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Rick Steves' Rome 2008

Rick Steves' Rome 2008
By Rick Steves, Gene Openshaw

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Product Description

Who but Rick Steves can tell travelers the best ways to see St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum? With Rick Steves’ Rome 2008, travelers can experience the best of everything Rome 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.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #138930 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-08-28
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 376 pages

Customer Reviews

always a good guide4
Sure sometimes the jokes are groaners, but having traveled in Europe for a number of years now at least I know that the stuff that Rick puts out there on hotels, restaurants and local tours is road tested and good. He does his homework and it shows. I have never gone wrong with using a Rick Steeves guide for any area of Europe I have been in. I always get a currant guide for where I am traveling.

Great guide, but beware of it's success4
This book was tremendously helpful during a May 2008 trip to Rome. It wasn't perfect but provided lots of good travel information.

The good:
- Covers most of the popular sites, and goes into the more detail for the important sites.
- Ranks each site with a level of importance/significance - this is very useful when deciding what sites are worthwhile and/or important. I agree with most site rankings.

The bad:
- Many prices are incorrect (add 1-2 euros to many museum and ticket prices).
- Some time information is incorrect (double check via phone if you are on or near holidays, weekends, or beginning/end of day).
- Overview maps (b/w hand drawn appearance) lack street level detail making them difficult to use for navigation.
- Street maps (color, in front of book) also lack sufficient street level detail. You may need a more detailed map from your hotel to navigate the complex city streets.

The worst problem with the 2008 edition may be its success. Every restaurant (and also the hotels) were mobbed by people with a Rick Steves guide. I've never seen so many people with the same book all trying to go to the same place. It kind of spoiled some of the magic since we were often surrounded by American travelers and not the eclectic mix of people you would expect on such a trip.

Essential tips for Rome4
I highly recommend this book for visiting Rome. I was actually in Italy as part of a Rick Steves tour group in Florence then went down to Rome for a week on my own using the 2007 edition of this book. I highly recommend the walking tours and found the restaurant selections to be spot on. While the maps are not ones you'd really use for detail navigation, they give you a good overview of where things are located.

The tips given for the Colleseum, Palantine Hill and Forum were spot on - pay attention to the ticket advice. I purchased mine at Palantine Hill then walked right up the "group" entrance for the Colleseum directly to the ticket turnstiles. I wouldn't have found this without the book and would have wasted time in the wrong line.

After such good information in this book, I found I didn't need some of the private tours I had hired (i.e. Vatican) and found myself with this book in hand the entire time and delighted in my trip to Rome.