Italy (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Comment: This Guide was the most important thing I traveled with in Italy. It is a wonderful book to use. I have used some of their other books before and did not hesitate to pick this up before our trip. The Guide gives enough details to direct you to see the really important things and those that may not be included in regular tours. The maps and directions provided were wonderful as were the descriptions. I highly recommend this guide.

Comment: I do not travel abroad without taking my corresponding DK book with me. However, I tend to prefer the city-specific books as they are more useful than the country-specific ones. The Italy book was helpful when we ended up traveling into the countryside and I was able to find a small town listed in there, but the information in the country-specific books (as opposed to the city-specific books) is not as inclusive. I suggest purchasing the city ones for your destination; often-times these city-specific books will include "farther afield" sections that have information for smaller cities in the region where the larger city you're in is located.

Comment: I have purchased many other DK books, and I really find the entire series to be outstanding. Interesting facts, details, maps, pictures and illustrations on every single page. Helpful guidelines and phrases, history and more. No book has proved to be more conclusive as a guide to my travel destinations. I often refer to it as THE book.

That said, the DK line of books for any given country are almost TOO hefty. It doesn't fit in any normal pocket, and is a significant weight in any bag, weighing about as much as a medium size bottle of water. It's also not the most conspicuous book if you're looking to 'blend in' as it clearly has 'ITALY' in huge letters on the cover and spine.

But information is invaluable. So I lug it around anyway. On my recent vacation to Italy, I was able to successfully navigate and tour myself through Rome, Venice, and Florence. However, the book covers the COUNTRY of Italy, so large sections of the book went unused.

Alternatively, DK also makes books for specific regions. For the lighter weight and less superflous information, one might consider just bringing DK Rome or DK Venice along, rather than the Bible that is DK Italy.

Happy Travels!

Comment: I bought Eye Witness Travel Italy then was loaned Rick Steve's Italy. Eye Witness had a lot of pictures and not much useful info to smooth and fine tune your self guided travel. Steve's had much useful information without the pictures. Schedules and tips about pitfalls to avoid really made Steve's stand out. I am bringing only Rick Steve's to Italy. If you are not on a tour and have to make your own plans then I would recommend Rick Steve,s Italy. Hope this helps.

Comment: I am planning a trip to Italy and chose this guide because of its good reviews. After reading it, I'm left disappointed. It seems to cover all its bases and is certainly full of useful information. Though this guide pretty much tells you about all the things you could do, it doesn't tell you at all what you should do. I was looking for a book with recommendations about what to see, where to go, and what to eat. This book will not tell you that.