Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Rome (Eyewitness Travel Top 10) [Paperback]

Reid Bramblett (Author), Jeffrey Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002 | Series: EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE

A better value than all the competition, these pocket travel guides offer travelers the insight of local experts to easily plan the perfect trip. Take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides. Branded with DK's trusted and familiar "Eyewitness" style, these compact guides make finding the best every destination has to offer easier than ever before! Perfect for business travel and vacation, searching for the finest cuisine or the least expensive places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or the best deals on places to stay, the best family destination or the hottest nightspot, Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides provide current, useful information based on the insight of local experts to find the best of everything that each destination has to offer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Top 10 formula is intriguing. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; 1st edition (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789484374
• ISBN-13: 978-0789484376
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,065,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars perfect for quick trips and even more, March 24, 2003

By 

J. Hill (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Rome (Eyewitness Travel Top 10) (Paperback)

I recently spent two days in Rome with this book as my only guide and it was perfect. However, you could fill up a much longer trip just with the itineraries and suggestions from this book. I didn't even have time to hit all of the top 10 and there are probably over 50 different important sites recommended, described, and mapped out in this book.

My favorite feature in the book is that in addition to the more general listings of restuarants, there are restaurants grouped by location right with the descriptions of the different sites. So, for example, if you're standing outside the Pantheon, as I did, thinking, hmm, it sure would be nice to get something to eat right about now... There's a list of restuarants in a number of price ranges that are located around the Pantheon, for example. Makes it easy either to plan out days either ahead of time or to make spontaneous decisions.

Personally, I wish I had done a bit more reading and research before I went. The information in this book is not very in depth, as you might expect from a top 10 book. However, there's no need to tote along a history book in your suitcase, and this little book does give surprisingly good overviews and juicy tidbits.

A tiny hint aside from the book, I found that many of the sites in Rome did not take as long to see as I thought. The Collosseum, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, were all surprisingly quick visits, it doesn't take long to appreciate and there isn't a great deal of detail to go into. Of course, this all depends on your tastes. I would have spent longer at the Vatican than I did, taken a couple tours. Also, be advised that the Sistine Chapel keeps weird hours from what I understand, so plan around it. And as for the Forum, or Il Foro Romano, nothing is labeled, and there are no official tours as far as I know, so learn about it beforehand if you want to fully appreciate it. That is my completely off-the-cuff, amateur and unsubstantiated advice. : )

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Choice If You're Looking for One Book to Walk Around With in Rome, February 11, 2006

By 

JamesNYC "JamesNYC" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Rome (Eyewitness Travel Top 10) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book to walk around with in Rome and it is also a very popular choice. During my recent trip to Rome, I saw many other tourists walking around with this book in their hands. The book is small enough to fit easily in a woman's purse and has a very good and detailed map of the historic centre of the city. There is also a decent but less detailed and less useful map of greater Rome.

Like the other "Top 10" travel guides, "Top 10 Rome" is in the format of top ten lists with related narrative and information for things like tourist sites, hotels, restaurants, etc. The list of top ten tourist sites is followed by lists of the top ten things about each site, and there are maps/diagrams of the Vatican, the Forum, Palatine Hill, and several museums. There are also top ten lists of sites, restaurants, shopping, bars and nightlife for different sections of the city with small maps showing where each place is.

There are top ten lists of "Ancient Sites," "Museums and Galleries," "Squares and Fountains," "Villas and Palaces," "Romantic Spots," "Green Spaces," and "Rome for Children." There are top ten lists for things such as "General Information," "Getting to Rome, "Getting Around Rome," "Eating and Drinking Tips," "Rome on a Budget" and "Things to Avoid." There are eight top ten lists of hotels/places to stay.

There is a top ten list of churches but in Rome you would really need a top twenty-five list of churches. You don't have to worry much about this, however, as most other churches of interest that are not included in the "Top 10 churches" list are included in the top ten lists of sites for different areas of the city, with one noteworthy exception: The book does not mention Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, founded in AD 320, where pieces of Christ's cross and an inscription by Pontius Pilate are on display.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little on-the-go book, April 30, 2007

By 

Ricardo Amaro - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides: Rome (Eyewitness Travel Top 10) (Paperback)

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.