Rome (Blue Guides)

]I must confess that some of the reviews for the Blue Guides leave me a bit puzzled. If you know what you are in for, this is one amazing book.

To begin with, I suppose that there are two different kinds of guides: Those that help you plan your trip, and those that will aid you during your trip. Some try to do both and do so with some level of proficiency. Few do both really well. Some do one really well.

My go-to guides for those that will help me plan my trips are the Eyewitness Guides. My first trip to Rome was as a fourth-year PhD student in 2005. That Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides) has gone back with me on each subsequent trip. It's concise, has decent pictures, user friendly maps. It would be fine for, say, the kind of person who goes into the Louvre in Paris and wants to see only the Venus de...Read more

I lived in Rome for a summer, studying Latin. My classmates and I had most of the usual guidebooks between us and the Blue Guide was far and away the best guide of them all. Nothing else comes close to the depth and breadth of material in the Blue Guides. True, they don't give you information about hotels or restaurants, but I assume travel accommodations are made before you arrive in a city and if you really want a Michelin restaurant, consult a Michelin guide. But with these qualified exceptions, the Blue Guide has detailed information on everything you could possibly encounter in Rome. It is a fat little book, but it saves you the effort of carrying anything else.

PS - for maps, I recommend getting Streetwise Rome. It's laminated, discreet, easy to use and folds smoothly.

In-deep information about historic places in Rome, including very useful floor plans of museums, churches and archeological centers. This book is for the traveler interested in learning and understanding the history and culture of Rome, not for the one going just for taking pictures by the monuments. You will not need a tour guide with this book.