Lonely Planet Discover Italy (Full Color Country Travel Guide)
Lonely Planet Discover Italy (Full Color Country Travel Guide)
Experience The Best of Italy
Make the most of your trip abroad – Lonely Planet’s full color Discover guides highlight the best a country has to offer while still providing an authentic and memorable experience.
Full Color Throughout
Full of color images and maps – makes planning as inspiring as the journey itself
Color-coded navigation
Easy-To-Use Structure
Easy-to-use tools include: color-coded chapters, color thumb tabs, dynamic color spreads on major highlights and
Easy-to-read planning sections throughout
Highlights
Special front-of-book chapter on the top 25 can’t-miss experiences
Features the must-see attractions and unbeatable experiences
Focuses on key cities and regions
It
List Price: $ 24.99
Price: $ 12.37
Compact, informative, and full-color guide to Italy,
When I am looking for a particular travel guide, one requirement is that is should be compact (besides the usual, i.e. informative, practical, has lots of color photographs, and full of tips). The Lonely Planet “Discover Italy” guide is the size of a large paperback and can easily fit into my small handbag. The guide focuses on the following regions, i.e. Milan & North America; Venice and the Northeast; Florence and Central Italy; Naples, Pompeii, and Amalfi; and Sicily and the South. Each region is color-coded for easy reference and there is an index at the end for convenient cross-reference.
There are also some extra features such as Italy’s Top 25 Experiences (e.g. wining through Chianti in Tuscany, freewheeling along the Amalfi,etc); Italy’s Top Itineraries; suggestions on planning one’s trip; a calendar that highlights some of Italy’s festivals and seasonal offerings, etc. There are also maps (not foldouts) provided for certain cities/regions, but I would definitely advise getting separate foldout maps for the area you’re planning on visiting as these maps may not suffice. Overall, this is an attractive and handy guide to Italy, but if you’re planning on visiting a specific region, I’d advise purchasing a guide book that covers that region comprehensively.
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|Excellent Planning Guide,
Travel books fall into a couple of categories, planning, companion, remembering. In my opinion, this book is an excellent planning guide. Here are my pros and cons for this book:
Pros:
* Lots of color pictures, sometimes a description of how great the Trevi Fountain is at night just doesn’t cut it.
* Discrete itineraries, the book provides travel plans of differing lengths for those who just want to be told where to spend their time. (Not for everyone but handy for those who want it.)
* Lots of insider info on how to appreciate the best sites from local tour guides.
* Detailed info on select shopping, food, and lodging in each region.
* Maps, both overview and select locales with extra detail.
* Color coded by region for quick reference.
* Compact, guides of this nature can quickly large and heavy.
* Additional information, Events calendar, hints and tips, links and ideas for inspiration and additional information, as well as general reference info once on site like currency and temperature conversions.
Cons:
* Due to the more compact size and greater focus on planning, info had to be cut. You won’t find info on every obscure restaurant or hostel in this guide. This might not cut it for the free spirit that just wants to show up in a place and know whether the retasurant that they’re staring at is any good.
* Budget specific organizing of eateries/lodging. Some travel books additionally organize the info in these categories by budget. Yes, average meal prices are included in this book but I find that extra piece of info handy to quickly find a great place to eat ro sleep.
Based on my experiences traveling Rome, I can say that this book hits all the highlights and offers numerous ways to maximize your visit. For that reason this is an easy recommendation. And while this book could function as a travel companion stuffed into your backpack/bag, I would probably recommend a more in depth book for anyone considering wandering freely off the beaten path (even if this was just left in your room to help plan the next day).
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|Love the Discover Italy guide!,
Italy is the next destination we would like to visit in Europe. Discover Italy is the perfect guide for that purpose. The book, albeit a bit heavy, is very well illustrated. The quality of the book is very nice, and the maps are also very useful. The information is not too detailed but it covers all topics of interest. For the money, this guide is well worth it.
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