rough General purpose guides - that try to cover everything.
ferry trav Specialized guides - which focus on one angle, but typically cover the entire country
site guide Site guides - presenting the archeology and history of a specific location.
promote Promotional guides - published by a city or region with the aim of getting you to spend money.
blue athens Athens - guides specifically for the city of Athens.

People often look to a guide to give them advice on hotels and restaurants. Frankly, using a guide for that in Greece (especially for restaurants) seems like a waste of money and time. Just get off the ferry landing or train station and look around - you can probably see 5 hotels and 8 places to eat from there. (Of course, I'm assuming you did not arrive during high season.)

In any case, these business go in and out of existence and in and out of favor so fast that a book can only give you a general guide. There must be 20-40 hotels in the Plaka area of Athens alone, and I've never seen a guide list more than 5 or 10. And it isn't as if they list the best 5 or 10 either. Where guides could be useful to you is in pointing you to things to see - especially those not on someone's top ten list.

Guides can also help just to show you the physical layout of a place, and provide maps. I would have expected guides to be helpful with "practicalities": how to get on the ferry, money changing issues, etc. Often they only say vague things about these topics.

Also, decide if you are looking for a guide for planning your trip before you go, or to take with you when you go.

Last modified 22 Jan 15; posted 1/14/1999; original content © 2015, 1999 John P. Nordin