The book was of very little help when visiting Venice. Poor maps and confusing information. We had to get local maps and the book was useless.

The book was of very little help when visiting Venice. Poor maps and confusing information. We had to get local maps and the book was useless.

I plan to take this along with me to Venice. It is the perfect size to carry with you and provides quite a bit of very useful information.

Rick Steves 2007 book had one good thing, in the front of the book there is a comprehensive 1 page map of Venice with vaporetto and traghetto stops and all street names. I used this map. Otherwise, his recommendations were a hit and miss. I checked out a recommendation of a restaurant he gave around San Marco and the price was appalling (one squid dish and one 1/4 glass of pinot grigot for $16 euro. This food was so so and I think the touristy menus (15 euro for 3 course meal with drink I had another night) that emphatically he warns against seemed like the better deal in Venice. Anyway, I used Timeout Venice more extensively as it had info on how to get from the aiport from Treviso (Ryanair). He had no info on this at all. He also did not talk about a grocery store in Venice just off the Piazza Roma where you should buy food before you head to your hotel, since everywhere in Venice is expensive including water. Anyway, my co-worker swore by his book but I think it's overrated. Get Timeout Venice if you want more details and more pictures too!

This is another great book from Rick Steves. It gives you all the information you need to plan a trip with many details. We have relied on his book in the past and are never disappointed.

I used this book for my recent trip to Venice. You can skip all guided tours offered by agencies in Venice, if you have this book. It is very helpful with historical overviews, but when come for food advices - just browse local restaurants and look for "tourist menue" (around 15-18 euros for 3 dishes, but be sure it doesn't' come with "cover charge" which is extra 2 euros). It is the best deal to get variety of dishes for reasonable prices. Also, visit Realto market for fresh fruits and vegetables, and small stores for ham and cheeses.

I went on day trips to Padova , Vicenza, and Verona. The book was extremely helpful for giving the guidance for day trips. Don't miss to try Recioto wine in Verona.

I use this book for a two day trip to Venice. As I had very little time it really helped me focus on the important sites. Most important were the little hints about when to see the sites. Although Venice was overrun with tourists, I did not find the restaurants or musems to be a problem if I followed the time recommendations. Skip the commercial tours and follow the book recomendations.

My husband and I were fortunate enough to be seated across from some ladies who had this book on the train from Florence to Venice. After learning that we had no guidebook for the city, they very kindly gave it to us to use during our stay. We are soooooo grateful! We used it constantly. We loved the way Rick had all the walking tours laid out, and we did several of them. Since we only had two days in the city, we made use of the feature recommending which sites to see and which to skip. Also, I think that if we travel to Italy again, we will skip many of the agency "guided" tours--which mainly consist of being herded like cattle through the museums during peak hours and rushed past some of the most interesting pieces--and opt instead for the self-guided tour features in Rick's guidebook. We took the self-guided for I Frari and St. Mark's, and both were far more informative than our 40 Euro tour of the Doge's Palace. We ate at a number of the recommended restaurants (including the Juice Bar--delicious!) and didn't have any problem with crowds or waits, even during the peak hours of 8-9 pm. Since our hotels were pre-booked through a travel agency, I can't comment on the accomodations section. But I loved that Rick's recommendations were all budget-friendly. By the time we got to Venice, we'd been all across Italy and funds were low. It was nice that this guidebook had actual price ranges inside, so we could budget a little better--and know, unlike another unsuspecting couple we met, that coffee at Florian's could end up costing 50 + Euros. This book would be a great investment for any Venice-bound traveller...and thank you again, ladies! You (and Rick) helped make our trip absolutely fabulous!

Not only does Rick provide up to minute info, including correct phone numbers to musuems. (Just called to secure a reservation to Doge's Secret Tour) but also hints on how to avoid some of the lines. Would you like to know which vaporetta stop to use for Murano glass shopping? Get the book. It well done, with a couple of unexpected lines of humor that will definitely have lol wherever you are!!

very practical, up to date info. We bought his Rome and Florence boods also. Compared to all the other books we bought for our trip to italy, his are by far the best

Rick's book - along with the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Venice and the Veneto - proved to be the most useful from the stack of nearly a half-dozen tour guides we brought with us on a recent trip to the city. His coverage of practical information such as how to best use and get around the city via vaporetto, walking, waterbus services, etc was the easiest to follow and made navigating what can be a confusing city much simpler.

His museum and art highlights are interesting and provide a more lighthearted, easier-to-read approach than many more "highbrow" tour or art books one can find. Of course, there is much more to see in each museum or church or scuola than he points out, so for the art enthusiast it is worth taking your time and not simply skimming about to find his highlights. We found we needed at least twice as much time in each location as Rick indicates to fully appreciate what we were seeing. Similarly, we had to laugh upon setting foot on Burano and seeing he only gives it a "5-minute" walkabout, or similarly 30 minutes on Torcello. We spent about 5 hours combined on just those two fascinating lagoon islands.

That said, we would have missed a great deal without his useful hints and tips, and went to a couple of the restaurants he recommended and had good experiences there (as well as his other tips for good eating around the entire city.)