Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide Venice Map (Rough Guide City Maps)

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I'm just back from three weeks in Venice. Because I'm obsessive, I ended up taking along four maps: Street Smart, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, and the Rough Guide map. I thought I'd share my experiences.

Many people who go to Venice stick to the main walkways between the most important tourist spots: the Accademia, the Rialto Bridge, and San Marco square. I am not that sort of person. I walked all over the city: along the waterfronts of Dorsoduro and Cannaregio, through the parks of Castello and Sant'Elena, and to all the churches I could find. I also found that taking non-standard routes between well-known places avoided the street merchants and pedestrian crush. You can see what I was putting my maps through.

The Rough Guide map was the most useful map I took to Venice. It's printed on waterproof plastic, which is useful in the drizzle. I'm rough on things: it never tore. It was easy enough to fold the map in such a way that it was convenient to carry and still showed the area I was walking through. Most importantly, time and again when using one of the other maps I'd find myself in some twistly little spot where the map and reality were not in sync: a missing bridge, roads not shaped this way, etc. Each time, I'd turn to the Rough Guide and find that it was correct where the others weren't.

The Rough Guide map is larger than the other maps, which makes it harder to use if you want a "big-picture" view of the city while walking. On the other hand, the Rough Guide map is larger than the other maps, which means you can read it without a spotlight and a magnifying glass ;). Its size is part of its utility: because it's easy enough to fold, its size was no problem.

If you are going to be hunting down specific addresses or leaving the beaten path, I believe the Rough Guide is a must-have. If you can afford two maps, take the National Geographic map for strategy and the Rough Guide for tactics, and you'll be delighted.

I spent six days in Venice in April of 2006. After using the

excellent Rough Guide map of Barcelona, I purchase Rough Guide

maps when ever they are published for my destination. What I love

about these maps is that they are complete, accurate and very

tough. You can carry them around in your pocket, bend them and

sweat on them and they still remain as usable as ever.

You cannot get lost in Venice in the sense that you don't know

how to get back to somewhere familiar because there is always

a waterbus stop nearby that you can take to some place you know.

But the twisty pedestrian streets can be very confusing, ending

in canals, so it can be difficult to get from place to place

or to find a place you want to go to. For this you want the

Rough Guide map. I walked all over Venice, including some off

the beaten track areas where I saw very few tourists.

In summary: for Venice my advice is get a wasterbus pass for the

days you are in Venice and get the Rough Guide map. Oh, and

unless you like crowds and higher costs, don't stay in San Marco.

I went to Venice for the first time in May 2007 and found this map indispensable. It was better than many other maps I had researched and better than maps that I saw for sale in Venice! Would definitely recommend to anyone going to Venice, particularly if it is your first visit to this beautiful yet very easy to get lost in city.

Used the Rough Guide maps for Venice, Florence, and Rome and found them to be top notch. They have far more detail and accuracy than the maps handed out by hotels and local TI offices. The paper is coated so that it withstands serious abuse, fold, refold, stuff it in your pocket in a wad, it always comes out with all the print intact. The coating adds negligible bulk, more than worth it for the durability.

I can't even count how many times we used it on our trip to Venice, because Venice is one of those cities that once you go off the main streets, you will get lost without a map.

I love that it's rip-proof and water-proof, because I've used other maps and hate when they get worn from folding and un-folding. And since we'll be going to Berlin soon, I ordered the Rough Guide Berlin Map.

It had every street in Venice on it, which when you're navigating your way back to a main street or canal it totally helpful.

I used this map to navigate Venice for 5 days and I would have been lost without it (literally). It was better than any other map I looked at and any of the maps for sale in Venice. Even my friend living in Venice commented on how good a map it was. The map also includes info on the water bus route and opening days and times for churches, museums, etc., basically eliminating the need to carry a guide book around all day. It is durable and waterproof, but it feels like paper and you can still write on it.

I'm glad I didn't buy a map for Florence, because I got by just fine on a free map from a hotel. But a map was essential for Venice and this one was perfect.

This was a great map! If you want to go anywhere in Venice other than the Rialto bridge or St. mark's square, you will need a map. I put this map through hell, folding it every which way and even dropping it in a rain puddle - oops :) the map stood up to my abuse perfectly and was great for getting us around. we didn't have to find the TI to get a map, and i liked it way better than the nice map our hotel gave us. I highly recommend this map and will use others when we travel!

I have lived in Venice for four years. My sister still lives there so I go every year. I still have some trouble finding restautant locations. I have used many maps of Venice, most of which I purchased there. Well, this was the best map I have ever seen. No one should go to Venice without it. There is absolutely no other map on which things are so clearly marked. Judy Potter, Esquire

The book filled in and added some supplemental information. The book was not used as much as planned as sufficient information was also available via the internet and the local residents.

I'm a foodie. 15 course meals, taco trucks, it doesn't matter as long as it's good. I bought this map solely based on its good reviews for being a great waterproof map. I've been lurking on Chowhound (google it) to pick out some restaurants/bars, and started annotating the map, only to find all the highly recommended places are already written on the map! The creators of this map have done most of the hard work for you, including the list of almost all the best restaurants. The ones that come super-recommended on the internet all have red stars by them. This is great and it's going to save me time. I can check the map for a starred restaurant close by to eat at for lunch/chichetti (all the bars are on here too for your chichetti needs). This just made my day! I can focus on other things and know that The Power of the Internet (tm) is already included in this map.

PS -- Also included are shopping spots with examples where to buy goods like lace, glass, jewelry, masks, leather, etc. I can't vouch for the quality there, but if it's anything like the restaurants this is an EXCELLENT resource.