. Or save to pdf.

But pre-prepared ebooks are even better. Any others?
posted by lollusc at 2:14 AM on November 7, 2010

Rick Steve's has free audio walking tours of locations in London, Paris and Italy.
I used these in Venice and they were excellent.

http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/0602/audiotour_menu.htm
posted by cwhitfcd at 2:27 AM on November 7, 2010

there is Leipzig, just not in pdf format. just copy/past from the different pages and print to pdf.

Also, on Lonely Planet, it's available.
Leipzig (scroll down to Saxony, which is the state containing Leipzig)
Luxembourg (scroll down to... Luxembourg)
posted by acidic at 8:41 AM on November 7, 2010

No, I realise there is a LP chapter for Saxony, but since I will actually be limited to the city of Leipzig, and I can't tell how much of the chapter is actually on that, I'm not willing to pay for it and just hope for the best.

But thanks anyway.
posted by lollusc at 1:50 PM on November 7, 2010

Thought I'd throw in a site where the writers are expats and locals: http://www.unanchor.com. People write itineraries and sell them through the site. You probably won't find any pictures of National Geographic, but you'll get the experiences of people who have lived in the area.

Disclaimer: the owner is a friend and I wrote a Seoul city guide for the site.
posted by chrisinseoul at 10:00 AM on December 22, 2010