Blue Guide Venice
Blue is the colour
Reviewed by Intermeddle
Format: Paperback
The Blue Guides are still the best choice for visitors seriously interested in architecture and art. This one improves with every edition.
Pilgrim’s Rome
Love it!
Reviewed by Rev. J. Setelik Jr.
Format: Paperback
The Christian’s best friend in preparing to see Rome. Absolutely love it! Pocket size will be helpful.
Blue Guide Emilia Romagna
This was a real find!
Reviewed by Gaby
Format: Kindle ebook
This was a real find! So accurate and really detailed! Recommend it wholeheartedly – the best guide around on this area.
Blue Guide Rome
Excellent guide to Rome
Reviewed by Kurt Schweighauser
Format: Paperback
Excellent guide to Rome. I recently spent a week there and good this book everywhere. The last day I went to the Vatican and hired a tour guide. There were 25 people in the group, but with the help of the Blue Guide, I didn’t miss anything.
Blue Guide Venice
Wow!
Reviewed by Tim Synge
Format: Paperback
This really is a fantastic guide. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in Venice and many of my target destinations were based on the contents of this book. It is so incredibly informative and authoritative that it knocks the information in other guides, such as Baedeker and Lonely Planet, into the long grass. Of course, it is much more of a specialist publication with an unapologetic focus on art, architecture, sculpture and history, so you would expect it to do better than general purpose guides.
A couple of minor drawbacks: firstly the ordering of contents (once you get beyond the six districts of Venice) is a little opaque. The mini-maps for each major site are loosely indicative, but you do need a proper streetmap too. Secondly, it is a job to distinguish between one-star and five-star recommendations. Granted, it is not for this book to be too populist and rank its contents, but sometimes a real gem is almost lost in a small paragraph. I am not sure how this could be improved, but I often found myself cross-referencing against a “tourist” guide to decide how to prioritise the visits.
All in all, an excellent work. My first Blue Guide, but emphatically not my last.
