Rick Steves' Rome 2009

Comment: This is one of two travel guides I purchased for a visit to Rome. The other was the Eyewitness Travel Guide (2010 version) by Adele Evans. Between the two, I am well on the way to having the city memorized before we go. Great resource.

Comment: My husband and I just got back from 18 days in Italy, and we used this book and Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany book for when we were in those areas. Both books are excellent! He gives you great information that is accurate and reliable (about pricing, opening hours, etc.), and provides a great overview of the region. We had brought along two other guidebooks about Italy, but ended up using the Steves' ones pretty much exclusively since they were so thorough and complete. He also has a great sense of humor that makes his books fun to read.

If you go to Rick Steves' website, he also has free audio tours that you can download and put on your mp3 player. My husband and I did downloaded them before we went, and it was great to be able to have tours of many of the major attractions in Italy (the Colosseum, the Uffizi, Pompeii, etc.) that were conducted at our own pace. We saved quite a bit of money from not having to rent audio tours at every site we visited.

The only downside is that so many people in Italy had Steves' books that getting into some of his recommended restaurants was a bit difficult. He mentions this problem himself in his books.

Overall, though, I highly recommend this book if you are going to Rome! It was our first time using Steves' books, but it won't be our last!

Comment: I bought the Rick Steves guides for a recent 2 week trip to Italy and they made the trip so easy. The guides are easy to figure out, have great recommendations on places to eat, sleep, see. The walk-though tours of various museums are great (& save you money on an audio guide - especially if you use in combo with his Italy podcasts). The descriptions and maps are easy to follow too. We ate at several of his recommended restaurants and were never disappointed. The guides are also light weight so you can easily carry them around all day for easy reference. I highly recommend these to anyone planning a trip to Italy (we used the Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre & Almafi Coast guide as well as the Italian Phrasebook & the free pod-casts).

For Rome you will also need a good map - we used this map and liked it:
Streetwise Rome Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Rome, Italy - Folding pocket size travel map with metro map, subway

Comment: We used Rick Steves' books throughout our entire tour of Italy and will use him for wherever we travel going forward!

Comment: This book more than paid for itself when I used it in Rome. Great walking tours, museum guides and restaurant reccommendation. Lots of useful practical information.