National Geographic Destination Map Venice (Destined to Be the Best-Selling Travel Map Series)

Rating:
Summary: Great Little Map
Review: I'm just back from three weeks in Venice. Because I'm obsessive, I ended up taking along four maps: Street Smart, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, and the Rough Guide map. I thought I'd share my experiences.

Many people who go to Venice stick to the main walkways between the most important tourist spots: the Accademia, the Rialto Bridge, and San Marco square. If you're that sort of person, the National Geographic map might be perfect for you. It's easy to read, it's very durable, it's easy to carry.

I am not that sort of person. I walked all over the city: along the waterfronts of Dorsoduro and Cannaregio, through the parks of Castello and Sant'Elena, and to churches and restaurants everywhere in between. I also found that taking non-standard routes between well-known places avoided the street merchants and pedestrian crush. You can see what I put my maps through.

There were two reasons why I wasn't perfectly happy with just this map. First, several times I found myself in a twisty little spot where the map and reality were not in sync: a missing bridge, roads not shaped this way, etc. Second, it's small: while that makes it easy to carry and to use to think about the big picture, it's hard to read this map in low-light conditions at night or in the rain. These are small quibbles, but they were issues for me. The Destination Map was far better than its rivals (StreetSmart and LonelyPlanet) in both these ways

What I found was the Destination Map and the Rough Guide map were perfect companions. I would use the Destination Map when I was plotting strategy and cruising along. When I found myself in a place where the Destination Map was not useful, I'd turn to the Rough Guide map. This combination worked out great throughout my trip.