The phononic band structure of two-dimensional phononic guides is numerically studied. A plane wave expansion method is used to calculate the dispersion relations of guided elastic waves in these periodic media, including 2D phononic plates and thin layered periodic arrangements. We show that, for any guided elastic wave, Lamb or generalised Lamb modes, stop bands appear in the dispersion curves, displaying a phononic band structure in both cases. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B. V.