can't decide on rome travel book?
 

i have been looking at different travel books for my trip to rome. i have specifically been looking at "Let's Go", Lonely Planet, and Access Rome. does anyone have an opinion on which book was their favorite and why?
thanks, michael

really, you need to look at several and decide, each of us looks for different things in a guidebook.
The Time Out books-, which I've recently discovered, are very up to date on restaurants, clubs, shopping, and have just enough history and architecture info to keep them worthwhile to me.
Michelin Green if you like a lot of historical and cultural detail; the Blue Guide if you want the max on that (those are too dull for me, but many people like them)
Let's Go, is, as you know, youth-oriented, as is Lonely Planet.
Rick Steves give you the abridged version of everything, but he has lots of budget-minded tips.
The Fodors and Frommers books are great middle-of-the road books. Frommers has more budget-minded hotels and restaurant, and better suggested walking itineraries (see also their website)
Fodors is slightly more upscale.

"The Companion Guide to Rome" by Georgina Masson is wonderfully detailed and an absolute must for anyone interested in Rome's history, churches, art, and architecture. I hope it's still in print and available, but if not, search for a second-hand copy.

I agree with a multiple book concept. We used Rick Steves for logistics insight and Eyewitness for more indepth descriptions and street-by-street recommendations. I also would recommend the Rome Map by Mapeasy. It has sights, restaurants, and shops plotted right on the map and it was very easy to read.

I loved Eyewitness, for the block by block detail. I carried it with me everywhere and read through chunks while I sat in neighborhood cafes with my glass of wine. Very helpful!

The "Rome" edition of the Dorling Kindersley (DK) series is amazing. Yes, you will pay a bit more, but the quality and the amount of information you'll get is absolutely worth every penny.

Hi xman, I just saw your question and was interested in Viajero's answer to you. That is because my son-in-law who was born and raised in Italy gave me the Rome DK book as one of my Christmas presents a couple of years ago. He had checked all the books at Barne and Nobles and found this book to be the best. Since he is a native of Rome I can only assume he knew which travel book to give me.

Hi, We purchased both the Fodor's guides and the DK Eyewitness guides. The DK guides are pictorial, you really get an idea of what your going to see. The Fodor's guides are very different, I use them for hotel recommendations, itinerary suggestions, etc. They really compliment each other. I also get the Fodor's Kids guides . I find they really advise well when it comes to travelling with children. All the guides seems to cater to different needs and niches.

i vote dk as well...and the dk top 10 is really useful. i also like the aaa sprial guide.

oh, the why portion:
the dk book is complete. but big, so the top 10 gives you all the essentials in an easy to carry form. the aaa spiral guide because the map in the back is great to use due to the spiral nature of the book.

This past Christmas my sister gave me the DK Eyewitness for all of Italy. Thank god she did because it finally got me off my behind and past the talking about going to Italy and actually book a trip. At first I booked an escorted group tour. But after 3 months of reading other travelers posts here and on other sites I canceled the tour and now am going to Italy on my own for two weeks this October!!

Now I am looking at books for the individual cities I am going to(Venice 2 nights, Florence 5 nights and Rome 5 nights). I will use a mix of different guides to get a larger perspective and opinions of what to do and see. Also I reccomend that you really listen to the people here at Fodors, there is a great wealth of information to be gleamed here.

Tom

Hi

Yes I find those books informative. I just love the Eyewitness series. They are just so beautiful. I collect one for each place I visit (makes more sense to me than beer coasters or tea towels although these have their uses).

I think its Function (Let's Go) vs Form (Eyewitness).

See ya

xman, considering the overall cost of your trip to Italy, the cost of a couple guide books is a drop in the bucket. So buy a couple of guidebooks.

I confess I pretty much bought them all! Okay, not all, but close.

consider this...are you going to pack the book and take it to Italy and maybe carry it around with you? Then you need a light-weight, portable book. I'm serious! Rick Steves has some light-weight guidebooks with great restaurant recommendations...there's one for Rome, one for Venice and Florence, or even the one for Italy is fairly light-weight.

The picture book types like Eyewitness are wonderful to look at at home but too heavy to pack and carry around for me.

Fodors and Frommers are the best for looking up ratings on specific sights, so you can decide what are the must-sees, and what are the okay-to-skip sights.

Absolutely loved Rick Steve's restaurant recommendations especially for rome. They are a good price, and have atmosphere, and are family-run. Ristorante der Pallaro in rome was our #1 favorite restaurant for Rome (and for Italy in general!)

xman-
The books you mention are my 3 favorites.
I like the Access books for carrying with me when I travel. I prefer the way these books are organized by area within each city and the reference from featured entry to the map using numbers. It makes managing the sometimes overwelming cities like Rome and Florence very easy.
The Let's Go books are in my opinion the best for public train and bus travel between cities and towns. The details explaining how to go about traveling by public transportation around Italy have been a wonderful guide for me on several extensive trips.
I find the Lonely Planet books good for pre-trip research.

I LOVE the DK Top Ten books, they are so easy to carry while sightseeing. I have quite a collection of these guidebooks, they are my absolute favorites.

I dont use guidebooks for picking hotels, I usually get advice on travel forums such as this or go to VRBO.

Don't forget the Baedeker's guides. These usually list all sights in an A-Z format, and come with an incredibly detailed and complete map.
The Baedeker's won't organize area by area like the Eyewitness ones do, but nothing beats Baedeker's for excellent sight descriptions, floorplans, and colorful writing.

-Alan

We've used Michelin Green for years and have never been disappointed. They are pretty much pure guidebooks without a lot of coffee table book type fluff.

Get as many out from the library as you can, look them all over, and then decide. I took both the DK Eyewitness Rome, and the Time Out Rome, and both were useful.

Reviving this string as I love the trip planning part too. We just returned from Paris and I used the France Eyewitness Guide at home and carried the Paris Top 10 everywhere. It's light weight and fits in a small purse. I packed the Access series too for great restaurant recommendations and the book's layout that others have referred to.
For choosing hotels, I go to Tripadvisor.com. It's like a search engine for travel and has user reviews and ratings. We've had good luck with Karen Brown's guides and website too. You can download itineraries for specific areas rather than picking up the whole book.

I used to buy 5 or 6 different travel books but I've found that I can find most of the informaton on Fodor's and Frommers website and pick and choose what I want.

Hi
We used the Cadogan guide to Rome, last year. found it very helpful, informative and humorous at times. It breaks the city up to its various areas. It includes maps, sights and hotels and restaurants for each area. I find the Lets Go better for younger, people who look for hostels and cheap eats. I'm not a big fan of the Eyewitness series because it's descriptions are short and I could live without the glossy paper and all those photos. I used it once and it was all right. Michelin is a good guidebook also. It stars the sights for how highly it is recommended. It has good maps and descriptions. I usually go into a bookstore and look through several guide books before deciding. It is a personal decision based on your preferences.
Enjoy your trip.