Let's Go (book series)

This article is about the travel guides. For the children's textbooks, see Let's Go (textbooks).

Let's Go was a travel guide series researched, written, edited, and run entirely by students at Harvard University. Let's Go was founded in 1960 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[1]

Let's Go, Inc.

Industry	Publications
Genre	Travel guides
Founded	1960
Founder	Oliver Koppell Harvard Student Agencies
Defunct	2022
Headquarters	Cambridge, MA , USA
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Travel guidebooks
Parent	Harvard Student Agencies

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, Letsgo.com, while publishing 22 titles and a new line of mini map guides.

Let's Go announced a new print publisher, Avalon Travel,^[2] upon the expiration of its contract with St. Martin's Press in 2009.^[3] 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.^[4]

Production of Let's Go was suspended in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and never restarted.^[5]

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."^[6] 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" (Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Florence, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Prague, Rome, San Francisco, Seattle, Sydney, Venice, and Washington DC), though these have been discontinued.^[7]

Book	Type	Continent	First published	Last published	Notes
Let's Go II: The Student Guide to Adventure	Adventure	Multiple	1968	1968	Limited edition
Let's Go: Alaska Adventure Guide	Adventure	North America	2004	2004
Let's Go: Alaska & the Pacific Northwest	Country	North America	1988	2003	Split into Let's Go: Alaska Adventure Guide and Let's Go: Pacific Northwest
Let's Go: Amsterdam	City	Europe	2002	2008
Let's Go: Budget Amsterdam	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Amsterdam & Brussels	City	Europe	2011	2011
Let's Go: Budget Athens	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Australia	Country	Australia	1998	2009
Let's Go: Austria	Country	Europe	1994	1994
Let's Go: Austria & Switzerland	Country	Europe	1995	2005
Let's Go: Barcelona	City	Europe	2002	2010
Let's Go: Budget Barcelona	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Budget Berlin	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Berlin, Prague & Budapest	City	Europe	2010	2011
Let's Go: Boston	City	North America	2001	2011
Let's Go: Brazil	Country	South America	2004	2004
Let's Go: Great Britain	Country	Europe	1976	2011	Originally called Let's Go: Britain & Ireland Open Library: 1999
Let's Go: Buenos Aires	City	South America	2009	2010
Let's Go: California	Country	North America	1995	2005	Open Library: 1999
Let's Go: California & Hawaii	Country	North America	1988	1994	Became Let's Go: California
Let's Go: California & the Pacific Northwest	Country	North America	1984	1987	Split into Let's Go: Alaska & the Pacific Northwest and Let's Go: California & Hawaii
Let's Go: Caribbean	Country	North America	1970	1970	Limited edition
Let's Go: Central America	Country	North America	1996	2010
Let's Go: Chile	Country	South America	2003	2005
Let's Go: China	Country	Asia	2000	2005
Let's Go: Costa Rica	Country	North America	2003	2010
Let's Go: Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Panama	Country	North America	2010	2010
Let's Go: Eastern Europe	Country	Europe	1995	2008
Let's Go: Ecuador	Country	South America	1997	2005	Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Peru & Ecuador
Let's Go: Egypt	Country	Africa	2002	2003
Let's Go: Europe	Country	Europe	1960	2020	Open Library: 1987, 1995, 1998, 1999
Let's Go: Europe Top 10 Cities	City	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: European Riviera	Country	Europe	2011	2011
Let's Go: Florence	City	Europe	2010	2010
Let's Go: Budget Florence	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: France	Country	Europe	1978	2011	Open Library: 1981, 1995
Let's Go: Germany	Country	Europe	1995	2011	Open Library: 1999
Let's Go: Germany, Austria & Switzerland	Country	Europe	1992	1993	Split into Let's Go: Germany & Switzerland and Let's Go: Austria
Let's Go: Germany & Switzerland	Country	Europe	1994	1994	Split into Let's Go: Germany and Let's Go: Austria & Switzerland
Let's Go: Greece	Country	Europe	1984	2010	Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Greece & Turkey
Let's Go: Greece, Israel & Egypt	Country	Multiple	1981	1983	Split into Let's Go: Greece and Let's Go: Israel & Egypt
Let's Go: Greece & Turkey	Country	Multiple	1992	1998	Open Library: 1996 Split into Let's Go: Greece and Let's Go: Turkey
Let's Go: Guatemala & Belize	Country	North America	2010	2010
Let's Go: Hawaii	Country	North America	2003	2009
Let's Go: India & Nepal	Country	Asia	1997	2004
Let's Go: Ireland	Country	Europe	1994	2013	Open Library: 1995, 1998
Let's Go: Israel	Country	Asia	2000	2012
Let's Go: Israel & Egypt	Country	Multiple	1984	1999	Open Library: 1997 Became Let's Go: Israel
Let's Go: Budget Istanbul	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Istanbul, Athens & the Greek Islands	City	Multiple	2011	2011
Let's Go: Italy	Country	Europe	1979	2013	Open Library: 1980, 1998
Let's Go: Japan	Country	Asia	2004	2004
Let's Go: London	City	Europe	1991	2008	Open Library: 1993, 1998
Let's Go: Budget London	Budget	Europe	2012	2014
Let's Go: London, Oxford & Cambridge	City	Europe	2010	2013	Originally called Let's Go: London, Oxford, Cambridge & Edinburgh
Let's Go: Budget Madrid	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Madrid & Barcelona	City	Europe	2011	2011
Let's Go: Mexico	Country	North America	1985	2008	Open Library: 1999
Let's Go: Middle East	Country	Multiple	2000	2003
Let's Go: New York City	City	North America	1991	2011	Open Library: 1999
Let's Go: New Zealand	Country	Australia	1998	2008	Temporarily became Let's Go: New Zealand Adventure Guide
Let's Go: New Zealand Adventure Guide	Adventure	Australia	2005	2005	Reverted to Let's Go: New Zealand
Let's Go: Pacific Northwest	Country	North America	2004	2004	Became Let's Go: Pacific Northwest Adventure Guide
Let's Go: Pacific Northwest Adventure Guide	Adventure	North America	2005	2005
Let's Go: Paris	City	Europe	1993	2011
Let's Go: Budget Paris	Budget	Europe	2012	2014
Let's Go: Paris, Amsterdam & Brussels	City	Europe	2013	2013
Let's Go: Peru	Country	South America	2005	2005
Let's Go: Peru & Ecuador	Country	South America	2000	2000	Became Let's Go: Peru, Ecuador & Bolivia
Let's Go: Peru, Ecuador & Bolivia	Country	South America	2001	2003	Split into Let's Go: Peru and Let's Go: Ecuador
Let's Go: Budget Prague	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Puerto Rico	Country	North America	2004	2008
Let's Go: Roadtripping USA	Roadtrip	North America	2005	2011
Let's Go: Rome	City	Europe	1993	2010
Let's Go: Budget Rome	Budget	Europe	2012	2012
Let's Go: Rome, Venice & Florence	City	Europe	2011	2013
Let's Go: San Francisco	City	North America	2001	2004
Let's Go: South Africa	Country	Africa	1999	2003
Let's Go: Southeast Asia	Country	Asia	1996	2005
Let's Go: Southwest USA Adventure Guide	Adventure	North America	2002	2004
Let's Go: Spain & Portugal	Country	Europe	1984	2013	Originally called Let's Go: Spain, Portugal & Morocco Open Library: 1991, 1995
Let's Go: Thailand	Country	Asia	1994	2010	Two incarnations have existed; the original became Let's Go: Southeast Asia
Let's Go: Turkey	Country	Multiple	1999	2003
Let's Go: USA	Country	North America	1969	2008	Open Library: 1993, 1996, 1999
Let's Go: Vietnam	Country	Asia	2005	2007
Let's Go: Washington, D.C.	City	North America	1992	2004	Open Library: 1998
Let's Go: Western Europe	Country	Europe	2001	2010
Let's Go: Yucatán Peninsula	Country	North America	2010	2010

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.

• Megan Amram, comedy writer and Twitter celebrity
• Jesse Andrews, novelist and screenwriter of the novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2012)
• Darren Aronofsky, film director
• Jenny Lyn Bader, playwright
• Rick Barton, diplomat
• Elif Batuman, Turkish author and journalist
• Ben Beach, marathoner
• Jess Bravin, journalist and author
• Lisa Brennan-Jobs, journalist, author, and daughter of Steve Jobs
• Irin Carmon, writer and blogger
• Pete Deemer, tech entrepreneur
• David Eilenberg, television executive
• Eleni Gage, author^[8]
• James Gleick, author and essayist.
• Kristin Gore, author, screenwriter, and daughter of Al Gore
• Barak Goodman, Oscar-nominated documentarian
• Ellen P. Goodman, Rutgers Law professor
• Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and Wharton professor
• Frank Huddle, Jr., former U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan
• Pico Iyer, travel writer, essayist, and novelist
• Kent M. Keith, author and academic
• Oliver Koppell, New York politician
• Andrew Laming, Australia politician
• Eric Lesser, Massachusetts politician
• Justin Levitt, American constitutional law professor
• Jane Lindholm, National Public Radio host
• Annie Lowrey, journalist
• Nathan Lump, travel writer
• Ghen Maynard, television producer and executive
• Celeste Ng, author
• Joanna O'Leary, food writer and literary historian
• Julie Cotler Pottinger, romance author^[9]
• Jeffrey Rosen, author and legal commentator
• Claire Saffitz, food writer
• Peter Sagal, radio host and writer^[10]
• Elizabeth Scarlett, author and professor, University at Buffalo
• Ashley Shuyler, founder of AfricAid
• Martin Sixsmith, author and TV/radio presenter
• Kaitlin Solimine, writer^[11]
• Alex Speier, sportswriter for the Boston Globe^[12]
• Adam Stein, screenwriter and director
• Thomas G. Stemberg,^[13] businessman and venture capitalist, co-founder of Staples Inc.
• Nicholas Stoller, screenwriter and director
• Andrew Tobias, columnist, author, and DNC treasurer
• Lisa Tolliver, media personality and academic-practitioner^[14]
• Graeme C.A. Wood, journalist and contributing editor at The Atlantic

In popular culture

There have been references (in a non-review/article context) to Let's Go in:

Films

• Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)^[15]
• What a Girl Wants (2003)
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)^[16]

Music

• Let's Go (Rancid album), 1994 album

Print

• Either/Or (2022), novel
• The Economist^[17]
• MAD, magazine
• The Marriage Plot (2011), novel
• The Onion^[18]

Television

• Futurama^[19]
• Gilmore Girls^[20]
• How I Met Your Mother^[21]
• Seinfeld^[22]
• The Colbert Report^[23]
• The Daily Show^[24]
• The Simpsons^[25]
• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?