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THE STORY OF LEt'S GO

From humble beginnings as a pamphlet of travel tips slapped together for students summering in Europe, Let's Go blossomed into one of the world's most popular travel guides, a mainstay on the shelves of bookstores, hostels, and world travelers for 61 years. Though its story may now be over, the legacy it leaves is not. Let's Go brought travel writing from a privileged few to the hoi polloi by inspiring several competitors in the budget guidebook arena, and it gave countless unforgettable memories to the students who have made up the Let's Go family.

Summer 1960
Let’s Go revolutionizes the world of travelguides with its premiere publica-tion, the 1960 European Guide.


Pages in the first book: 25. Cover price: $0. The fact that HSA used to charter air-planes: priceless.

Spring 1961
The name “Let’s Go” first appears with the publication of our first Europe guide!


 75 cents for 64 pages—not bad.

1962
Let’s Go almost doubles in size on its way to 124 pages.

Let’s Go is outsourced to Lampooners for the first and last time.
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HSA hires an artist, Richard Copaken, who proceeds to draw Let’s Go’s original hot-air-balloon logo.

1963
Let’s Go hires two newlyweds on their honeymoon to rewrite Let’s Go: Europe from scratch. Ah, l’amour.

Let’s Go debuts its first maps.

Summer 1963
A room of one’s own: Let’s Go begins to call 993A Mass. Ave. home.
1964
Let’s Go: Europe is an actual book for the first time—and the price hits $1.95 as a result.
1965
Let’s Go’s page count hits 240.
1966
Let’s Go: Europe is available in stores by Christmas. Santa’s sack gets heavier.
February 24, 1966
Let’s Go gets its turn in the spotlight as Andrew Tobias goes on the Today show.
1967
Seventy Harvard students translate into 322 pages of delight.
1968
Let’s Go: Europe reproduces asexually! our first off shoot, Let’s Go II: The Student Guide to Adventure, goes on sale.
1969
America the beautiful. Let’s Go produces the ancient ancestor of Let’s Go: USA.
1970
The limited-edition Let’s Go: Caribbean is released and then never spoken of again.
1971
Let’s Go goes legit: EP Dutton becomes our publisher and distributor.

496 pages and $2.25—opulence, plain and simple.

1972
Pancho Huddle almost single-handedly brings Let’s Go: Europe to 704 pages and $3.25.
1973
Let’s Go: Europe is all thumbs, as a new logo dominates the cover.
1974
Let’s Go: Europe goes for a ginger look, then decides it isn’t suited for it.
1975
The list price skyrockets to... $4.95.
1976
A new era dawns with Let’s Go’s first regional guide, Let's Go: Britain & Ireland.
1977
Europe’s back to 704 pages.
1978
Let’s Go goes bilingual with the first edition of Let’s Go: France.
1979
Let’s Go: Italy is first produced. Andiamo!
Spring 1979
Thayer Hall’s basement becomes Let’s Go headquarters.
1980
The Boston Globe dubs Let’s Go “the Bible of the budget traveler.”
1981
Along with a permanent Let’s Go: USA, Let’s Go: Greece, Israel & Egypt swells the ranks to six.
1982
Let’s Go is seduced away from Dutton and hitches up with St. Martin’s Press.
1983
As Publishing Manager, Chris Billy prepares for Let’s Go’s biggest expansion to date.
1984
They’re multiplying! Let’s Go puts out three new titles for a total of nine.
1985
Let’s Go: Mexico launches as our 10th guide, helping Let’s Go sell 400,000 copies for the year.
1986
Europe takes its doctor’s advice and diets to 850 pages.
1987
The back covers evolve to include “Did you know?” content.
1988
Let’s Go: California & the Pacific Northwest undergoes meiosis, and Let’s Go now has 11 titles.
1989
The thumb logo is downgraded to apostrophe status. Two years later, it would be joined by a hitchhiking disclaimer.
1990
Let’s Go’s 30th birthday! Yet nothing really changes from the previous year. Age is just a number, man.
1991
The first city guides take Let’s Go up to 13 titles.
1992
An expansion to 15 titles prompts The New York Times to knight us “the granddaddy of budget guides.”
1993
The thumb logo, which had pointed at a 90-degree angle, adopts a more positive slant.
1994
Photographs first grace the covers of Let’s Go’s now-20 books.
1995
Pete Keith’s reforms make Let’s Go a better place to work.
Fall 1995
Let’s Go’s “Web site” is launched on the new-fangled “World Wide Web.”
1996
Let’s Go: Central America takes us to 22 titles not including the brand-new Map Guides.
December 8, 1996
A storybook ending: Let’s Go leaves 1 Story St. for 67 Mt. Auburn.
1998
Two more titles jump on board, for a total of 26.
1999
Despite canceling plans for one new book, Let’s Go still gets to 28 titles.
2000
In a new cover design, the thumb logo swells in size again.
2001
So much for round numbers; there are now 33 Let’s Go guides.
Spring 2001
The first Let’s Go roadtrip takes college campuses by storm.
2002
An unprecedented four new guides make for 37 in all.
2003
Four more; 41, and we’re not done.
2004
Four new books mean Let’s Go now has 45 on the shelves, but only 32 are updated as Let’s Go realizes it is not, in fact, superhuman.
2005
Expansion can take a breather after the series hits 48 titles.
2006
The covers change to a more backpacker-esque collage, and 15 guides are produced.
2008
Fashionable budget travelers fan out across the globe with limited-edition Let’s Go T-shirts and water bottles.
2009
Let’s Go: Buenos Aires becomes the 49th book in the Let’s Go pantheon.
2010
The hot-air balloon makes its triumphant return to the series’s new red and sepia covers.
2011
The insides of the guides are totally revamped. Legibility, how we’ve missed you.
2012
Kindle? Can do. Let’s Go publishes its first ebooks.
2013
Let’s Go content is available on mobile for the first time.
2014
Let’s Go returns to self-publishing and actually makes a profit from it
2015
Just like old times: Let’s Go returns to putting out just one book, the classic Let’s Go: Europe, per year.
2016
The number of office staffers hits a low point of two.
2017
Let’s Go: Europe adopts a cleaner cover with a white background and red and yellow accents.
2018
Let’s Go undergoes a total makeover that brings full color to both the cover and inside of the guide.
2019
Perhaps the prettiest Let’s Go: Europe ever clocks in at 672 pages.
2020
The 60th edition of Let’s Go returns to a classic red and white front cover featuring the Eiffel Tower.
March 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic forces the cancellation of RWs’ summer travel for the first time in Let’s Go
history.
Fall 2022
Unable to produce a new guide for two summers
in a row due to the pandemic, Let’s Go announces that the 2020 edition was its last.

As Oliver Koppell said a quarter of a century after he came to Harvard: “I am extraordinarily proud of the success which Let’s Go has achieved in the years since my graduation. The expansion of editions, the detail of the work, and the general level of acceptance which Let’s Go has achieved throughout the country, and indeed the world, is beyond my wildest dreams.”