The Rough Guide to Tuscany & Umbria 5

We just returned from Tuscany & Umbria and used a friend's Rough Guide to Tuscany & Umbria 5. It was indispensable! User-friendly and entertaining - plus great recommendations for restaurants, pizza, gelato, etc.

I can safely say that this is one of the best guidebooks I have ever carried with me. It's complete, accurate and well-written. I was amazed by the amount of research that must have gone in to making this book: there is a lot of interesting history (including excellent boxes with 'small history' and interesting stuff on all the peculiarities of the towns you might pass by), a lot of information (maps, accomodation, general atmosphere) on even the smallest towns, great descriptions of regions and highlights. I was never disappointed with the recommended things, ranging from restaurants to sites and museums. There is not only info about art, but also about food, trendy cafe's, quiet and less touristy villages etc. It really seemed to me that the people who made this book, known the area very well and spend a lot of time making a perfect guidebook that suits everybody. It's also the most recently published guidebook on the region, which means even the prices are correct. Highly recommended!

My wife and I used this book extensively on a 10-day tour of Tuscany and Umbria. Excellent mix of history and restaurant and lodging recommendations. A few drawbacks to the book. The first is that many of the restaurants were not marked on the maps and the directions given were incomplete. Another drawback that I found is that the hotel recommendations were inconsistent from city to city - Pisa had only budget hotels listed while Assisi had hotels across the range. But these are minor criticisms, overall an excellent book.

After tooking a 2-month off sabbatical at my job, I decided to spend some time driving all around Italy, and I can't thank this guide enough. It has all the information someone needs for traveling in Tuscany and Umbria, the two most fascinating regions in Italy (ok, the Amalfi Coast is great too). All cities are described in detail, from the historical background to what to see and what to do. This guide allowed me to do exactly what I wanted: to hit the road, stop by somewhere (Trasimeno Lake, the Orvieto hill, San Gimignano Film Festival) and just decide what the next stop would be. The author has a hilarious and superb style to describe anything, from the Cathedral in Orvieto to the paintings in Assisi and the pottery in Gubbio. Gold medal to the chapter about San Gimignano... After this, I have bought Rough Guides for all my trips.

We used the Rough Guide as our way to avoid the throngs that were carrying the other guidebooks, and the highlights of our trip resulted from following its suggestions. I was impressed by the detailed research on small out of the way places.If you want to intensify your travel experience in an area and explore the local treasures, carry the Rough Guide!