Customer Reviews

National Geographic Traveler: Rome, 3rd Edition

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

 

 

This was a great travel book for our 10 day trip to Rome. I especially like the diagrams showing what the ruins used to look like. The book has lots of great info and insight about the sights and local culture. I would have liked a few more restaurant recommendations, especially on the less expensive end of things.

This book is packed with great photos and historical information, exactly as you would expect from a National Geographic production. The sections are organized by area, so if you know you are in a certain part of town, it's easy to reference for restaurants and such in that part of town.

My three complaints with this book:
1. Very little on hours for even the most common attractions. Many sights shut down early or break mid-day, so planning a shorter trip through the city requires another reference to make sure you see everything you want to see.
2. The maps could do a better job indicating where places of interest can be found. I prefer the Lonely Planet or Let's Go guides for the usability of the maps in finding sights, restaurants, and other notable places.
3. Many sights in Rome ban using a camera or carrying a bag or pocket knife, so some symbols to describe common run-ins would be helpful.

Again, the book is great for the history and some quality photos to let you know what to expect. It just isn't a day-to-day, down-and-dirty guidebook.

National Geographic does is again with spectacular pictures, amazing art and informational text. Great book worth buying for planning a trip and learning about Rome. If you are planning a trip don't think twice: BUY IT!!!!!

This book has a number of problems. Three major ones are summed up by the reviewer J Stroh but, unfortunately, there are others. In my opinion the most serious are:

1. Maps in the beginning of chapters are not that clear. At the beginning of every chapter in the book there are maps showing districts but it is difficult to find sites discussed in the accompanying chapter.

2. A very serious problem is a lack of discussion as to how much time should reasonably be spent in order to see each site of interest.

3. Another serious problem, related to the first, is that the book provides no useful advice as to key points to see in museums. This may not sound like a serious problem but some museums give visitors only a short period of time inside (from 45 minutes to 2 hours). Considering the fact that this amount of time is no where close to what is required to see these museums in their entirety some advice on what to see in museums in those short time periods would be very useful.

4. The book is broken out mostly into chapters covering geographic areas but there is no real useful advice on what routes to take to see as much as possible as quickly as possible. Considering that most tourists will only be in Rome for a few days and one can spend months in Rome without being able to see everything this would have been useful.

5. Related to item 4 above, some advice on priorities of what to see would have been nice too. Considering that it would take weeks (if not months) to see everything mentioned in the book, advice on tours and sites that could be completed within a relatively short period(s) of time (i.e., 3-4 days, 1 week) would have been nice.

6. The author should have provided some information regarding museums and their policies regarding taking photographs (or even permitting visitors to bring in cameras) and carrying napsacks or other bags.

Considering the plaethora of tour books available on Rome, with the weaknesses mentioned above, it should not prove too difficult to purchase a better book (even at random).

this showed up in the condition promised and long before the estimated delivery date. Very happy.