Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Rome

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

 

 

I took this book to Rome in 2004. It covered the sights well enough, and I managed to get a very decent hotel using its recommendations. The restaurant list was where it was weakest. I did much better eating at restaurants that were not in the book--its selections, when I ate at them, were mediocre to not very good at all.

I just (January 2007) spent six days with this guide as my constant companion on a holiday in Rome. I also saw many other people carrying this book around with them - so it seems it is a popular choice! I would say this book was an essential part of the success of my trip.

* Walking around central Rome I noticed that every other person seemed to be carrying some sort of map! The maps in the guide are clear enough for navigation in the city - once you understand their limits. For example, not every street is shown and/or labelled, but in the centre of the city you're never all that far away from a street that _is_ shown. Once I got the hang of the rather chaotic way the streets work, I felt comfortable with wandering around for a while and then finding my place on the map. But if (like me) you had booked a room in a hotel well outside the city centre, you will want to get a proper map of Rome and/or take a printout of the area from Google Maps - I did both. But in the city centre it's much easier to have the guide open to the map pages than to use a large folding map.

* In the shopping section there is a strong (but certainly not exclusive) emphasis on clothes/fashion/design. There's no doubt that this correctly reflects the vast number of such shops in Rome. Nevertheless, that is not my sort of thing and I would have liked more coverage of other types of store.

* The walking tour section is excellent. I did two of the walks pretty much as per the directions and found them very enjoyable. Be aware though that if you want to go in to the places on the tour you need to check opening times - for example, I started the Trastevere tour at about 10:30 and by the time I got to the second half of the tour most of the places were closed. Well, that was my fault - the book gives opening times for the places mentioned on the tours.

* Every place mentioned has specific directions on how to use public transport (metro and/or bus) to get there from Termini station - these directions were invaluable and I relied on them many times.

This guide is, sadly to say, disappointing considering it is a Lonely Planet publication. In planning my next trip to Rome, I thought that this might be a great book to work from, but I found it to be poorly organized and overcrowded. The authors of this book crammed way too much information into this book that it borders on unusable. There are also very few photos and what photos are provided are not very helpful.

Other Lonely Planet Guides to Rome would be a better choice than this. National Geographic Traveler Rome Guide is more insightful and will orientate the reader much better than this book will.

It does come with a decent map that can be torn out, but it's paper. My only concern with that is being caught out in the rain. The map doesn't seem durable, and I wonder if it would even survive the trip. So if you're in the market for a guidebook to Rome, check out Lonely Planet's other options (besides this book), Nat'l Geographic Travelers Rome Guide, or Rome for Dummies.

We are planning our first trip to Rome, which will also be our first trip to Europe, and while this book has been of some use to me so far it doesn't have the very basic information that a first time traveler needs. For example, the section on the Colosseum gives the ticket price, but what I really need to know is, do they take cash only? Credit cards? What's the best time to go to avoid the longest lines? This is the type of information I need for all the sights in Rome. There is virtually no information about how to protect oneself from pickpocketers or how to negotiate Rome's public transportation system or what to do if your American cell phone won't work in Italy. A section on culture and etiquette--how not to inadvertently offend Romans, what are customs regarding ordering in Restaurants, can an American go jogging through the streets early in the morning without being regarded as a total freak---would be helpful and I was astonished that this book had so little to say on the subject. I'm hoping there's a "Rome for Dummies" book to fill in the information gap.

Credit where it's due: the guide did cover the basics.

What it missed was most of the wisdom for seeing the city efficiently obtained in even a single visit. Some examples:
- Italian restaurant customs are vastly different from American customs. For example you seat yourself and must ask for anything you want (to order, a drink refill, the check, etc.) - it's just their way of doing things. None of this was mentioned.
- The best times to beat crowds and lines. I went several places at the suggested times and hit long lines, then exited a couple hours later to see almost no line at all...
- Organized tours get different lines to see historical attractions (Vatican, Colosseum, etc.) than the general public. Many of these tours are a cheap way to cut through the wait even if you don't want the tour. I figured out that paying 5-10 euros for a tour can almost completely avoid a 1-2 hour wait; I just handed my pass to the guide and said "no thanks" after getting through the entrance.

I always prefer Lonely Planet to the others when planning a trip and while on a trip. This was the first time I wanted to throw a book into the shredder. I was in Rome, had figured out by reading the book what I wanted to see, and this look really let me down by not helping me find my way around. The maps were too small to read. I have never dealt with such disorganization. First you would find a place you wanted to go to, then turn to the page the map was on. This might be 20 or 30 pages away from where you are reading the description. The description tells you the page the map is on. The map has code numbers (147, 234 etc) in tiny tiny print, sometimes with a background color almost the same as the number. You need bright light, great vision and a magnifying glass. But wait, it gets worse. You have to turn to yet another page to find the attraction you are looking for (from the description on the page you started from), and then identify the code number that is on the map page, which of course you have now lost since you are probably walking on the street, with you finger on one page, looking at a second, and trying to find the third. The maps overlap each other for no obvious reason (the same street location on more than one map but attractions on one or the other but not both). Maps straddle two pages with the sections nearing the binding not exactly matching up. One of the places whose description sounded like a place I wanted to go told me to turn to the map on such and such page and when I got to the page that was the index to the map on page such and such, the attraction wasn't even listed. Did anybody proofread this? The shame is the attractions listed and the descriptions of them are of good quality and make you want to go, which is what a travel book is for. But then the book doesn't help you find the place the way it should. I like to use public transportation, and many of the attractions have the bus stop or metro stop noted. But you would think they would also tell you what bus or what metro line? Of course not. There is a bus stop listed, but you are totally on your own to figure out what bus to take to get there. I could go on and on. It is not enough to tell you to buy a different book, Lonely Planet should take this one off the shelf and replace it quickly before Lonely Planet's good reputation is ruined.

Great in depth rome guide for someone who is in the city for a short time, it can save you a great bit of time getting around. Maps and everything are of great detail. Really useful.

I spent about 7 days in Rome, and found this guide very practical. I also had the Green Guide (Guide Vert-Italy) which wasn't so great for Rome-only.

First, Lonely Planet guides have the worst physical quality of any guides. Maps are illegible as they are black and white and there are almost no photos. Second, the guides are not great at emphasizing the "must sees"; everything is wonderful. LP does have a "see in a day" or "see in two days" section, but I have found this itinerary mediocre and particular to individual tastes (I for example do not care to sit in a fancy restaurant for lunch for 3 hours).

The only other negative thing I can say about LP is that they recommended Perugia versus Assissi, though the latter was probably nicer and closer (though I didn't go due to LP's recommendation).

But LP did have some great area sites, including Tivoli, Ostia Antiqua, and others. LP is great in the practical areas - bus lines, train routes and schedules, etc. LP consistently surpasses all other guide books in this area.

In general, I do not focus a lot on shopping or restaurants. Serious "tourists" are always walking around and seeing sites, and tend to eat when hungry rather than go to a particular restaurant.

LP also has great budget lodgings listed, which in Rome is quite important. Hostels were consistently higher quality, based on some conversations I had with people, than hotels.

Eyewitness guides have better graphics and maps, for example, though you can get decent enough maps of Rome from hotels, and most of the historic sites have passable explanations and illustrations, either in brochures, books you buy, or on display.

In terms of total number of places/sites, LP tends to win precisely because they have so few graphics.

I think LP could vastly improve just by adding color maps and a few more photos, and still keep the same variety and quantity of information.

LP Rome tends to be best if you have a lot of time and you don't mind reading through the book several times. Otherwise, a more easier book such as Eyewitness might be better because it will cut out some of the smaller sites that LP mentions.

This book saved my husband and me in Rome earlier this year. The friends we were traveling with had purchased the Lonely Planet Italy guidebook but it did not have nearly enough information to get us around Rome. This guide provided excellent walking tours and information on the major sites in Rome. Its multiple maps of many parts of the city made navigating the often twisty streets of the city more managegable. Definately a must for any first time traveler to Rome!

Lonely Planet is great for inexhaustible lists of information that you cannot possibly go through, like hotel listings, restaurants, nightlife, plus some interesting background info on history, culture, politics, and the like.

I just got back from a week's vacation in Rome and I found that Lonely Planet was really useful for finding my way around the city (pretty decent maps) and finding lodging and local phone numbers. As for actually exploring places of interest, I found Rick Steves' Rome much more detailed and fun to follow.