Florence & Tuscany (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Rating:
Summary: I am very thankful for the DK Eyewitness Guides!
Review: As I've said in my review of the Eyewitness Guide to Rome, I am very impressed by the aesthetic qualities of the DK books. They make a great show and tell after you've taken the trip, save you from having to take many pictures, and inspire others to want to go there. The content, in terms of guided walks and tours, is just what you need if you're spending more than a day in the beautiful city of Florence. Face it, if you just spend a day, go to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio area, maybe the Duomo... and let them speak for themselves. But this book goes into decent depth for a variety of attractions and locations. If you are only there three days, you can pick and choose, and it doesn't skimp. I could see how the Eyewitness Guide to Florence would equip you for a month of travel in Tuscany, easily. I unfortunately couldn't get out of the city, but that leads to another praise of the book...

I had a significant medical problem in Florence, and needed immediate attention. The book gave the address for a clinic specifically for tourists (I didn't see this listed in the other guides I had access to). All of the doctors at this clinic spoke English, and I didn't even have to speak to hospital staff or reception. The thing is, even if many foreigners speak enough English to impress, in health situations it's very different and easy to confuse and become confused. Trying to get surgery isn't like ordering dinner. So the directions to this clinic allowed me to get the surgery I needed from someone fluent in my language and made the rest of my trip so much more enjoyable.

The bottom line is, if you're going to Tuscany, you can trust the DK guides to take care of what you need!

Rating:
Summary: Make Eyewitness essential part of your travel fun
Review: DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides are our best travel companion during our tour of Europe. Full of tips, pictures, maps, site info, history, local reference ... every page is not only helpful but beautiful. The layout anf format is very innovative and reader friendly, a ture standing out from any other travel books. It was interesting to see that almost everywhere we went, we saw other people (tourists apparently) holding and checking the same DK book on the street.

The coverage is comprehensive and growing year after year, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice ... every city we went have its own Eyewitness serie. We studied them before our trip, consulted them during our trip, and kept them as memo and photo book after our trip. They are simply essential part of the travel fun.

I recommend buying indiviual city/area book wherever possible instead of the country book. For example, buy Rome, Florence, and Venice books instead of Eyewitness Italy (unless your destination doesn't have its own Eyewitness). That way you get more detailed and targeted info.

Rating:
Summary: Good background reading
Review: This guide has a good overview of Tuscany with lovely pictures, and its restaurant reviews are quite reliable. It is good background reading before a visit to the area, although because of its scope of coverage it is brief on details about most sights. However, I found it a little difficult to use in the field, mostly due to the placement of the maps and to the organization of the information on Florence. I would give it four stars but downgraded it to 3 for one major flaw. The guide recommends a walk to San Miniato al Monte and describes the route as dotted with cafes. There was not a single cafe along the way to the church and this error was remarkable -- beware of making this hike without several bottles of water!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent travel guide
Review: This travel guide came in very handy during a recent vacation trip to Florence. It's one of the best I've seen, though not perfect. This book is packed with useful information about the major attractions, interesting historical tidbits, lots of color photos and illustrations, and suggestions on things to buy and foods to eat. The maps of central Florence are very helpful to anyone planning to wander a lot by foot which is really the best way to see the city. Most of the major sights are within easy walking distance of one another. There is also information and photos of other towns in Tuscany with brief descriptions. This guide book has sturdy laminated covers which means it won't fall apart on you, even after constant use. My biggest gripe concerns the hotel and restaurant recommendations. Most of the hotels listed are very expensive. And the restaurant list could be better, in my opinion. It would have also been helpful to have more information about bus routes to places of interest outside Florence. My wife and I, for instance, took a side trip to a small town just south of the city. We found a local bus that took us there and the fare was less than two euros. But all of these faults are minor. I would still strongly recommend this guide to anyone visiting Florence.