Rick Steves' Rome 2004 (Paperback)

~ (Author), Gene Openshaw (Author) "Sprawling Rome actually feels manageable once you get to know it..." (more)
Key Phrases: Santa Maria, Vatican Museum, Capitol Hill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Home to magnificent art, popes and emperors, astounding architecture, and plentiful fountains, join Rick Steves on a trip to the Eternal City. Learn how to avoid the lines at the Vatican and Sistine Chapel; find Rome's best pensione; take a self-guided walking tour of Palatine, and more. With Rick Steves' Rome 2004, travelers can delve into Italian culture, make friends with the locals, and experience everything Rome has to offer — economically and hassle-free. Completely revised and updated, Rick Steves' Rome 2004 includes both famous and lesser-known sights; friendly places to eat and sleep; suggested day plans; color maps, walking tours and trip itineraries; clear instructions for smooth travel anywhere by car, train, or foot; and Rick's newest "back door" discoveries. America's number one authority on travel to Europe, Rick's time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566915236
• ISBN-13: 978-1566915236
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,248,810 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Guidebook for Some Tastes, November 29, 2003

By A Customer

Rick Steves concentrates on seeing the sights in Rome & travel survival fundamentals. His coverage on what to see at various sites, and his focus on walking tours and seeing what is in a specific locale is excellent. We walked everywhere and wanted to see the sights - not shop. Excellent for this purpose.

He does not focus on shopping, restaurants or hotels (there is limited coverage). He has clear opinions. He gives the facts, but also his opinion of the place and his specific recommendations. If you want book with lots of shopping and restuarant info, or just want an "opinion free" description buy something else.

If you have a week or less, are willing to use your feet, are interested in walking tours, or are focusing on seeing a lot of what Rome has to offer with limited time - the book is for you. We read (not skimmed) 5 guidebooks. His was the best.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculously inaccurate and absurdly cursory, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This guidebook is hopelessly inaccurate in its details and too cursory about what it does cover to be of any use whatsoever to any reasonably thoughtful tourist.

As to the inaccuracy: I took this guide book on a recent trip to Rome. Despite the fact that it is dated 2004, it is either wildly outdated or reprehensibly sloppy. One of the highly recommended restaurants was closed, and from the looks of it not recently. Another of the highly recommended restaurants was responsible for the worst dinner we had in Rome. Anyone foolish enough to try to use the guide to find the Steves-recommended minibus tour of the Appia Antica will look in vain for a green kiosk in the Piazza Venezia. While we eventually found a tour, it was no thanks to Rick Steves!

In terms of information content, the guidebook gives the tourist much less information for the weight than, say, the Michelin or Lonely Planet guides. Do not waste precious luggage space on the Rick Steves guide--it is simply not worth lugging around.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars entirely inaccurate ..., October 22, 2004

By	Joanne Hanrahan (El Cerrito, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

... and the maps are worthless.

Two examples of the many glaring inaccuracies contained in this book:
1) Rick claims you can pick up a bus map in any tourist information kiosk. The following is an actual transcript of our conversation with the tourist info lady:
us: buon giorno. do you speak english?
info lady: of course.
us: we'd like to go to Vatican city. may we have a bus map please?
info lady: a bus map? for Roma?
us: um, yes.
info lady: no such thing exists.

2) Rick claims you can see everything you want to see in the Vatican in one morning: St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel - everything. Um, Rick? Have you ever BEEN there? Did you notice the 40,000 other people there all trying to get in to the same things? Did you notice the priceless and beautiful works of art on practically every surface? Did it occur to you that people might, perhaps, want to stop and admire a large number of them? Light a candle? Say a prayer? Some of us, also, have to behind a crowd of 35 elderly Germans to look at Michaelangelo's Pieta, and everything else.

Methinks ol' Rick either spends an average of 15 minutes apiece on the most astonishing and pleasurable spots in Rome, or is comfortable elbowing foreign senior citizens in the ribs.