Do I need the new Rome tour book?

I suppose that really depends on how much you use the info in the guidebook. I tend to get ideas from older guidebooks and then look for more current info on the web. Do you find you use your guidebook a lot when traveling?

The disclaimer is I don't have the Rome guide book, lol. I agree, it depends on how much you use it but I would say probably no. I did use the e-version of the Italy guide book for my Best of Italy tour this Fall. I was specifically looking for a public toilet in Verona - the tour guide had recommended we eat lunch in a restaurant to use their facilities but I wanted to walk around and not spend time waiting on food so wanted to find the public facilities. Rick did have them listed on his Verona city map.

You probably know where you want to stay? You probably have a good idea of what you want to see this time since you've been there before. For any museum or site that will require tickets you are going to check on the official website for ticketing info and hours of opening.

Some people use it for restaurant recommendations, I personally don't but I'm vegan so that tells you I'm a fussbudget about food, hahaha. I just look for a place wherever I am when I am hungry.

BTW, not sure if you are going to be there on a Fri/Sat/Sun but if you are and have an interest I found the Domus Aurea amazing. The tickets are limited so you need to be ready a month or so out to snag them when they come open for your date. The English tour group is small and you can only enter with a guide as it's an active archeological site. So interesting!

I like guidebooks, especially if they match my travel style, for the ideas of where to stay, where to eat, some of the banter, and in the Rick Steves guides, the tours of specific places, including walking tours.

However, especially these days, if a restaurant makes my list, I also check it online, read other blogs and have much more up to date information than what is in a guide book. The same with hotels, and even museums I check the website for updated hours and costs.

Depending what you plan to do on a second trip, the old one should be fine. You might see if your local library has the new one available to look through, to see if something has changed, but the Colosseum and the Vatican are still there, and few "new" old sites pop up usually.

I also am a bit leery of any guidebook coming out this year, given lead times for publishers, and the continuing rate at which hours, open days, costs, public transit systems changing, and restaurants and hotels being opened or shutting down...makes for any current information to be suspect.

I'll add....I do buy guidebooks for nearly every trip. I get the Kindle editions, not always the RS guides, but maybe Rough Guides, used to get Lonely Planet...usually for Kindle your spending $10-20, so really, it's cheap entertainment.

I want to thank everyone for their input. I was leaning towards not getting the new edition and you have helped me decide to use the old one and supplement with online information.
Thank you again
Michael

Michael, I also agree with Paul. The way the ground has shifted and continues to shift since Covid with staffing issues, supply issues, everything, there will be a lot in ANY guidebook that is out of date as soon as published. I think Rick and his guides do a fabulous job of updating more frequently than other guide books but still you are going to want to verify anything important on official online websites.

BTW, I used ApplePay for nearly everything in Italy this Fall. If you don't currently use it (or googlepay, I'd start!

Hi Michael, since you were with a RS tour last and will be on your own this time, be sure to read through the transportation chapter. For instance, if you have a physical ticket for the metro or trains, you must validate it - date/stamp it in the machine before boarding….and keep your ticket until you’re back on the street to throw it away. The fines are significant.

Otherwise, I haven’t looked at his guidebooks for the last several trips since most activities have on-line info these days.

And, for fun….my daughter & I were in Rome in September. If you like Tiramisu, be sure to drop into Mr. 100 Tiramisu at Via dei Sediari, 11/12, 00186 Roma, near the Pantheon! We had the triple sampler, and they were all fantastic!

Michael, absolutely use the official websites of the attractions you wish to see for the most current info on hours, entry fees, closures and any timed-entry pre-reservation mandates. A fair amount of that stuff may have changed for quite a number of attractions since 2016. If you don't know where to find those websites. give a shout?

Also use the search box at the top of the page for exploring restaurants people have recommended in more recent forum threads. We've never used a guidebook for either restaurants or hotels, and I sure wouldn't use one from 2016 for those as some may have closed or changed hands with the pandemic. Here's a start: forum threads regarding restaurants from the past 6 months:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=6m&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Rome%2C+restaurants&utf8=✓

I have often checked out the new additions of RS books at the library to review the recent restaurant recommendations

Hi Michael,
We were just in Rome and used a 2017 Italy Guidebook and 2018 Rome one. Main thing was that the prices for entrance to things had gone up considerably. Otherwise we were pleased to see most hotels and restaurants were still there. We mainly walked so I can't say if the bus lines have changed.