The Rough Guide to the Italian Lakes (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Matthew Teller (Author), Lucy Ratcliffe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide Travel Guides | Publication Date: May 15, 2006

The Rough Guide to The Italian Lakes is the definitive guide to this region of legendary natural beauty. A 16-page full colour section introduces the highlights of the lakes with inspiring accounts of all the sights, from the Duomo in Milan to the villas and gardens of Lake Garda. In addition there are two full-colour 4-page inserts on ''Reading the Streets'' (on the architecture of the region) and ''The Great Outdoors'' (covering cycling, hiking, watersports etc). The guide includes practical tips on how to get the best out of the lakes, from exploring Lake Como to cruising on Lake Maggiore and discovering Lake Orta. There are candid reviews of the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop, for all budgets. The guide also covers cites across the border in Switzerland and and comes complete with plenty of useful maps and plans for the whole region.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lucy Ratcliffe is an experienced travel writer who currently lives and works in Milan. Matthew Teller is an experienced Rough Guides author and accomplished travel writer. He is author of the Rough Guide to Switzerland and the Rough Guide to Jordan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 1 edition (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843535246
• ISBN-13: 978-1843535249
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,358,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide for the italian lakes region, October 11, 2008

By 

Golfer 4 "willrc4" (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to the Italian Lakes (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I researched our trip last month to the Italian Lakes and found this to be the best guide available with lots of detail on the best places to visit. It includes Lake Lugano in Switzerland which is just a fairly short drive from Menaggio on Lake Como. Highlights of our trip were staying in a lakefront room at the Hotel Royal in Stresa which was not terribly expensive and had a very nice view of islands and no noise from the trains nearby), a beautiful drive up to the Madonna del Sasso church on the western side of Lake Orta with the most spectacular view of the Isola San Giulio, a lovely boat tour around Lake Lugano with great views of Morcote and other villages, the gardens at Villa Taranto, and nice romantic dinners lakeside in Ascona and Orta. We also drove through the Centovalli region on our own but think the Lago Maggiore Express (combo boat and train rides) would be a wonderful way to do that trip. Other books I found useful were Frommer's Northern Italy's Best Loved Driving Tours (since we had a car), and Rick Steve's Italy.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not enough information, March 1, 2011

By 

puma (Copenhagen Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to the Italian Lakes (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I usually prefer Rough Guides to other travel guides. But the Italian Lakes edition skips over a large part of what it's supposed to cover. And important information is too often missing. For example, we recently travelled to Menaggio on Lake Como. The book mentions that the town has a beach. It does, but it's on the far end of town, and it charges nearly 10 euro a head to use it. They might want to mention that...

It's not a bad book, and it does manage to touch on most towns on the lakes. But when a guide claims to concentrate on a particular area, then it should be a bit more comprehensive.

3.0 out of 5 stars For Touring Lake Como: The Best of a Mediocre Selection, October 7, 2009

By 

F. Ribeiro "frib" (Tucson AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rough Guide to the Italian Lakes (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I wanted a guide for a week stay in the Lake Como area. The "Rough Guide" was one of three guidebooks I purchased. All three were generally disappointing, although relatively speaking the "Rough Guide" was the best of the lot. As with the other two, the coverage is broader than I needed. This would be fine if the coverage of the Lake Como area itself was thorough and helpful. In this category, the "Rough Guide" proved to stand out among the three books, although I still would expect coverage to be more thorough. For all three guides coverage of the central tourist areas of Lake Como, (Bellagio, Ravenna & Tremezzo) tended to be superficial, but less so for the "Rough Guide". But in both lodging and restaurant recommendations "Rough Guide" is as weak as the the other two. Lodging recommendations seemed spotty and incomplete and the restaurant recommendations were very disappointing For the most part, the named restaurants were generally mediocre. There are excellent choices in the area. But the leads came not from these guides but from TripAdvisor. And almost all of these excellent restaurants didn't earn a mention in any of these guides. Makes one wonder what the criteria is for inclusion in these guides.