Customer Reviews

Fodor's Rome, 6th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The advantage of this book is that provides information to traveler about sightseeing places, hotels and restaurants. Only 1/3 of the book gives some background on places of interest in Rome. It is a brief information, but still valuable considering that most museums will not provide you any handouts or information materials except the actual entrance ticket.

Book has no pictures, so if you are deciding which pretty places you want to see first, you better do some advance research on Rome before your trip.

The best part of your trip could be visit to ancient city of Ostia Antica easily accessed via public transporation for only one Euro. This ancient city is only a side bar one sentence long on the page 16 of the book. Luckily, I met a couple at the hotel that made recommendation about Ostia Antica and it is one of the best things I have done on my trip wihtout ever consulting a travel book. Hopefully, the last edition (7th) of this city covers more information about this factastic "Pompeii of Rome" located on the sea.

Good price, shipped fast, good condition. Only problem was tear out map of Rome was missing. Very pleased overall.

I want to start my review with getting the negative aspects of this out of the way. First, there are no photos to speak of save for the front cover. No images to accompany the many, many pages of text. I think that this definitely works against the book. Second, the map that accompanies the book is not that good. It's too small and doesn't encompass some important locations, especially Testaccio. Lastly, sometimes the writing is a bit bland and the art historical and historical facts are inaccurate while _some_ of the observations about Rome are typically touristy and lack insight.

However, in spite of all of this, this is an excellent guide book. This book excels in the practical areas - such as general factual information on heading to Rome, going to Rome, travel trips, weather information, and other miscellaneous information, etc. The walking tours are also quite good and the mini-maps that are included, while orange in color, are easy to read and are well numbered. The sections on shopping and side trips outside Rome are also quite good and one of the best sections of the book. All in all, the book presents a beautiful image of Rome that is enticing. After reading the book, I felt compelled to buy the first available ticket to the Eternal City. I'm definitely looking forward to the 7th edition due out in September that I hope will have more photos and a better map.

If this is your first trip to Rome, this is a guidebook that you must take with you. Couple it with the National Geographic Traveler Guidebook to Rome and Rick Steves's Rome Guidebook, and you can't go wrong!

This book was great to read before our trip to Italy and it was one of 3 books we took with us. It has a different take on Rome than the Rick Steve's series and I liked it's attitude about travel in Italy. It had some good recommendations for places to eat and stay. When we return to Italy I plan to buy their book on Florence.