Customer Reviews

Frommer's Italy 2007 (Frommer's Complete Guides)

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

 

 

I think these authors seem like they pick more of the expensive places to stay, eat, etc. I hoped that they would have a more family friendly perspective, but it leaned more to what you might do if you were single and rich, so if that's what you are, then this is for you.

If you like to read small print and not see any pictures, then this is the guide for you. I was disapointed. I have ordered several different guides for Italy and this was not a good one since I enjoy visual displays to go with great writing. This was a lot of dull small printed writing with no visual effects.

I WOULD SUGGEST "DK Eyewitness Travel Italy"it is wonderful with the visual displays and historic lessons. It was very colorful and had the everything I was looking for.. maps, photographs, area color codes to divide sections, shopping suggestions, survival guide. bus and tram routes mapped out, and historical/travel lessons.

This is an excellent book to use if you are planning a trip to italy, in terms of the quality of the information, it is informative and is also up to date, furthermore, the maps are both accurate as well as in proportion; the only fault we found with it, is that it lacks pictures, thus, it is excellent as a guide and planner, but has to be used in conjunction with the net, to be able to view images of the sites.

Its a great tourist guide, all you need to help you plan your Italy vacation. Complete reviews of hotels, places to go..etc..includes lots of map. Very useful.

I bought this item to plan my trip to Italy this past April. I think that the reviews for what sites to see are the most useful parts of this book, and I think most of them were right on. I do disagree with the sections on 'what to do if you have XYZ amount of time' because some of those itineraries have one missing some incredible opportunities. Some reviews had directions on how to progress through a particular museum to view the must-see attractions; this was particularly useful.

What I found frustrating were the reviews on where to shop and where to dine. In spite of locating the correct address for a given establishment, most of the time the places were no longer there. Additionally, the ones that were still in business were usually very expensive, especially given the current weakness of the dollar to the euro. Many of the shops listed for 'authentic' items (glass, lace, mosaics, etc) contained items that would have cost several hundred dollars, sometimes well over a thousand. This is just out of budget for most people, I think. A good addition would be sections that contain reviews for places that are truly inexpensive, for example a good place to pick up lunch on the run and not 'inexpensive' as in double-digit euros (the equivalent of $40-50) for a mid-day meal.

I had also bought a detailed, water-proof map for each major city made by Rough Guide. These maps had starred establishments of this kind, that were truly inexpensive, and I found them more effective than this Frommer's guide. The suggestions for gelato in Florence were spot-on; I went back more than once. I will try a Rough Guide book for my next trip.

I'm not sure I trust the quality of update in this guide. First, the Rome metro diagram was not up to date...by about five years. It didn't include the Cipro and beyond stops. And, at least one of the addresses in Milan was not correct. I ended up knocking on the business' back door!

This book was wonderful to give us great tips of places to go eat and visit. We went to Italy and my husband just ripped out pages of the book that we knew we wanted to remember. We didn't want to have to carry around the book and look too much like a tourist. We read the book before we left and then used it the entire time we were in Italy. It was a great find and one I would recommend. Of course, I would probably recommend the most current year so you can make sure the places recommended are still there.

Well I got this guide because I was planning to go to Italy, but ultimately wasn't able to make that trip, so my review is based on my experience reading this book, not on how much it helped with an actual trip to Italy.

The book is helpful at establishing what the main attractions are in Italy, as well as a bit of the culture and heritage of the country. If you want a good place to start in planning your trip, this isn't a bad option. However, it has very few illustrations, so I found myself referring to other reference books or the internet to get a good mental picture for certain locations.

This book was simply not as helpful as a guide should be. The basic itineraries it suggested were good - but those can be found in minutes by searching the Internet.

We followed its suggestions for Tuscany and those were the worst! We ended up spending beaucoup bucks on winery tours that this book very highly recommended but were horrible serving wines that were not that great! And touring the outside of castle gardens that must have seen better days. Oh, and visitors were not allowed inside the castle either. What a waste.

We used the Rough Guide for Egypt and that book was indispensable. So for Italy, I'd look elsewhere from Frommer's.

I received Frommers Itally 2007 book before the seller indicated that it would arrive! It was in excellent condition and has been very useful thus far.