Lexma90

I'm looking for a detailed guide book for Venice. I don't need any info on restaurants & hotels (have those already). I would like it to be relatively user-friendly, but still detailed. I'm planning to return to Venice in the future, so it's a book I will use again. I've narrowed my list down, using Fodors of course, to the books in the header.

Neither my library nor my local bookstores have any of these (though some, but not all, can be special-ordered). I can buy them used from ebay, but I will have to buy them without my usual page-through to see which works best for me.

Can anyone give me detailed comparisons of these three books, their good points and bad? For example, it sounds like the Companion Guide might be more detailed than I want (I know, difficult to tell without me reading it), and that the book is structured as a series of walks. If I'm not doing one of the walks, is it relatively easy to find info on a particular site (using the index)? While I like Michelin green guides generally, the city-specific guides are often not detailed enough for me, and badly organized (though made better by the numerous tabs I insert throughout the books).

Thanks in advance

aeiger

Hi
Why don't you check out Amazon, Barnes&Noble or globecorner.com to do a search of what companies make the specific guide you're looking for. Check out Blue Guides, or Cadogan guides for good guidebooks not focusing mainly on hotels and restaurants.

Lexma90

Thanks for the suggestion; I know how to purchase the books (each of the names in the header publishes a book on Venice), it's a matter of deciding which one would be the best for me. And unfortunately, none of the books are the types where, on Amazon or a similar site, you can look at the table of contents, or the index, or an excerpt. Being able to do that would have been very helpful. (I did check the Cadogan guide for Venice; while I often like Cadogan, the one for Venice is not as detailed as I'm looking for.)

textraveler

Lexma90: You might consider going to a bookstore and browsing through your possible choices. That's what I do when I am comparing books to purchase. You can look at them side by side.

Enjoy Venice - I will be there in less than a month myself!

Xander

I like Touring Club of Italy guides the best but I couldn't find a copy of their new one for the Veneto. I ended up with the Michelin Green which looks very good and also Fodor's See it Venice which really surprised me because, forgive me, I really don't care for Fodor's guides very much as a general rule.

Lexma90

I would LOVE to go to a bookstore to check out the 3 books I'm considering, but none of the bookstores in my area have them (and neither do any of the area libraries) - that's why I'm hoping Fodorites can help out. I have been able to narrow down what I'm looking for to the 3 books I've mentioned, though.

Keep the suggestions coming!

ronin

we used the eyewitness book a lot, and it had a wonderful section that broke the Grand Canal down into bite-sized segments - handy for that vaporetto experience! Barnes & Noble had the best collection of maps for Venice & Florence - we used Streetwise for Venice and it helped a lot. I was curious how many folks did what we'd done with our Italian vacation... buying a mix of new/recycled guide books - the used stuff mostly recent, but outdated, library copies offered on eBay. The main attractions aren't going to move, or anything ;-)

Castellanese

Hey!

I have a book called "Venice: Art and Architecture" published by "Konemann".

It's the best book about Venice that I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot). It's the size of a hand (578 pages) and I don't think there's a more detailed book than that one.

It's got pictures of every single landmark (on the outside and the inside), maps, floor plans, history, interesting articles, etc.

It's divided by "sestieri" and it also talks about Murano, Burano, Torcello, Lido, San Giorgio Maggiore and La Giudecca.

When you see that book, you'll think other books about Venice are mediocre.

I hope this helps.

textraveler

Sorry, Lexma90 - I failed to notice in your OP that you were unable to find the books at your local store. Depending on the time factor, could your local bookstore special order them for you just to look at, or are you required to purchase them because of the special order?

I have heard the "Venice: Art and Architecture" book recommended before. I personally find the Blue Guide and Michelin Green too hard to read while on the run; nice to bone up on the historical info ahead of time, but the print is too small to be helpful to me while actually in the museums, churches, etc.

caroline_edinburgh

For out trip to Venice last year I went to a large local bookshop & spent a couple of hours browsing all the many Venice guidebooks they had. Guess what I ended up with - Fodor's ! We found it very good : my only criticism is that it also included a lot on the surrounding area, which we didn't need & made the book bigger than I'd have liked. Also bought the Rough Guide Venice map which was terrific.

Margaretlb

I have several guides but the one I like best is Baedecker which is a translation of their German guide. Very good details and pics of Grand Canal palazzos (so you can identify what you're looking at from the vaporetto). Also, good descriptions of museum collections, church art, etc. Their map, which is kind of large, is easy to read and very detailed. I also like Rick Steves walking tours. Do you have Chow!Venice for restaurants? Very good guide with updates on their website.

longtimelurker

Hi

You're not getting a lot of response to your very specific question, are you?
We combined Top10 and Blue Guide for a short visit which was quite good. I like the dry detail in Blue Guide but find it overwhelming, so use top10 to prioritise a bit.
I will second the recommendation for the Rough Guide map which is excellent - you really need a good map in Venice and a lot of the guidebook ones aren't sufficient.
I really wanted to say try looking at the website for Stanfords - the best map and travel shop in the world where they have some reviews of books and often have images of the maps to look at. http://www.stanfords.co.uk/

Check the We've been there section also.
I also think you could probably phone them and ask anything about the books -eg does the Companion guide have a cross-reference? and they may take it off the shelf and describe for you. (Really any good travel/map shop would be willing to do this - just ask).

nessundorma

I've never used the Blue Guide in Venice but found it indispensable recently when in Southwest France. I find the Michelin Green Guides skimpy.

My favorite map of Venice is a ZOOM map -- one of those maps that opens up like an oragami flower.

cadillac1234

It depends on what type of books you like...

The Venice Blue Guide is one of the best detailed guides out there with tons of historical facts, walks, etc but very few restaurant suggestions. It's not an easy one to pull out when trying to fiure out which Seistrie you are in however and there are very few photographs so if you need a visual reference book you are better off with the Eyewitness Guide or Fodors.

'Venice for Pleasure' is another great book on Venice although the humour may be a little dry for some people's taste but the walks described are great and the historical background is layed out very nicely.

'A History of Venice' is another great book that breaks down the long, intricate history of Venice is a surprisingly entertaining way. I highly doubt it's something you would want to take over with you but I find it a great read.

One of Venice's greatest treasures is it's history. You have 1500+ years of well-documented history contained in a fairly compact area and being the cross-road between the East and the West it ended up being in the center of some of the most important events of the Middle Ages and the Renissance.

velevele

I used Blue Guide in Venice last year and was very satisfied with it, but then I am a big fan of Blue Guides in general. I'm not familiar with Companion, and I keep trying to like Michelin Greens but haven't succeeded yet.

Good points:

-- Like many of the Blue Guides, it contains more information on Venice than you can possibly use in a single stay of typical length (despite many trips to London, I haven't come close to exhausting the depths of my London Blue Guide).

-- Buildings, art, and city development are placed in historical context.

-- The information is well-organized and easy to use.

-- The maps in the rear were excellent. I had no need to buy an additional Venice map. I think it was the Venice Blue Guide, though, in which I had to create and paste in scales for the maps. I'd have to go back and check.

Bad points:

-- None for me, really. I find Blue Guides to be best for people who are interested in a in-depth discussion of architecture, art, and history. They aren't anecdotal and don't have what some people consider "personality", although I don't agree with that -- it's just a different type of personality. And as another poster mentioned, if you need or like a lot of pictures, Blue Guides are not for you. (I think of Blue Guides as kind of the anti-DK.)

-- As has already been pointed out, if you want detailed hotel listings, restaurant reviews, and a list of the latest hot night spots and shopping places, Blue Guide is not the place to look.

-- Oops, I did think of one bad point. The print is relatively small. Outside I had no trouble, but inside dark churches I sometimes had to move around till I found better light.

I don't have my copy of the book in front of me, but if you have any more questions about it let me know and I can dig it out. I'd be happy to type in the table of contents if you're interested.

Good luck!

capxxx

I like the Eyewitness Guide to Venice much better than the Michelin Green Guide. You can see some excerpts on the Amazon cite.

For example, it has a wonderful diagram of all the buildings on the Grand Canal, with names and some brief histories.

Leilei

Nessundorma-
I'm wondering if the ZOOM map is the same as the popout map that was mentioned by dcd in an earlier thread. I am about to order maps and just wonder if there is another one that I should take a look at.
Thanks,
L

caroline_edinburgh

Like I mentioned before, the Rough Guide map is excellent. It seemed to show every tiny street & square and we never got lost - and it is even waterproof ! I got it after seeing several recommendations here & was very glad I did.

Lexma90

Thanks for all the recent posts. I think I will go with the Blue Guide for Venice. Special thanks to velevele for offering to check her/his copy of the book!

Someone suggested that my local bookstore order the book(s) for me to look at. I possibly would have done so, but two of the books are out of print, so the bookstore couldn't have gotten those. And I did have the bookstore special-order the Companion Guide to Rome, and I felt guilty enough about doing that, just so I could compare the Companion Guide, Michelin Green AND the Blue Guide, each for Rome, but only buying one.

In case you're interested, I went with the Blue Guide for Rome as well (part of the reason I chose it for Venice). It had more detail, slightly, than the Michelin Guide, and I like the layout better, though it weighs more than the Michelin. The Companion Guide is like a novel, and is formatted like a novel. Great for someone who lives in Rome, or is spending a month or two there, but not right for me. (Unless I manage to live in Rome later in life, in which I'll just have to buy it then!)

I already have the Eyewitness Guide to Venice, and while I like it, and used it on the last trip, and feel that it's one of the better Eyewitness books, it doesn't have enough of those history-buff details that I love.

Castellanese

I know that it's not one your listed options, but I personally like the National Geographic Traveler: Venice.

Tons of beautiful pictures, historical context, interesting articles and off-the-beaten-path landmarks.

There's also an excellent guide called Venice: Art and Architecture by Könemann. It describes every single landmark there's to see in Venice and it also features a lot of pictures, detailed maps and interesting articles. Since it's focused only on art and architecture, there are no references concerning hotels or restaurants.

I hope this helps.