Fodor's Florence, Tuscany & Umbria

I've been to Italy several times.....Rome, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Milan, some of the hill towns, etc. Here are my reviews of the best guides to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max! Fodor's Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what: The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it. SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide Rick Steves' books are not recommended. They may be an interesting read but their helpfulness is very poor. They don't do well on updates, transportation details, or anything but the first-time-tourist routine and even that is somewhat superficial on anything but the mega-major sites. Frommer's These are time tested guides that pride themselves on being updated annually. Although I think the guides below provide information that is in more depth or more concise (depending on what the guide is known for), if your main concern is that the guide has very little old or outdated information, then this would be a good guide for you. Lonely Planet Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless. Blue Guides Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn. MapGuide MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the public transportation system. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few time

Our family and extended family traveled to France & Italy this summer. This book was the most comprehensive, quick guide for historic background, inside stories and accurate directions, as well as reviews. Every hotel or restaurant was exactly as reviewed. No surprises! When you are traveling with 15 people you don't need surprises, just information you can rely on. This book and the Fodor's Provence Gold guide were excellent examples of this!