Tour books suggestions?

[laycj18]

We want to tour our ports on our own and wondered if anyone had any suggestions on literature. Any tour guide books? Books with maps? Books with out of the ordinary things to do or see?

 

We will be visiting: Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples, and Palermo.

 

Thanks

[KIWI66]

For historical sites like Pompei take a tour guide is my advice also for most places of interest in Rome.

[cberge]

We want to tour our ports on our own and wondered if anyone had any suggestions on literature. Any tour guide books? Books with maps? Books with out of the ordinary things to do or see?

 

We will be visiting: Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples, and Palermo.

 

Thanks

This has been covered a lot on this thread and I know one can't search anymore which is really to bad IMHO. I am sure you will get a lot of opinions evn so.My suggestion is to go to a good bookstore and look to tsee what they have in relation to what would be good for you as to maps..Streetwise/Lonely Planet etc.Also you may want to check out your library to see what they have re books and then just photocpopy the pages you need for info so as not to have heavy books etc. Also, there is a lot of info on Google that you can print out re info.You can also pick up local maps in ports at the tourist bureau's when you arrive or ship's tourist desk may have them too.Anything to save room and weight nowdays.

[Been There, Planning That]

We swear by the glossy Eye Witness series of tour books. They're no good for hotels or restaurants BUT great for historical sites. The problem is their weight. We left at home the 3 we'd bought for a 6 week South American vacation but referred to them both before and after the trip.

 

We've used several in Greece and in Asia, For both trips we'd prearranged guides but even still appreciated being able to prepare for the next day's tours.

 

Their only drawback is the weight.

[ronbarb]

Rick Steve's has excellent guide books, including walking tours, places to stay and eat. We used his book thruout Italy- easy to read and use.

[janfran813]

Another vote for Rick Steves. I have his "Italy" book and I also have Frommers "Rome day by day". Both are excellent for information, transportation, and small enough to slip into a med. sized purse. I also love and use the MapEasy's guidemap to Rome, Venice, and whatever city you're visiting. They're waterproof, tear resistant, fold up and weigh nothing. The internet is a great source also and very convenient when printing directions.

Another resource we are using when we leave TOMORROW:D is Rick Steves audio guides. I downloaded them to my iphone (also can be downloaded on any MP3) and will use them for all of the sights we are seeing. I've said before on threads like these, a bit of research goes a long way!

Did I mention I'm leaving tomorrow!!!!

 

Have a great cruise!

[agabbymama]

I too like Rick Steves, but his books were just too expensive to try and cover all the ports of our 12 day cruise. So I found some little books called "Eyewitness Travel" for $6.99 each. The are about 3x5 loaded

with info and has a really nice foldout map in the back. Plus didn't want

all the extra weight of big guide books.

 

Then I requested brochures from Monaco and they sent a really nice map.

 

That's about all I'm going to worry about. I haven't worried about maps or guides for the Greek Islands.

[texancruzer]

Another vote for Frommers. Also found Karen Browns books to be full of info and written in an interesting way. But I find I refer to my Frommers the most.

 

JanFran: Have a great trip TOMORROW !

[janfran813]

Thanks Texancruiser, We certainly will! I'll have a full report when I come back in a few weeks!

[cruisemom42]

We want to tour our ports on our own and wondered if anyone had any suggestions on literature. Any tour guide books? Books with maps? Books with out of the ordinary things to do or see?

 

We will be visiting: Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples, and Palermo.

 

Thanks

 

 

For the ports you mention, I would definitely recommend getting the Rick Steves Italy book (should cover all those listed). Rick is great with the practical info and the book on Italy is one of his better ones (IMHO). He is short on pictures and history, though, so I'd suggest looking at more in-depth guidebooks (or just online) and scanning pages to take with you rather than taking a lot of extra books.

 

The DK Eyewitness books are always a little disappointing to me. They LOOK good, but the actual content seems a bit lacking.....

[numbersix]

For the ports you mention, I would definitely recommend getting the Rick Steves Italy book (should cover all those listed). Rick is great with the practical info and the book on Italy is one of his better ones (IMHO). He is short on pictures and history, though, so I'd suggest looking at more in-depth guidebooks (or just online) and scanning pages to take with you rather than taking a lot of extra books.

 

The DK Eyewitness books are always a little disappointing to me. They LOOK good, but the actual content seems a bit lacking.....

 

I agree...the DK books look so appealing. They are truly stunning, visually, but really light on useful info...like attractions' opening hours, costs, et cetera.

 

I found the same with the "Mediteranean by Cruise Ship"...realy lightweight.

 

I find the best info to be a combination of Rick Steves, Fodor's, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, and many hours on the web, and, this web site....the quality of the info and experience offered up graciously by all is truly amazing!

 

Kevin

 

Kevin

[cruising grandma]

Another vote for Rick Steves books... check Borders/Barnes and Nobles, etc. for fold up plastic coated maps of the cities you are visiting....light weight and very easy to unfold and determine your locations. We just returend from a 12 night Classical Mediterranean cruise on Summit and a precruise Barcelona and two nights post cruise Venice. Our plastic coated maps were a great help to four weary travelers trying to find their hotel in Murano toting lots of luggage! They asked if we could share our map, and were delighted not to navigate more stairs over bridges with all that luggage.

[KCcruisin07]

I also recommend the DK Eyewitness Italy for several ports and Rick Steves'

books for Rome and Venice and Florence, or anywhere if you will be for 2 days. You may enjoy website for Rome 101, some walking tours, and other tips.

I bought tour books from Alibris (www.alibris.com). Their prices were great, and the suppliers' turnaround time was pretty good. Since it is unwieldy to carry all of these, you may want to buy pocket maps that also had commentary for the ports. (Amazon.com) I wish I had had those!

[bostoncruisegal]

When I studied abroad in Italy 6 years ago - we used Let's Go all the time. Not sure how they are now, but we felt the books always had little tips to avoid crowds, save money, and great inexpensive restaurants.

 

He seemed to be pretty popular here, but from my experience, the absolute worst restaurants I ate in when I was traveling in Italy were those recommended by Rick Steve's. It could have been my bad luck, but that was my experience.

 

Either way this may be obvious, but just xerox the pages you need from whatever book you choose before you travel. Saves weight in luggage, and also, you do not want to pull a guide book out when you are traveling - it screams tourist and puts you more at risk for pick pockets, etc.