Let's Go (book series)


Let's Go is a travel guide series researched, written, edited, and run entirely by students at Harvard University. Let's Go was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

History

The first Let's Go guide was a 25-page mimeographed pamphlet put together by 18-year-old Harvard freshman Oliver Koppell and handed out on student charter flights to Europe.
In 1996, Let's Go launched its website, , while publishing 22 titles and a new line of mini map guides.
Let's Go announced a new print publisher, Avalon Travel, upon the expiration of its contract with St. Martin's Press in 2009. The switch led to a new format for the insides of the books, new retro covers for the outsides, and a rebranding to emphasize Let's Go's student origins. The theme has been changed in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2009. In 2014, Let's Go began self-publishing for the first time since 1970.

Editorial style

Let's Go has used many words to describe the style of its content. "Witty and irreverent" is possibly the most frequently used descriptor; the company takes pride in its youthful, casual, sometimes zany tone and trains its writers to avoid "brochure-ese". Let's Go also promotes the unvarnished opinions of its reviews, stating that they want the takeaway of every single listing, good or bad, to be clear to the reader. This honesty led to a lawsuit against Let's Go in 1990 as a result of a scathing review of an Israeli hostel, but the travel guide was victorious in court, upheld by the judges as "the modern equivalents of Thomas Paine or John Peter Zenger." Other traits the company has emphasized include its budget roots and social consciousness.

Titles

As of the 2019 series of guidebooks, Let's Go has published 75 titles covering six continents. The books range from country guides to adventure, city, budget, and road trip guides, many of which are still updated annually. Let's Go has also published 20 abridged, pocket-sized "map guides", though these have been discontinued.
BookTypeContinentFirst publishedLast publishedNotes
Let's Go II: The Student Guide to AdventureAdventureMultiple19681968Limited edition
Let's Go: Alaska Adventure GuideAdventureNorth America20042004
Let's Go: Alaska & the Pacific NorthwestCountryNorth America19882003Split into Let's Go: Alaska Adventure Guide and Let's Go: Pacific Northwest
Let's Go: AmsterdamCityEurope20022008
Let's Go: Budget AmsterdamBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Amsterdam & BrusselsCityEurope20112011
Let's Go: Budget AthensBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: AustraliaCountryAustralia19982009
Let's Go: AustriaCountryEurope19941994
Let's Go: Austria & SwitzerlandCountryEurope19952005
Let's Go: BarcelonaCityEurope20022010
Let's Go: Budget BarcelonaBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Budget BerlinBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Berlin, Prague & BudapestCityEurope20102011
Let's Go: BostonCityNorth America20012011
Let's Go: BrazilCountrySouth America20042004
Let's Go: Great BritainCountryEurope19762011Originally called Let's Go: Britain & Ireland
Open Library:
Let's Go: Buenos AiresCitySouth America20092010
Let's Go: CaliforniaCountryNorth America19952005Open Library:
Let's Go: California & HawaiiCountryNorth America19881994Became Let's Go: California
Let's Go: California & the Pacific NorthwestCountryNorth America19841987Split into Let's Go: Alaska & the Pacific Northwest and Let's Go: California & Hawaii
Let's Go: CaribbeanCountryNorth America19701970Limited edition
Let's Go: Central AmericaCountryNorth America19962010
Let's Go: ChileCountrySouth America20032005
Let's Go: ChinaCountryAsia20002005
Let's Go: Costa RicaCountryNorth America20032010
Let's Go: Costa Rica, Nicaragua & PanamaCountryNorth America20102010
Let's Go: Eastern EuropeCountryEurope19952008
Let's Go: EcuadorCountrySouth America19972005Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Peru & Ecuador
Let's Go: EgyptCountryAfrica20022003
Let's Go: EuropeCountryEurope19602020Open Library: , , ,
Let's Go: Europe Top 10 CitiesCityEurope20122012
Let's Go: European RivieraCountryEurope20112011
Let's Go: FlorenceCityEurope20102010
Let's Go: Budget FlorenceBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: FranceCountryEurope19782011Open Library: ,
Let's Go: GermanyCountryEurope19952011Open Library:
Let's Go: Germany, Austria & SwitzerlandCountryEurope19921993Split into Let's Go: Germany & Switzerland and Let's Go: Austria
Let's Go: Germany & SwitzerlandCountryEurope19941994Split into Let's Go: Germany and Let's Go: Austria & Switzerland
Let's Go: GreeceCountryEurope19842010Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Greece & Turkey
Let's Go: Greece, Israel & EgyptCountryMultiple19811983Split into Let's Go: Greece and Let's Go: Israel & Egypt
Let's Go: Greece & TurkeyCountryMultiple19921998Open Library:
Split into Let's Go: Greece and Let's Go: Turkey
Let's Go: Guatemala & BelizeCountryNorth America20102010
Let's Go: HawaiiCountryNorth America20032009
Let's Go: India & NepalCountryAsia19972004
Let's Go: IrelandCountryEurope19942013Open Library: ,
Let's Go: IsraelCountryAsia20002012
Let's Go: Israel & EgyptCountryMultiple19841999Open Library:
Became Let's Go: Israel
Let's Go: Budget IstanbulBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Istanbul, Athens & the Greek IslandsCityMultiple20112011
Let's Go: ItalyCountryEurope19792013Open Library: ,
Let's Go: JapanCountryAsia20042004
Let's Go: LondonCityEurope19912008Open Library: ,
Let's Go: Budget LondonBudgetEurope20122014
Let's Go: London, Oxford & CambridgeCityEurope20102013Originally called Let's Go: London, Oxford, Cambridge & Edinburgh
Let's Go: Budget MadridBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Madrid & BarcelonaCityEurope20112011
Let's Go: MexicoCountryNorth America19852008Open Library:
Let's Go: Middle EastCountryMultiple20002003
Let's Go: New York CityCityNorth America19912011Open Library:
Let's Go: New ZealandCountryAustralia19982008Temporarily became Let's Go: New Zealand Adventure Guide
Let's Go: New Zealand Adventure GuideAdventureAustralia20052005Reverted to Let's Go: New Zealand
Let's Go: Pacific NorthwestCountryNorth America20042004Became Let's Go: Pacific Northwest Adventure Guide
Let's Go: Pacific Northwest Adventure GuideAdventureNorth America20052005
Let's Go: ParisCityEurope19932011
Let's Go: Budget ParisBudgetEurope20122014
Let's Go: Paris, Amsterdam & BrusselsCityEurope20132013
Let's Go: PeruCountrySouth America20052005
Let's Go: Peru & EcuadorCountrySouth America20002000Became Let's Go: Peru, Ecuador & Bolivia
Let's Go: Peru, Ecuador & BoliviaCountrySouth America20012003Split into Let's Go: Peru and Let's Go: Ecuador
Let's Go: Budget PragueBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Puerto RicoCountryNorth America20042008
Let's Go: Roadtripping USARoadtripNorth America20052011
Let's Go: RomeCityEurope19932010
Let's Go: Budget RomeBudgetEurope20122012
Let's Go: Rome, Venice & FlorenceCityEurope20112013
Let's Go: San FranciscoCityNorth America20012004
Let's Go: South AfricaCountryAfrica19992003
Let's Go: Southeast AsiaCountryAsia19962005
Let's Go: Southwest USA Adventure GuideAdventureNorth America20022004
Let's Go: Spain & PortugalCountryEurope19842013Originally called Let's Go: Spain, Portugal & Morocco
Open Library: ,
Let's Go: ThailandCountryAsia19942010Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Southeast Asia
Let's Go: TurkeyCountryMultiple19992003
Let's Go: USACountryNorth America19692008Open Library: , ,
Let's Go: VietnamCountryAsia20052007
Let's Go: Washington, D.C.CityNorth America19922004Open Library:
Let's Go: Western EuropeCountryEurope20012010
Let's Go: Yucatán PeninsulaCountryNorth America20102010

Notable alumni

Because Let's Go employees are all students when working for the travel guide, many of its alumni have gone on to careers in travel writing and other areas.
There have been references to Let's Go in:

Films