I’m going to Norway next week, and I see from my guidebook that Oslo’s highlights include coffee at the Grand Cafe, eating ice cream in the city centre, waving a Norwegian flag, picking summer blueberries, going winter skiing, one of Grunerlokka’s cafes, and an impromptu dinner of shrimp.  Also listed is the Munch Museum, but only so you can cheat security there, Vigeland Park, and the ship museums of Bygdoy. No mention of the Royal Palace, Castle, National Folk Museum or many museums in the city centre.

I don’t know whether the push by editors to popularize their guidebooks sells more of their books, but to me I am getting a lot of useless information, and it is harder to decide what I want to see, or even whether I want to go to a place at all.  Surely if I want a good cafe I can consult the ‘Eating’ section. And I am not going to visit Oslo just so I can try an ice cream (they don’t even claim the ice cream is any good!).  A few years ago a couple of the better guidebooks reluctantly realized the value of giving highlights, but they are now losing sight of why people want highlights.