Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' Venice 2008

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book has become so hugely popular and successful there are no real secrets anymore. Booking recommended hotels is nearly impossible. Recommended eating establishments are usually crowded with Rick's book toting tourists, and I think this may even be now available in other languages.

The book is very helpful in several other areas. Directions are pretty clear and precise when navigating or planning a walking tour. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book (as well as his other travel books) was tips on getting around, what to buy, when to buy it and what to avoid. For instance, the book was exceptionally helpful when in museums. Thanks to this book's recommendations, we purchased the Venice card and Vaporetto Passes once we got to Venice. This suggestion avoided outrageous service charges by online services as well as high shipping charges. The Venice card got us into many museums without standing in line and we waited until the end of our 12 day stay to buy the three day Vaporetto Pass as our legs got weary.

Once inside places like the Doge's Palace or Correr Museum (included with the Venice card), the book will walk you through room by room pointing out the highlights. With that said some of the dry humor is okay but way overboard in many instances but doubtful this was Rick's own words. With book in hand, my wife read aloud (but not too loud) guiding us brilliantly through the massive Doge's Palace. Maps, directions, where to begin, which steps to take, what to see, sequence of rooms, and little known facts or secrets were pointed out along the way. These were tips and highlights I am sure were normally reserved for the paid tour guides. For instance; the secret note boxes (if your name fell in here, you were guilty), the map room with the newly discovered Americas painted backwards (California was on the east coast), the chamber with the secret door in the paneling (if you were in this room and were sentenced by the 10, you went sent through this door never to be seen again). Once inside the large hall with the largest painted canvas, we would have never found the entrance to the Bridge of Sighs had it not been for this book. A small placard marked this corridor which most of the visitors missed and we certainly would have missed had this book not directed us to a certain corner and narrow corroder. This turned out to be quite an amazing tour within itself. The Bridge of Sighs has to be one of the most photographed sights of Venice, from the outside. So imagine being on the inside looking out at the hoards of tourists pointing their cameras in your direction. Once through the bridge was another museum. One highlight that I am so glad was pointed out was the ancient graffiti carved into the stone cells over the centuries by the prisoners. Surely missed by most visitors but precise directions on where to go and look were pointed out by the book. We soon found ourselves experts on navigating this massive palace and apparently others did also as they began to nonchalantly listen into the commentary of the book and followed us in our tour as if we became their guides.

Some of the most beautiful and impressive Venetian art and Renaissance masterpieces are within the walls of any of hundreds of neighborhood churches within Venice. While most are not on anyone's tours, several are pointed out in Rick's book and are certainly not to be missed.

A great companion books to this edition is; Knopf Map guide Venice: The City in Section by Section Maps (invaluable true pocket size book with easy to read fold out maps, guide, eats, drinks, sleeps and sites of the 6 districts of Venice) and Rick Steve's Italian Phrase Book (handy for even those of us that do speak some Italian).

I have been to Venice perhaps a dozen times, this being the first trip back in numerous years. This book was extremely helpful in the preplanning, preparations, expectations, and guiding that it should be a must have if not memorized. Read the entire book well before you go, on the plane as you are going, and once you get there. That's how important and useful this guide is.

As mentioned, this book has become so hugely popular that if you plan on going book the hotels referenced well in advance but don't be surprised if they are booked up. As a side note, search many sites for the same hotel availability (not just Expedia, Orbitz, etc. but also Venere.com and even search for a particular hotel's web site) and even call the hotel for availability. We got lucky this way with a side trip to Verona when all sites said there was no availability. By the way, Padua (Padova) and Verona are must see day trips also mentioned in this book if you have the time.

I just got back from a four-day trip to Venice, and this guidebook was absolutely wonderful. The real strength of it was the detail--along with an overview listing of the main sights, several full tours of the main museums, churches, and other landmarks were included in the book, room by room. Some of the museums had their own English-language notes, but every time I found the commentary in this book more interesting (and entertaining!)--and for several sights, including most of the churches (with some of the best artwork in Venice), there was no information available at all--having this book with me meant I knew what I was looking at! In addition, he has some great walking tours with little interesting placese that I never would have found otherwise, and his dining suggestions were absolutely great--my boyfriend and I did a pub crawl of several little eateries he recommended, and every place was delicious, affordable, and in most places we were the only tourists there! I cannot recommend this book highly enough--I'm going to get the Rick Steves city or country guidebooks for everywhere I visit in the future for which they're available.

I use this book for a two day trip to Venice. As I had very little time it really helped me focus on the important sites. Most important were the little hints about when to see the sites. Although Venice was overrun with tourists, I did not find the restaurants or musems to be a problem if I followed the time recommendations. Skip the commercial tours and follow the book recomendations.

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be seated across from some ladies who had this book on the train from Florence to Venice. After learning that we had no guidebook for the city, they very kindly gave it to us to use during our stay. We are soooooo grateful! We used it constantly. We loved the way Rick had all the walking tours laid out, and we did several of them. Since we only had two days in the city, we made use of the feature recommending which sites to see and which to skip. Also, I think that if we travel to Italy again, we will skip many of the agency "guided" tours--which mainly consist of being herded like cattle through the museums during peak hours and rushed past some of the most interesting pieces--and opt instead for the self-guided tour features in Rick's guidebook. We took the self-guided for I Frari and St. Mark's, and both were far more informative than our 40 Euro tour of the Doge's Palace. We ate at a number of the recommended restaurants (including the Juice Bar--delicious!) and didn't have any problem with crowds or waits, even during the peak hours of 8-9 pm. Since our hotels were pre-booked through a travel agency, I can't comment on the accomodations section. But I loved that Rick's recommendations were all budget-friendly. By the time we got to Venice, we'd been all across Italy and funds were low. It was nice that this guidebook had actual price ranges inside, so we could budget a little better--and know, unlike another unsuspecting couple we met, that coffee at Florian's could end up costing 50 + Euros. This book would be a great investment for any Venice-bound traveller...and thank you again, ladies! You (and Rick) helped make our trip absolutely fabulous!

We just returned from a trip to Venice and found Rick Steve's Venice 2006 book extremely helpful in navigating the city. We also took his advice regarding traveling with children (we have [...]) and used a scavenger hunt idea to keep them interested. We bought a kids book called "TREASURE HUNT VENICE" which was the ideal scavenger hunt for the kids to do. It truly was a perfect match in that the adults used the Rick Steve's book and the kids used the TREASURE HUNT VENICE book.

Rick Steves 2007 book had one good thing, in the front of the book there is a comprehensive 1 page map of Venice with vaporetto and traghetto stops and all street names. I used this map. Otherwise, his recommendations were a hit and miss. I checked out a recommendation of a restaurant he gave around San Marco and the price was appalling (one squid dish and one 1/4 glass of pinot grigot for $16 euro. This food was so so and I think the touristy menus (15 euro for 3 course meal with drink I had another night) that emphatically he warns against seemed like the better deal in Venice. Anyway, I used Timeout Venice more extensively as it had info on how to get from the aiport from Treviso (Ryanair). He had no info on this at all. He also did not talk about a grocery store in Venice just off the Piazza Roma where you should buy food before you head to your hotel, since everywhere in Venice is expensive including water. Anyway, my co-worker swore by his book but I think it's overrated. Get Timeout Venice if you want more details and more pictures too!

I used this book for my recent trip to Venice. You can skip all guided tours offered by agencies in Venice, if you have this book. It is very helpful with historical overviews, but when come for food advices - just browse local restaurants and look for "tourist menue" (around 15-18 euros for 3 dishes, but be sure it doesn't' come with "cover charge" which is extra 2 euros). It is the best deal to get variety of dishes for reasonable prices. Also, visit Realto market for fresh fruits and vegetables, and small stores for ham and cheeses.

I went on day trips to Padova , Vicenza, and Verona. The book was extremely helpful for giving the guidance for day trips. Don't miss to try Recioto wine in Verona.

Rick's book - along with the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Venice and the Veneto - proved to be the most useful from the stack of nearly a half-dozen tour guides we brought with us on a recent trip to the city. His coverage of practical information such as how to best use and get around the city via vaporetto, walking, waterbus services, etc was the easiest to follow and made navigating what can be a confusing city much simpler.

His museum and art highlights are interesting and provide a more lighthearted, easier-to-read approach than many more "highbrow" tour or art books one can find. Of course, there is much more to see in each museum or church or scuola than he points out, so for the art enthusiast it is worth taking your time and not simply skimming about to find his highlights. We found we needed at least twice as much time in each location as Rick indicates to fully appreciate what we were seeing. Similarly, we had to laugh upon setting foot on Burano and seeing he only gives it a "5-minute" walkabout, or similarly 30 minutes on Torcello. We spent about 5 hours combined on just those two fascinating lagoon islands.

That said, we would have missed a great deal without his useful hints and tips, and went to a couple of the restaurants he recommended and had good experiences there (as well as his other tips for good eating around the entire city.)

I plan to take this along with me to Venice. It is the perfect size to carry with you and provides quite a bit of very useful information.

Not only does Rick provide up to minute info, including correct phone numbers to musuems. (Just called to secure a reservation to Doge's Secret Tour) but also hints on how to avoid some of the lines. Would you like to know which vaporetta stop to use for Murano glass shopping? Get the book. It well done, with a couple of unexpected lines of humor that will definitely have lol wherever you are!!