Rick Steves' Venice 2005

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful guidebook--best I've ever used.
Review: I just got back from a four-day trip to Venice, and this guidebook was absolutely wonderful. The real strength of it was the detail--along with an overview listing of the main sights, several full tours of the main museums, churches, and other landmarks were included in the book, room by room. Some of the museums had their own English-language notes, but every time I found the commentary in this book more interesting (and entertaining!)--and for several sights, including most of the churches (with some of the best artwork in Venice), there was no information available at all--having this book with me meant I knew what I was looking at! In addition, he has some great walking tours with little interesting placese that I never would have found otherwise, and his dining suggestions were absolutely great--my boyfriend and I did a pub crawl of several little eateries he recommended, and every place was delicious, affordable, and in most places we were the only tourists there! I cannot recommend this book highly enough--I'm going to get the Rick Steves city or country guidebooks for everywhere I visit in the future for which they're available.