http://www.ricksteves.com/
I have watched his TV series on PBS for so many years that I dont remember since when ! Long before Lonely Planet had their TV program, Rick Steve was regularly on PBS ... (Lonely Planet now changed its name to Globe Trekker on PBS, but did not even bother to change the theme music and the symbol ...)
His Europe through the Back Door is tailored for People who want to travel independently, economically, and know how to get off the beaten path ... His specialties are Train travel, and nice little hotels in the heart of cities.
Personally I dont care for Lonely Planet - one of the reasons is, so many people using this guide, you wind up bumping into many tourists on a tight budgets, instead of being able to meet locals at the lodgings you chose ... the other reason is their info many times were not updated frequently enough ... that it became not only useless, but sometimes a big disappointment (wasted time)