Rome: DK Eyewitness Travel Guide

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide series volume for Rome has been a vital and welcome aid through my recent visit to the city. Overall, it’s done the job well.

There are some very helpful touches of detail that really smooth a trip, such as letting you know the train ticket machines at the airport are multilingual (and so a much better bet for non-fluent Italian speakers than the ticket office itself). The range of information also caters for people with a wide-range of different holiday preferences: lots of travel information but also nine guided walks around the city, for example.

The production quality is very high. Both the detachable map (a nice touch in itself) and the book, including its spine, have survived plenty of bending back and forth. The flaps at front and back of the DK Guide also make it easy to mark places in the book and are nicely dimpled to work even on pages well into the middle of the volume.

Drawbacks? The book is heavy. If you are wanting to travel light, it’s noticeable. Inevitably some details get overtaken by changes between printing and a visit. Even so, I was surprised at the number of changes that seem to have occurred in Rome since the 2012 edition was finalised. Also, the suggested walks through Rome are rather scanty on exact route instructions at some points and some information is split between several places, requiring multiple checks to be sure you’ve found it all.

Even so, the net impact of the book on my trip was very positive.

You can buy the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Rome here.