This month, get 20% off selected guidebooks to the Alps. Browse participating guidebooks on our Special Offers page.

Ordering and Delivery

How much is postage and packing?

Orders to UK addresses are sent by FIRST CLASS POSTAGE for ALL orders through the website. We make no postal charge.

For Europe, we do make a small postal charge of £3 per book.

For the rest of the world, the postal charges are £5 per book.

These charges reflect our actual postage costs.

How long does delivery take?

We aim to process and ship your order within 1-2 working days. Both the Cicerone office and our warehouse, BookSource, are closed over weekends and Bank Holidays.

All UK orders are sent First Class and should arrive the following day. International orders are sent by airmail, European deliveries should arrive in 10-14 working days, however currently (as at early 2022) we are experiencing postage delays into Europe due to border restrictions. Please allow up to 30 working days for deliveries to the rest of the world.

Currently we do not offer tracked or expedited shipping but please call 01539 562069 before placing your order if you'd like to discuss this.

I don’t live in the UK. Where can I buy your guidebooks?

Our guidebooks are for sale on this website or through many online outlets including Wordery, Amazon and BookDepository.

In some European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain) you may find Cicerone guidebooks in travel bookstores.

In the US there is reasonable availability through the main chains bookstores and outdoor specialists.

Can I change my delivery address?

Unfortunately BookSource process orders very quickly and we cannot edit orders once they have been sent to our warehouse. If you have placed the order within the last 30 minutes we should be able to change your delivery address or amend your order. Please call us on 01539 562069 and we will do our best.

Our no quibble refund policy

If you are not happy with the guidebook you have ordered please return it to us in perfect condition with a note of your contact details. We will then arrange a refund or an exchange for an alternative Cicerone guidebook.

If you do not wish to pay for return postage (for overseas orders) we may be able to offer a discount voucher on a new purchase instead - please contact us for further information.

If our catalogues and website have not been crystal clear about the contents of the guide, please let us know.

Will I be able to get Cicerone guidebooks to a particular area or country when I am visiting there?

In the UK, our guidebooks to Scotland, the Lake District, Peak District and Snowdonia are readily available in these regions.

In some places you should have no difficulty finding Cicerone guides. So in the French Alps, Dolomites and Switzerland you will often be able to find Cicerone guides that cover these areas. Other parts of Europe and worldwide have been more challenging for us to find reliable stockists, although we work at improving this all the time.

We would strongly recommend buying the guidebook before you leave, so that you can use all the planning information in the guidebook to get the best from your trip, and be sure that you have the guide before you depart. In peak summer seasons, always try to order your guidebook at least two weeks before departure. We would hate you to be disappointed if the guidebook you need is not available locally.

My discount code is not working

If your discount code is not working then please check the following:

1) Are you logged in to your Cicerone account? Some discount vouchers will not work unless you are logged in to a valid Cicerone account.

2) Has the voucher code expired?

Please check the terms of the offer to make sure the code is still valid. If you have access to a discount code via an organisation or you've seen an offer code in a magazine, you will need to contact them to find out if the code has expired. If you've seen the code on the Cicerone website, in our newsletter or our social media channels, send us an email and we can help.

3) Are you purchasing items that are excluded from the terms of the discount code? We cannot offer additional discount on items that are on sale, or discounted for any reason, for example the compass we sell at a reduced rate, books included in our print and ebook bundle, or books purchased under the New for Old scheme.

I haven't received my order confirmation email

We will always send you an order confirmation email after you have placed an order. If you have not received an order confirmation email it may be for one of the following reasons:

1) Your email may be in your spam folder.

2) The email address you provided with your order is incorrect. You may have made a mistake in typing the email address or perhaps used an alternative email address for the order. It's worth checking your work email or other accounts you may have accidentally used.

3) Your order has not been finalised. Please get in touch with us to check whether we have received your order.

How does VAT work for orders to the EU?

Cicerone has registered for VAT within the EU (in France actually). Each parcel will be marked with our French VAT registration number so the parcels should be delivered without undue delays.

We are required to add VAT at the right rate for each country and to report and pay this to the French authorities, who then send it off to each country. Lots of spreadsheets.

VAT is therefore added at the shipping basket stage when we know where books are to be delivered or (for an eBook) where the purchaser lives. Shipping costs are also VAT-able, but any donations through our site are not taxed. To comply with the scheme (strictly called IOSS) transactions must be below €150 (roughly £120 or 6-8 books).

This means that VAT is added to our bills at the relevant rates for books and eBooks, which are highly variable according to the rates in each EU country, varying between 0% for print books to Ireland and 25% for all books in Denmark).

Our understanding is that because we are operating this scheme there should be no customs clearance fees. If such fees are charged, it is very likely that they are being improperly applied. Likely this is because it is taking a while for agents to get used to the new systems. If this happens, please do let us know.

Terms and Conditions

Read our full Terms and Conditions

Who are BookSource?

BookSource is a professional book distributor based in Glasgow who look after Cicerone’s books and orders for us. You can find out more about them at www.booksource.net.

In terms of privacy, BookSource and ourselves hold all your information totally confidentially, and solely for the purposes of processing the transaction.

Find out more information on our Privacy Policy and on payment security.

Can I cancel my order?

Unfortunately BookSource process orders very quickly and we cannot cancel orders once they have been sent to our warehouse. If you have placed the order within the last 30 minutes we should be able to cancel your order. Please call us on 01539 562069 and we will do our best. The office is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday and you will not be able to cancel your order outside of these hours. However, we have a no-quibble returns policy so please wait for your order to arrive and then send it back to us for a refund.

Is there tracking available for my order?

Unfortunately we do not offer tracking on our orders due to the substantial cost of this service. However, if you'd like to pay an additional cost for a tracked service please call us before you place your order and we will see what we can do.

You can check the status of your order in your account - please log in to your Cicerone account to view your order history and status of current orders. We will also send an email confirming the order and another one when it has been dispatched.

How do discount codes work?

From time to time, we use discount codes to give customers money off certain guidebooks or series and we also work with partners to offer their members discounts too. To apply a discount code, simply click the drop down option in the checkout basket, enter the code, and hit 'apply'. Please note, discount codes won't apply to items already on sale and only one discount code can be used per order.

From time to time, we use discount codes to give customers money off certain guidebooks or series and we also work with partners to offer their members discounts too. To apply a discount code, simply click the drop down option in the checkout basket, enter the code, and hit 'apply'. Please note, discount codes won't apply to items already on sale and only one discount code can be used per order.

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