What guidebook would you recommend for small towns in northern Italy (all areas north of Rome) -- towns/areas not covered in the RS guides. I'd like to find a guide that thoroughly covers the logistics (mostly transit options, hotels). Sightseeing advice is less important... I'll use the Blue Guides for that.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Lonely Planet. It's pretty thorough and very focused on logistics.
Posted by
Denver
787 posts
I would also suggest Lonely Planet for logistics; their books assume the reader is using public transportation. For hotels, I don't think I've used any printed guidebooks in years. I use the internet, Fodor's, tripadvisor and places like venere.com. If you end up looking for sightseeing information for small towns other than the Blue Guides, which i use too, I've found the Cadogan guides to provide a lot of detail, and sometimes in a more interesting way than do the Blue Guides. Also, I got the Blue Guide to Northern Italy, and felt that it had to cover so much, that sometimes there wasn't enough detail on some of the towns I was interested in.
Posted by
Portland
7 posts
As i make plans for March in Italy, I am impressed at the number and quality of bed and breakfasts as well as agriturismos. My expectation is to find a lot of the type of information you seek from each of my stops with these fine folks.
Posted by
WPB, FL & Firenze
3112 posts
Rough Guide also covers many small towns, lists restaurant/hotel/hostel options for most, and includes logistics for those accessible by public transportation. Compare Lonely Planet and Rough Guide next time you're at a bookstore, and pick the one best suited for you.