Rick Steves' Venice 2009

This book has become so hugely popular and successful there are no real secrets anymore. Booking recommended hotels is nearly impossible. Recommended eating establishments are usually crowded with Rick's book toting tourists, and I think this may even be now available in other languages.

The book is very helpful in several other areas. Directions are pretty clear and precise when navigating or planning a walking tour. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book (as well as his other travel books) was tips on getting around, what to buy, when to buy it and what to avoid. For instance, the book was exceptionally helpful when in museums. Thanks to this book's recommendations, we purchased the Venice card and Vaporetto Passes once we got to Venice. This suggestion avoided outrageous service charges by online services as well as high shipping charges. The Venice card got us into many museums without standing in line and we waited until the end of our 12 day stay to buy the...Read more

I just got back from a four-day trip to Venice, and this guidebook was absolutely wonderful. The real strength of it was the detail--along with an overview listing of the main sights, several full tours of the main museums, churches, and other landmarks were included in the book, room by room. Some of the museums had their own English-language notes, but every time I found the commentary in this book more interesting (and entertaining!)--and for several sights, including most of the churches (with some of the best artwork in Venice), there was no information available at all--having this book with me meant I knew what I was looking at! In addition, he has some great walking tours with little interesting placese that I never would have found otherwise, and his dining suggestions were absolutely great--my boyfriend and I did a pub crawl of several little eateries he recommended, and every place was delicious, affordable, and in most places we were the only tourists there! I cannot...Read more

I use this book for a two day trip to Venice. As I had very little time it really helped me focus on the important sites. Most important were the little hints about when to see the sites. Although Venice was overrun with tourists, I did not find the restaurants or musems to be a problem if I followed the time recommendations. Skip the commercial tours and follow the book recomendations.