Lonely Planet Venice

by Damien Simonis

Book Overview

This guide to the romantically charged city of Venice includes details on trips along the Grand Canal and day trips to the home of Romeo and Juliet - Verona. As well as covering the architecture of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 174059813X
• ISBN13: 9781740598132
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Good, not perfect

I bought this book because I was traveling to Italy with a tour group, but wanted to get out on my own. I've had good experience with other Lonely Planet travel guides for Libya and Mauritius (not your usual tourist areas). I bought the guide to Italy as whole, then a city guide for Venice so that I would have more detailed information and less weight to carry. First of all, about 40 pages of the book is wasted because it repeats the standard information provided elsewhere -- the stuff about women travelers, gay and lesbian travelers, etc. And when you are in Venice, a city where *you HAVE to walk* every ounce saved counts! The walking tour guides were good - gave me an idea about how to shape the track of a day of touring. The disadvantage was that when I wanted to look up something specific, I had to go to the index, find the page for the walking tour where the place was, to get information. And if I forgot to dog ear the page, it was back to the index, since the sites (or sights) aren't in the guide in a logical order. However once a site was located, the information was spot-on -- particularly is opening and closing times, since many places close for lunch. Knowing which ones do, can help you plan your visits for the day. I give the book a plus for providing reviews/comments on hotels, dining, and shopping. One can quibble with selections - the hotel I stayed in, the Gabrielli Sandwirth is just a canal away from Londra Palace and Hotel Danieli, with similiar accommodations wasn't mentioned in the guide - but I think the book gives one a good idea of what to expect in terms of price and availability for a wide variety of dining, shopping, and sleeping. I too, found the vaporetto guide confusing, but then the Vaporetto website wasn't any better. Usually the hotel concierge can explain it to you, or if you ride it a couple of times, you'll get the hang of it. Finally, yes, one should read the guide thoroughly before you arrive in Venice (and that doesn't mean on the plane to Europe, either...) But, humans are failible. This was a great guide to skim through before I went, it was a helpful guide (mostly) to use while I was there, and it's also a good guide for when I returned, because it helped me identify some things I saw while I was there and didn't realize it.

A+ Seller

Book was brand new. Can't wait to take it on vacation with me.

INVALUABLE ... Lonely Planet kicks it up several notches!

The 3 reviews earlier refers to the older version of this guide. Lonely Planet has recently started to revamp all their guides and I have the new Rome, Florence & Venice. They are absolutely flawless. I will focus on Venice here (Rome & Florence has the same format as well). You will have an Introduction to Venice, City Life, Art & Architecture, History, Food (as Italy was united in 1870, every region has their specialties) Shopping recommendations, extended accomodation listings from 5 star to budget. Excursions to Verona (home to the great Italian dry red Amarone), Padua etc., color map section, entertainment, directory of transportation and practicalities, walking tours in each sestieri etc. Everything is grouped in their respective sestieri (old municipal divisions) for ease.As Venice is broken down into 6 sestieri (or old municipal divisions), you will have 6 recommended walking tours in each sestieri accompanied with maps. Walking tours range from 2.5km to 9 km (1 mile = 1.609km) ... absolutely awesome ... Special and/or useful interesting reads in color boxes ... Top 5 recommendations for small charming hotels, hotel gardens, luxury hotels, museums, galleries, books, cds, films, activities for children, meat restaurants, gelato shops, pastry shops, foreign eats (if you ever get tired of eating Italian), cafes, drinking establishments, shopping areas, craft shops & shops for Kids. Top 10 notable buildings. Top 5 quirky events. Commentaries on important sites, churches, artwork etc. Floorplan of Basilica di San Marco. Information on tickets, opening/closing times.The directory is very useful with URLs, email and tel. nos. and recommended transportation tickets. Notes on special museum and church tickets. Recommended walking/vaporetto tours to take.Highly recommended ... made planning sooo easy!

Venice is a "must see" and this guide is a "must have".

Venice is slowly sinking (literally) and some say that it is because of the additional weight of tourist visiting the island (at peak tourist tides - high summer - 100,000+ tourists a day). Venice is comprised of one hundred islands, stapled together by 400 bridges, water taxis and gondola hawkers, making this one of the most captivating cities of the world, and one that especially needs and deserves its own guide.Damions Simonis has produced the definitive guide on Venice. In his "Lonely Planet Venice" you have brilliant maps, a solid introduction section that covers Venice's history, government, economy, ecology, climate etc. An informative practical travel section and most important, a reliable and up to date listing of recommendations for lodging, restaurants, entertainment, places to see and things to do. These, along with the beginning of Internet references (though he fails to include hotel web sites and email addresses), make this a great guide on Venice. If you are planning to spend your time in Italy, and mainly in this city of romantic waterways and sumptuous architecture, you deserve the best guide out today - Lonely Planet Venice. Highly recommended

An excellent travel guide

The guide itself - like most Lonely Planet guides - is divided into basically two parts: First, things to know before you go, like history, geography and climate as well as information about visas, customs, money, health, etc. Second, the "traditional" description of places, monuments and museums as well as tips of where to stay and where to eat. The book is written in a casual way that makes reading easy, but still gives precise information when needed. On my last trip to Venice I found that almost all prices, opening times and other details where up to date. Another detail I liked was that some recommended hotels had their e-mail addresses in the guide. It made advance reservation so easy, and I am not talking about a Hilton, but a midrange hotel. One point that some people might find offensive is that sometimes the authors don't hesitate to give their personal opinion about politics, lifestyle, etc. But if you just take it for what it is, an opinion, and are able to go, see for your self, and make up your own mind, than this travel guide is for you. I really recommend it.