A travel guide has slated Oxford, describing the centre as "congested" and accusing open-top tourist buses of obscuring the view of historic buildings.

Publisher Lonely Planet has launched its guide to Britain in a bid to promote less well-known regions and attractions, leaving Oxford out in the cold.

According to the guide, the Oxfordshire countryside has "the unspectacular charm of middle England" and its description of Oxford as "a flourishing commercial city" is qualified by the observation that it has "typical Midlands social problems".

Lonely Planet spokesman Jennifer Cox said: "Our authors were quite shocked at how overcrowded the well-known sites were, while other picturesque or genuinely interesting but less well-known sites were left empty.

"We felt it was time to produce a guide book that will make both domestic and international tourists feel as excited about visiting Nottingham or Fishguard as London."

Tourist managers and visitors disagreed that Oxford's reputation was sliding.

Carole Stonebraker, from California, visiting Oxford for the third time, said: "The city centre is certainly not congested, and I would not be put off coming back here again. There is a lot of activity with all the students and bicycles around, but it is all part of the experience."

Jennifer and John Seelig, from North Carolina, were impressed that they had not had to queue for anything during their visit to Oxford.

Caroline Wilber, marketing director of the Guide Friday tour company, said the author had clearly not been on a bus tour. She said: "People see views of the Oxford colleges that you cannot see on foot."

A spokesman for the Oxford Classic Tour said: "How can the tourist buses possibly obscure the view? They are smaller than an ordinary double-decker bus."

Information Officer Heather Armitage, at the Oxford Information Centre in Gloucester Green, said the open-top bus tours helped people too frail or infirm to walk and families with young children.

People travelling on the buses agreed that they enhanced their trip.

David Halpin, from Dublin, said: "I have come to Oxford to have a look around and the tour bus seemed to be the best way to do it."

Have your say now on the Lonely Planet guide's verdict in theTalking Shop .