
What foreign guidebooks say about Britain
When our writers trawled through French, German and American guidebooks, they unearthed plenty of outdated opinions, terrible errors, and one truly baffling theory about hard-boiled eggs.
What French guidebooks say about Britain
'They describe mostly a middle-class Britain of a generation ago'
Most mainstream French guidebooks to Britain are pretty good. In more than 400 pages of Michelin's Guide Vert to London, I found only one claim with which to take issue. In the pub food section, they mentioned Lancashire hotpot – scarcely a London speciality – and, much worse, claimed it was a stew of beef. If you don't spot the mistake there, you're probably not from Lancashire, so I can't help you.
And the generationvoyage.fr website suggested that Cambridge was an 'emblematic town of northern England'.
Otherwise, both sources seemed straight up across all other details. That went for most other guides, though there was a sense that they were dealing mainly with a middle-class Britain of maybe a generation ago.
A 'sorry' state of affairs
Much was made of British politeness. 'You'll be surprised how often you'll hear 'sorry' in any given day,' claims the guide bellabritannia.com.
Others suggest that French visitors would be required to queue properly ('not like in France') and not to push or shove when getting on or off the Tube. 'The British are orderly in Tube stations,' future French visitors are told – preparing them, perhaps, for serious disappointment.
Lip service
According to the Routard guide, French visitors must remember that they should shake hands only on first meeting someone – not every time they bump into that person – and forget all that French stuff about exchanging cheek kisses. That doesn't wash in Britain.
On the other hand, they should not be surprised to be addressed as 'love' or 'darling' by shop personnel or other people whom they don't know and will never see again. 'Generally,' says bellebritannia.com, 'the British are not unpleasant and go naturally towards others'.
Nor should the French expect French-style Cartesian logic from the British, according to the Akteos website. The Briton distrusts intellectualism and logic. The French defend the virtue of reason.
The British, we are told, prefer pragmatism, accepting the instability of things as inevitable and against which it would be vain to protest. 'We'll muddle through' is the British retort to the French preference for life which should respond to ideology.
No laughing matter
Almost everywhere, the British are praised as non-judgmental, whence the anything-goes attitude to fashion and the 'somewhat marginal look' of many people. Punks, say. Pride in 'ugly Christmas jumpers' also comes into play here for one guide writer.
Almost everywhere, too, the French are told to expect British phlegm, humour, a sense of the absurd and a sort of universal self-deprecation which the French struggle to master. This is thought to be a reaction to the uniformity of British housing arrangements, with estates on which houses are all in a line and identical. Whence an urge to be different. The worst insult with which you can charge a Briton is his or her lack of a sense of humour.
Know your eggs
The Routard guide says the British remain masters of tea-time. To be accepted by the British, you must, apparently, put milk in last, and not dunk your toast. And – a bit of a mystery, this one – a British person, on finishing a boiled egg, will pierce the shell with the spoon, 'to let the demons out'. I didn't know that there were demons in hard-boiled eggs.
Across guidebooks, the belief remains that British cuisine has not yet hit the heights of France's own – but, according to the whereismarion.com website, our nation is far more accommodating of vegetarians and vegans. And, if our food isn't invariably terrific, we host a vast number of other, international cuisines which will ensure a French visitor isn't restricted to the full English breakfast and/or fish and chips.
Guide writers are unanimously impressed by the fact that most London museums – or their permanent exhibitions, anyway – are free, like the many great parks. They appear less impressed that it costs £30 to visit Westminster Abbey and £26 for St Paul's. Entry to Notre Dame in Paris, they point out, remains free. And visitors are warned, by whereismarion.com and others, that public transport costs in Britain are prohibitive.
The final words
Though the survey was far from exhaustive, I found no guide warning about knife crime in London. There was a lot more emphasis on how great it is to have shops open on Sundays.
French people are warned to be aware that Britain has three-point plugs and that the plug points often have switches that need switching on if you wish the plug to be effective. This is clearly a source of widespread annoyance among visitors.
Finally, a key element of any French person's visit to London is witnessing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Don't bother, advises londres.fr. The ceremony 'seems very long and monotonous'.
Anthony Peregrine
What German guidebooks say about Britain
'Smugness seems to appear when it comes to Brexit'
German guidebooks aren't generally shy about resorting to clichés when it comes to Britain – 'land of fish and chips and football' is the kind of thing that's generally churned out, which is perhaps fair when you consider that we might in turn cheerfully describe Germany as a 'land of beer and sauerkraut'.
Clouded judgment
The German Wikivoyage guide has a whole section on how the 'unofficial national dish of the United Kingdom is fish and chips', although it does have the wherewithal to mention that we also serve them with peas (whole or mushy peas), pickled onions, gherkins or baked beans, with 'brown sauce, ketchup or other sauces added to taste'.
It also adds, with a discernible air of schadenfreude, that the English climate is 'known for its abundant rainfall and the interplay of sunshine and clouds'. They could have at least mentioned the five days of uninterrupted sunshine we get each year.
Please please me
The Marco Polo guide is a little more nuanced. Its guide to London admits that the 'cliché that two Brits immediately form a queue when they meet is no longer true' but adds that we do pay attention to a fair queue order and that it's a good rule of thumb to ask where the end of the queue is.
They also advise always adding the word 'please' to your sentence when ordering in a shop or restaurant because 'not doing so, sounds simply unfriendly to English ears'. As someone who has lived in Germany for nearly 20 years but who is still often shocked by the bluntness of German interactions, I can only concur.
Love lost
Some smugness seems to appear when it comes to Brexit. 'While Brexit is limiting the influx of EU citizens, immigration from outside the EU has increased due to a shortage of workers, particularly in the hospitality industry, nursing homes and hospitals. Many bring their families with them, so immigration from non-EU countries has doubled,' says the German guide.
That said, it is clear how much the Germans secretly love us – football, fish and chips and all – from a recent Welt article that tearfully reports on the new ETA restrictions that came into effect in April 2025. 'We love the royals, we wear tweed and trench coats, we diligently visit National Trust castles and manor houses,' it whimpers. 'And what do the British do to us? They treat us like strangers and deny us entry.'
Paul Sullivan
What American guidebooks say about Britain
'There's much discussion of Britain's role in the slave trade'
Trips to Olde England tend to be the gateway drug for American travel to Europe, which is to say that we get the numbers but not the exotic sense of adventure that other destinations may garner. In the fêted New York Times list of 52 places to go in 2025, three British destinations warrant entries:
Jane Austen's patch of 'south-west England', chosen to mark the 250th anniversary of the writer's birth.
East London, which is cited for its rich cultural offerings, namely Sadler's Wells East, the V&A storehouse and the inaugural SXSW London, which debuted in early June and received lukewarm enthusiasm from this publication.
The Flow Country, Scotland's vast peat bog, which achieved Unesco World Heritage status in July; visitors are advised to 'lean in to the wildness'.
Start with an apology
Of course, much is made of British manners. As one example, the US-facing guide to British etiquette for Insight Vacations notes: 'The British apologise for absolutely everything, even if it is not their fault and no offence occurred.'
But it may also be that the UK, and London specifically, owes the world an apology, according to the classic US guide Frommers. This US guidebook empire has been a mainstay since 1957, when the US Army corporal Arthur Frommer penned a guide for American GIs in Europe, followed by a civilian version called Europe on $5 a Day.
'Whether you realise it or not, London shaped your destiny', a Frommers introduction to the city says, going on to credit the city with the founding of the US (in reaction to 'London's edicts'); the populating of Australia with the city's criminals; and the creation of 'modern Canada, South Africa and New Zealand'.
It cites the city's role in the slave trade, noting the 'irrevocable change' wrought on 'the lives of millions of Africans who were shipped around the world while Londoners lined their pockets with profits'.
Leave London
Rick Steves, the revered American travel writer and television presenter, has advised his fellow Americans on travel to Europe for more than four decades. And his Great Britain Itinerary includes the admonition that visitors embrace 'a gentler small-town start in Bath (the ideal jet-lag pillow)', building up to the Big Smoke at the end of their trip.
Scotland to Steves is 'feisty', Wales 'largely covered in green, sheep-dotted pastures that end at 750 miles of scenic, windswept coastline overhanging the Irish Sea', and England 'delights'. (Though I am not sure that Steve's American readers will delight their hosts if they do as he advises, and 'strike up a conversation just to hear the King's English' or, worse, far worse: 'Bite into a scone smothered with clotted cream, sip a cup of tea, and wave your pinky as if it's a Union Jack'.)
One final tip
American tipping culture has long been the bane of Telegraph readers on their Stateside forays. Their American counterparts are equally confounded by the vagueness around the custom in the UK.
The American website Tripsavvy.com offers the often-repeated advice that exceptional service from a kind barman in the pub may be rewarded with the offer of a small amount of money, '(like the price of half a pint of beer), with the words, 'and have one for yourself' or something similar'. The site explains that 'the bartender may pour themselves a drink on the spot or may put the money aside to have a drink later'.
In my experience, Americans hear this advice as: 'Buy the barman a drink every single time he brings you one'. My American grandfather, a great pub enthusiast, made his way around the UK in this way, with a trail of possibly charmed, and somewhat bemused, pub staff in his wake.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
London resident shares the biggest mistake American tourists make that all Brits hate
If you're an American trying to blend in while taking a trip across the pond, it may be best to forgo one particular habit. A fed-up Londoner shared a cautionary tale to traveling Americans, after noticing a particular quirk of visitors - taking to Reddit to share their constructive criticism. The keen observer said they were getting a coffee with a friend and were approached on three different occasions by Americans asking for directions. But when the tourists abbreviated the names of various locations, it left the Brit outraged. 'PSA to Americans visiting this summer: we do not shorten place names here,' the Reddit user titled the post. 'First [person asked] how to get to "Green" (Green Park), and that they'd come via "Edgware" (Edgware Road - obviously a totally different part of the city to Edgware itself),' the irate user complained. 'The next wanted to find their hotel in "Holland" (Holland Park, obviously not the country region),' they added. Their grievances didn't stop there, with the London resident writing they had noticed it happening a lot in another thread about life in the British city. 'As people who live here we got the gist of what they were saying yesterday, but it's such an unnecessary layer of friction,' they pointed out. The user went on by declaring it could potentially end up 'catastrophic' in some situations. 'If you're googling the wrong thing, asking for directions, researching somewhere (Gloucester instead of Gloucester Road, Liverpool instead of Liverpool Street, Leicester instead of Leicester Square etc.),' they wrote, before urging Americans to: 'Help yourselves out while visiting.' 'We did discuss reporting "Green" as a hate crime afterwards but let it slide to be polite,' they joked in a comment. Frustrated Londoners piled on in the comments, sharing other location abbreviations or mishaps that have annoyed - or impacted - them the most. '"Green" as an abbreviation is absolutely insane,' agreed a user. 'This does genuinely cause problems. Some are easy to spot - if you ask for Leicester instead of Leicester Square people are going to ask for clarification rather than direct you to the East Midlands,' they continued. 'But if you want Tottenham Court Road but you ask for Tottenham you may well be sent the wrong way!' 'Someone once asked me how to get to Oxford and I told them to go to the end of the street, turn right and walk 60 miles. I thought this was hilarious, but they did not see this as funny. They were looking for Oxford Circus,' shared another user. Someone else noted that tourists often have trouble finding their way to Abbey Road, which was made famous by The Beatles' album of the same name. The iconic zebra crossing is actually located at the St John's Wood area. And to make matters more confusing, there's a train stop called Abbey Road that is not where the iconic album cover was shot at all. 'I had to go to Stratford a few years ago and used the DLR. There is one station on the way called Abbey Road,' one Redditer shared on the thread. They jokingly observed along with a snap of a sign directing tourists: 'They have obviously had problems with tourists looking for the other Abbey Road as they put this sign up.' Someone else assured the annoyed user it happens with travelers to the US too. 'You joke, but in the hotel business this occasionally happens in America too,' someone chimed in. 'I had a guy run out in a hurry after he realized that he didn't feed the entire city name in to his GPS and instead ended up where I was, which was the same thing but shorter. They continued with their cautionary tale: 'I'm guessing he probably had to drive through the night to get to where he was going, since it was 400 miles away. He was a business traveler, so most likely his job was on the line.'


The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
‘Son of Concorde' boss reveals how much tickets will cost on jet so fast you'll land in US at the same time you left UK
THE "Son of Concorde" boss has revealed how much tickets will cost on a jet so fast that it will land in the US at the same time it leaves the UK. Blake Scholl, 44, founder of Boom Supersonic and dubbed the Elon Musk of air travel, also detailed why he thought the original Concorde failed to take off globally. 6 6 6 The boss promised that the breakthrough Boom Overture will be able to fly from London, Paris, Madrid or Berlin to New York before leaving Europe. The ambitious tech boss told The Telegraph: "Whenever I watch the videos of Concorde 's last landing in 2003, it makes me want to cry. "From the Wright brothers to Concorde, every generation of aeroplanes was faster but we've gone backwards. "We're living in the dark ages. The world needs supersonic flight." Scholl promised that passengers on his new jet will be blasted from London to New York City at Mach 1.7 in just 3.5 hours. 600 global routes by as much as half. It will be able to carry around 60 to 80 passengers between any cities on Earth, and will hopefully fly at 1,300mph over water. A demonstrator for the firm, known as the XB-1 supersonic, has already completed 13 test flights and broken the sound barrier six times. He said his successor to Concorde will "transform our lives, the way we meet people, do business, go on vacation". The jet, aptly dubbed the "Son of Concorde", has no audible sonic boom. A number of orders from the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines have already been made for Boom Technology 's passenger jet model, Overture. It comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June effectively lifting a 52-year ban on civil supersonic flight over land in the US. And since Overture will be able to fly supersonic over land, the New York to San Francisco flight will only take four hours. This will mean travellers can leave New York at 9am and land in California at about 10am local time. Any two points on the globe will eventually be connected with super-fast flight, with a refuelling stop or two, the firm promised. Scholl revealed that fares for each of the flights carrying 60 or more passengers will be set by airlines. But he expects them to cost about £5,000 for a return from London to New York City. He explained one of the reasons the original jet failed. He said: 'Concorde, with 100 seats and a near $20,000 ticket, made no sense, even on New York to London, the best possible route. 6 6 "It flew half-empty. If it had been half the size, the fares would have been lower and it might have worked economically. That's what we're creating." He also said the Concorde did not prove to be successful as it was too heavy, too fuel-consuming, too uncomfortable and too pricey - all problems which Scholl promises to fix. The Boom Supersonic founder also said that not being able to fly over land posed a significant challenge for the short-lived aircraft. But the Don's latest intervention has fixed this issue, Scholl explained. A spokesperson for Boom previously told The Sun after Trump's executive order: "While Boom is pleased to see the regulatory pathways to supersonic flight clearing, Boom's business case has never been predicated on regulatory change. "There are over 600 global routes that are economically viable for supersonic flight - even without going supersonic over land. "Now that rules are being updated to allow boomless supersonic flight over land in the US, additional routes will benefit from speedups." They added: "Boom's supersonic airliner, Overture, will fly transatlantic routes, such as New York to London, at its full cruising speed of Mach 1.7 over water – about twice as fast as today's conventional airliners. "Boomless Cruise enables Overture to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.3 over land without an audible boom - up to 50% faster than subsonic jets - reducing US coast-to-coast flight times by up to 90 minutes." The company also revealed that Overture "remains on target" to get certification from relevant bodies including the FAA by the end of the decade so it can carry passengers. WHY DID CONCORDE FAIL? CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel. Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003. The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights. Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde. Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs. By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly. Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000. The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground. The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite. It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer. Image credit: Alamy Bosses are aiming to roll out the first Overture in three years, and be flight testing in four. To accomplish that, they expect production of the first aircraft in the "Superfactory" to start next year. By the end of this year, they expect to produce thrust during fully-operational engine core tests for Overture's bespoke engine, Symphony. "Boom's current order book accounts for the first five years of production at the Overture Superfactory in North Carolina," the spokesperson added. "Airlines have been very receptive to Overture and the competitive advantages of supersonic travel. "In fact, the passenger research we have conducted indicates that 87 per cent of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline in order to gain access to supersonic travel." 6


Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Viktor Gyokeres finally gets his wish as Arsenal-bound striker boards private jet to London after going on strike at Sporting to seal £64m move
Viktor Gyokeres has boarded a flight to London after Arsenal reportedly reached total agreement for the transfer of the Sweden star. The Gunners had been in prolonged negotiations with Sporting Lisbon for the forward's transfer, and are now believed to have agreed a deal, with personal terms not an issue. Gyokeres' agency, HC Media, shared footage of Gyokeres boarding what appeared to be a private jet to make his way to the English capital to finalise the move. More to follow.