Eyewitness Travel Guide to Venice and the Veneto [Paperback]

Christopher Catling (Author), Susie Boulton (Author)

Book Description

Series: EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE | Publication Date: January 1, 1997

The guide that shows you what other travel books only tell you!

Like an impressionistic painting brought to life DK's Eyewitness Travel Guide: Venice & the Veneto captures this quintessential Italian city in all its glory. Showcasing the architecture, museums, palazzi, canals, and churches in more than 800 striking full-color photographs this "new breed of guidebook" (Travel & Leisure) covers Venice's main sightseeing areas. Marvel at the beauty of Grand Canal, trace the history of the Basilica San Marco, view the largest collection of Venetian art at the Accademia, and explore the lush countryside of the Veneto Plain. Highlighting the construction of Venice, the city's history, regional cuisines, and the traditions of the gondoliers - this is the only guide you'll need for this ultimate vacation destination.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read guidebook than the Eyewitness Travel Guide: Venice and the Veneto. Spilling over with all sorts of useful information for the traveler, you'll find three-dimensional drawings, floor plans, and detailed neighborhood maps, as well as timelines, charts--even the most scenic canal routes. Broken down into four sections--"Venice," the "Veneto Region" (which takes in Verona and the Dolomites), "Traveler's Needs," and "Survival Guide"--the guide paints a complete picture of the area. Readers will especially love the hundreds of color photos of everything from Venice's famous Rialto Bridge to the lavish costumes worn for Carnival. You'll also find illustrated neighborhood walks (including San Marco, Dorsoduro, and the Castello), room-by-room explanations of the Doge's Palace and the Basilica San Marco, and the best cafes (Caffe Florian), hotels (the Gritti Palace), and bars (Harry's, the birthplace of the bellini). --Jill Fergus

Review

...You feel, looking at them, as if you could close the book and step into the street. -- Contra Costa Times

...considered to be the world's best travel resource to over 30 destinations around the world, make it easier to plan a splendid vacation. -- North American Press Syndication

Both novice and experienced travelers will be captivated. -- US News & World Report

Each book is a visual as well as informational feast about a particular place. -- The New York Times

Easily the best city guides available today. -- PLAYBOY

Encyclopedic in scope, it's meant to be used before, during, and after your stay. -- Travel & Leisure

The Best Guidebooks Ever -- SKY MAGAZINE

The best travel guides ever. -- Sky Magazine -Delta In flight Magazine

The most graphically exciting and visually pleasing series on the market. -- Chicago Tribune

Want to know where to get a great espresso on your way to the Uffizi? Or how much to tip a hotel maid in New York City? Try these travel guides, each an intricate trove of 3-D aerial views, landmark floor plans, color photos and essential eating, shopping and entertainment info. With titles covering Paris, Prague, and London, these pocket-sized guides are like a Michelangelo fresco: deliriously rich in detail. -- People Magazine

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564588610
• ISBN-13: 978-1564588616
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,352,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm a DK addict, April 28, 2002

By 

John Andrew Deskins "Professional listener" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Venice and the Veneto (Paperback)

OK . . . I'm actually a travel book addict, and I bought four different (yes, I know it's excessive) guides for my recent trip to Venice. The DK guide was my favorite. It is completely engrossing, with actual pictures of the food, the palazza, many of the art works, etc. It's a perfect guide for a 'high points' look at the most touristed sights: the Basilica, the Doge's Palace, etc. My favorite feature turned out to be "A View of the Grand Canal." I actually sat with the guide open in my lap on the vaporetto ride from Piazalle Roma to my stop near the Salute and could watch as every important church and palace on the canal passed by. It was so much fun! And the guide is absolutely gorgeous! Even after my trip, I have enjoyed just flipping through the guide to take a look at some of the beautiful photos and drawings. It's a great souvenir in that it has photos of many things you are not permitted to photograph: the insides of churches, museums, etc.

So why only four stars? Well, the guide is actually a little light on more practical information, such as where you can get a good meal for a decent price. It's full of all the expected tourist recommendations (e.g., Harry's Bar), without telling you about how to navigate a good baccari like a Venetian (although I did think the pages which included descriptions AND photos of typical Venetian dishes was excellent). If you have a budget of a few hundred dollars a day to plop down on food, that may be ok. The rest of us will need some help. And while it may be an unfair criticism, the guide gives all its information in lire. Unless you want to carry around a currency converter to figure out the Euro equivalent, I'd supplement this guide with another. In fairness though, I'd like to give it 4.5 stars. It is really an excellent book.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect travelling companion, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Venice and the Veneto (Paperback)

This wonderful guide book is crammed with pertinent information, helpful as well as lovely photographs, detailed maps and valuable suggestions. Refering to it constantly while we explored Venice enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of this enchanting city and somehow with all this the book is remarkably light weight. I plan to buy only Eyewitness Travel Guides in the future!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Eyewitness essential part of your travel fun, April 30, 2004

By 

Jie Yin "apollo08" (Northbrook, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venice & The Veneto (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Turtleback)

DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides are our best travel companion during our tour of Europe. Full of tips, pictures, maps, site info, history, local reference ... every page is not only helpful but beautiful. The layout anf format is very innovative and reader friendly, a ture standing out from any other travel books. It was interesting to see that almost everywhere we went, we saw other people (tourists apparently) holding and checking the same DK book on the street.
The coverage is comprehensive and growing year after year, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice ... every city we went have its own Eyewitness serie. We studied them before our trip, consulted them during our trip, and kept them as memo and photo book after our trip. They are simply essential part of the travel fun.

I recommend buying indiviual city/area book wherever possible instead of the country book. For example, buy Rome, Florence, and Venice books instead of Eyewitness Italy (unless your destination doesn't have its own Eyewitness). That way you get more detailed and targeted info.