Just One of Many Travel Tools Keep in mind that while guidebooks are great travel tools, they are just one of the many handy items available in your tool kit. The best sources of information come from what you see and hear as you travel. My best guidebook is the one I've compiled in my head as I've bumbled my way around Asia over the years. Another invaluable source of information comes from what other travelers tell you. Many of the best hotels, guesthouses, cafes and restaurants I've found over the years I discovered because a traveler or local person tipped me off.
Guidebooks have their place, but work best in concert with other sources of information.
Last but not least, guidebooks are not perfect. However, I think guidebooks are far less reliable for specific information, such as why a certain guesthouse in that district is such a good deal. Over-reliance on guidebooks just breeds frustration, because guidebooks are starting to get out of date before they've even been printed. For this reason, no matter how good they are, they will occasionally let you down at key moments. Like late trains and no vacancy signs, this is an unavoidable hazard of the traveling life.