More travel - Le Cool Travel Guides

Have you been there, done that, taken the postcard photo, sampled the local cuisine and eaten a pastry-filled breakfast in glamorous and fabulous X (say, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, London or Madrid)? Are you looking to go back again because you loved it so much? Well, the 'Le Cool' travel series might be for you.

Le Cool attempts to address this interesting dilemma: Lonely Planet and their ilk are great the first time you visit a spot, and adequately flag the "must see" attractions (e.g. in London: Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben). But what happens the next time you visit that city and you've already seen the tourist attractions? How do you crack the city code and get to the good stuff? The local stuff?

Well, I suppose you could pick up the local "Time Out" or something similar but the Le Cool books are more geared to the traveler; whereas those local guides are more geared to, well, locals.

Here's some additional information on Le Cool, the self-described "Series of weird and wonderful guide books", from their website:

Le Cool travel book series. Current cities includes: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, London and Madrid.

These are not ordinary guidebooks. LE COOL works with local editors, writers, photographers, illustrators and designers to create unique books that truly reflect the experience of each city.

Completely independent, we don't care about the hippest or the latest, we just work to hunt down the most incredible experiences we can find. And we never, ever accept payment or favours in return for content.

LE COOL PUBLISHING started in 2003 with a weekly email magazine in Barcelona. It's a funky agenda and a guide to the city's cultural life, a good friend who's always in the know. Now we publish online guides in eight cities around Europe, as well as print magazines and books. This is just the beginning.

“The guidebook for people who hate guidebooks”
The Guardian

“The travel guide for the been-there, done-that set”
New York Times