Knopf Mapguides: Rome: The City in Section-by-Section Maps

This is a TERRIFIC little pocket guide, once you've decided what you want to see. There are brief lists of the 'top ten' sights, and information on lodging and transportation, including a subway map. Where this excels is with the maps. For each of six major areas of the city, you open the guide to descriptions of the restaurants, bars, and shopping in the area. The pages feel very thick, almost like you're reading a young child's cardboard book. But like magic, the pages unfold UP, not from side to side, so you're looking at a double-page map that takes up roughly 3/4 of the page, with the bottom section highlighting the tourist attractions (museums, churches, palaces, theaters, piazzas) in the area -- brief descriptions, addresses, hours, phone numbers, and color photographs. The index lists several hundred sites you may want to visit, and references them back to the appropriate map. They have been incredibly efficient in cramming so much information into such a compact design. Very well done!

This little book is a nice combination of guide and map. I'm somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect guidebook every time I take a trip ... I often buy more than one just to be sure I don't miss anything. While it's great to have that kind of information on hand, it's best to have on hand back at the hotel in my suitcase rather than weighing down my purse while I'm out sightseeing. I read through my big guidebooks, then made a few sticky notes with a few things I wanted to remember and stuck them on the relevant pages of this one to take with me. After all, who needs to lug a guidebook containing things like hotel information around all day? This is a great size for carrying in a purse. It's also small enough that my husband can be persuaded to stow it in his jacket. Even better! The book starts out with a double-page horizontal fold-out showing a map of the entire city divided into 10 sections. (Arrondissements are roughly shown but not drawn out.) Each section then gets its own two-page vertical fold-out, including a larger map. Points of interest are reviewed, including a number of restaurants, cafes, bars, shopping, and things to see. There are lots of color pictures on every page. The maps include Metro stops and there's also a Metro map of the city in the back. The section maps are MUCH easier to read than the little maps you can get from the hotels or at the Metro stations. Not only is the print bigger, but the maps themselves are not as unwieldy as a regular map. I felt just a little less touristy reading them. I sometimes wished there was just a little more detailed information, but that would make for a bigger, heavier book. Overall, I think they did a good job of balancing the need for information with a manageable size.

This book was great for our trip. Very handy!

My wife and I spent a week in Paris and this was the book that we carried with us all the time. We walked everywhere, constantly unfolding the map of each section of the city to find out how to get to where we needed to go. PROS: 1. Compact - fits in purse or jacket pocket. Easy to unfold and refold each map. 2. Excellent map detail - shows all streets, Metro stops, important buildings and points of interest. Also has a separate Metro map. 3. Contains other useful information - not a substitute for a guidebook, but the back of each map provides short descriptions of major attractions, restaurants, etc. This is useful when you're in an area and you want to know what else you should see while you're there. CONS: 1. Metro lines are not shown on maps - the Metro stops are shown on the street maps, but sometimes it was difficult to relate the street maps to the separate Metro map. If the Metro routes were superimposed on the street maps, this would have been a lot easier (although this may be a difficult thing to do while keeping the maps readable).

I have at least 5 of these Knopf books. They fit easily into purses and large pockets and the area by area fold out maps help you avoid the giant unfolded map situation. I like it for identifying sights and providing a good map, but sometimes the restaurants/bars are gone, the hours might be wrong, and Knopf doesn't include the prices for sights. So you might see a museum and want to go, and when you show up it's $$$ and you might change your mind. It's a great supplement and worth it for the map convenience.

This map book is AMAZING! I will definitely be buying a copy for any other city we visit... The recommended restaurants, cafes & sites to visit were spot on. I also went in and added a few other locations by hand for during our visit. The maps are accurate & easy to read. It's very easy to fold out the small maps, organized by neighborhood, rather than a larger city-wide map. Very convenient to use! I also loved that the pages aren't coated like most maps are nowadays, so I was able to add in our own notes & landmarks accordingly without them smearing... I'm a HUGE fan of this product! Would also make a great gift to anyone visiting a featured city for a honeymoon or other special occasion... I'd consider this book indispensable for any tourist!

My wife and I spent 10 days in Paris in July 2013 and we carried this little book everywhere we went as it weighs next to nothing. The beginning of the book showed the arrondissement and the corresponding pages. We love how the pages flip up to just the section we were exploring. It also has the metro lines on the back of the book. Note, however, treat this book for what it really is ... it's basically a well organized map. It has a tidbits of must and should-see places for each sections and some recommended restaurants, but for all intent and purpose, this served only as a map for us. We did our Paris planning by visiting various websites and utilizing other Paris related travel books. One final note, when we were travelling, we were never completely lost. We always knew where we are at any particular point and where we're going. I'm not sure if this map was meant for you to get completely lost in Paris (e.g., take the metro and get off at wherever your heart desires) and figure out where you are. I'm sure you can figure it out quite easily, but the book doesn't have a list of all the street names and corresponding pages like a true atlas does. But people in Paris are friendly ... just figure out which arrondissement you're at, open up the map and say, "Bonjour, I'm a lost tourist, can you tell me where we're at?" :) Buy this book and enjoy your trip.

This book really simplifies your ability to move around an unfamiliar city like Paris. The book/map is divided by areas within the city, with a detailed fold-out map for each area that includes all the places of interest/restaurants/bars/shopping within each area. Practically all your trip planning is done for you! You just need to highlight & prioritize the spots you absolutely want to hit while in Paris, start walking, and take this book with you everywhere you go! It even includes a map of the metro system, so you can plan which metro lines to take to your next destination (if it's further than you want to walk). We hit some of the recommended restaurants that indicated were frequented by locals, and they were right on the mark! Some of the best food we had on our trip!!! I will definitely look into another Knopf MapGuide for any other major cities we plan to visit in the future!!!

The best part of these guides are the sectional maps, very handy. Not certain how practical the shopping and dining recommendations are for most travellers. But a good overview nonetheless.

Excellent little book - pocket size, fold out maps, all attractions. Perfect for touring the sites.

I love this series of travel guides, and have had three versions f the Paris one over the years. The flip-out maps are the best, with just enough info about landmarks and spots to rest. Great way to orient yourself. Especially good guides for people who love to walk.

Brilliant!

Terrific and concise little guides for people who get overwhelmed by too much information. These offer a few special ideas to make your visit a lot of fun.