Rick Steves' Italy 2008 (Paperback)

by Rick Steves (Author)
Key Phrases: civic museum, baggage storage, museum card, Cinque Terre, Mark's Square, Grand Canal (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Who but Rick Steves can tell travelers the best way to see Rome, Venice, Florence, the hill towns of central Italy, the Dolomites, and the Amalfi Coast? With Rick Steves’ Italy 2008, travelers can experience the best of everything Italy has to offer — economically and hassle-free. Completely revised and updated, this guide includes opinionated coverage of both famous and lesser-known sights, friendly places to eat and sleep, suggested day plans, walking tours and trip itineraries, and clear instructions for smooth travel anywhere by car, train, or foot. America’s number one authority on travel to Europe, Steves' 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.

About the Author
Rick Steves is on a mission: to help make European travel accessible and meaningful .

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; Revised edition (September 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566918618
• ISBN-13: 978-1566918619
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #126,963 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Current, Actionable, Complete, Efficient - for 1st timers, November 16, 2007

By	Kashyap Deorah "Righthalf" (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Not quite a tourists' yellow pages nor quite a piece of literature on Italian history, Rick Steves' Italy 2008 had everything (almost) we wanted and nothing we didn't in order to plan and execute our first Italy trip. My wife and I used this book for preparing our trip and found ourselves carrying it everywhere we went during the trip.

From form factor to content organization, the book reflects a certain level of maturity in writing and editing a travel book. The names of hotel and restaurant owners provided the much needed personal touch and ice breaker; little side notes minimize surprises due to benign mistakes that have a way of ruining good vacations; current information on trains, tours, hours, fees, phone numbers and maps take away the need to collect flyers as soon as you get to a new place. The book seems to have the right mix of information and opinion.

Don't use the book as a guided-tour replacement at museums. Information about Tuscany is minimal and sub-par compared to rest of Italy. Focused tourists (say second time Italy visitors) may not get everything they are looking for. For hotel reservations, we cross-checked the book's suggestions with consumer reviews on TripAdvisor.com and found that to be very useful. Other than that, you should be pretty well covered.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Details!, October 24, 2007

By	M. Piecuch (Clearwater, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rick Steves Italy is a great travel guide. When I first received it, I was a bit skeptical due to the fact that it was not as visually appealing as were other books I received on the same subject. Once I began reading the book, I was very much surprised as to how much detail and very important information the book provided. Examples of this are locations of where to be carefull of thieves to the exact street corner. Also, the book gave great detail on restaurants, hotels, and what to see including how to find them, who to ask for, and hours of operation, which helps in planning. Many other travel guides do not go into such detail. In my opinion, I would purchase as an example Fromers guide, and then in addition to that purchase Rick Steves as you will get much more detailed information about all the little things that make a difference in traveling to a city you have never been to.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Guide Book, February 10, 2008

By	W. Driver (Edmond, OK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We are still in the planning process of our trip, but so far Rick Steve's book has been great. It is easy to read and organized in a user friendly manner. The size is small enough I can carry it around on our trip and use it as a quick reference. I used his 2006 England book with great success and believe the Italy book is going to be just as useful!

I also bought Frommer's 2008 Italy and am not as pleased with it. In comparison Rick Steve's reads easier. Frommer's reads like a dense textbook. There is almost too much information. Also, Rick Steve's offers complete museum tours so you don't have to buy the audioguides. All the information is in his book and tells you the best path to take. He also does walking tours so you can enjoy a free activity that really highlights a town. Frommer's just lists all the sights and leaves you to sort it out. Frommer's is definitely more inclusive than Rick Steve's; it has more towns, more hotels, more dining, and more sights, but I think it would be way to overwhelming to carry with me.

My plan is to carry Rick Steve's with me on my sightseeing, but to make some additional notes in it on stuff I found in Frommer's. All in all though, I think Rick Steve's is the better book, and if you only want to buy one, I'd buy Rick Steve's.