Blue Guide Paris
Just what is missing from so many guides…
By Anat Tueg
Format: Kindle ebook
Wonderful in depth history, nice walks. Wish there was a guide like this on every city I visited.
Blue Guide Sicily
It is the best guide about history and archaeology
By Geoffrey Braswell
Format: Paperback
This is not a book about beaches, hotels, and restaurants. It is the best guide about history and archaeology. Worth the price if you are there to see and learn rather than tan like a pig skin.
Blue Guide Sicily
A superb guide
By RTF King
Format: Kindle ebook
I bought this guide the night before leaving for a one week’s holiday in Palermo. Only after I had downloaded it did I see that its only review gave it one star, and I almost certainly would not have bought it had I read the review. In contrast to the reviewer, I found it extremely easy to use, with very good linkages between the Table of Contents at the back and the discussion in the text, and also cross-referencing between different parts of the text. I normally download my Kindle books on to two devices. The first is the Kindle paperwhite tablet, which has the great advantage that it can be read in broad sunlight. This is especially useful for travel guides. They are also very easy to slip into a pocket. The drawback is that, as your reviewer noted, diagrams and photographs tend to be too small and cannot be enlarged. I also download them on to an Android tablet (I use a Google Nexus 7 inch tablet, but this has probably been rendered obsolete by now.) With the Android version one can enlarge diagrams and photos very easily, and view them in a landscape version if preferred.
As for the guide itself, it is well-written and so far as I could see, very comprehensive. There were one or two glitches about opening times–swings and roundabouts, we found some things unexpectedly open as well as others unexpectedly closed. But for the most part it proved accurate and very helpful.
Blue Guide Florence
These are great guides
By cubby43
Format: Paperback
im already a fan of the blue guide rome which has been a great source of knowledge for me during 2 trips to rome, i now have the florence guide and its equally superb, i love the way everything is described, the language is very thorough, these are very, very well written guides, theyre not big on glossy pictures but have a great deal of substance, much more than other guides, they do contain great floor plans of important churches etc, also they have maps of the cities within, a pleasing touch is diagrams and illustrations of famous buildings,, these are top quality guides and will always be my first port of call whenever i want to look something up
Blue Guide Rome
Five Stars
By Edwin Tomlinson
Format: Paperback
Book in excellent condition and up to date. A good buy.
Blue Guide Rome
Excellent, all you need when combined with one other “pragmatic” guide
By J. Mark
Format: Paperback
30 years ago, LP was the only guide book I used. I’d read that Blue Guides were “dry”, but the on-line previews seemed to have much more depth. Purchased 4, for each of the major cities in Italy which we visited.
Pros: They are terrific! Substantial detail in art, architecture, and history, intelligently written, and without any apparent “PC” bias, which negatively effects so many guidebooks. We had other folks surreptitiously listening in when I’d read out the descriptions as we went; much of the content of other guidebooks seems to be cribbed from the Blues. Far, far more detail than the other guidebooks we had with us; Blue would often have full entries on sites the others did not even (or barely) mentioned. Cannot say enough about the fantastic wealth of information & detail on nearly every site; often as much or more than the local tour guides! We never felt the need for a guide except in the 1 or 2 locations Blue actually recommended it!
Cons: A little light on practical “getting there” and “where to stay” type information, but I do like that the Blues assumption is that you’re not a timid, fearful tourist & can figure some basics out for yourself. They’re big & heavy, so perhaps I’m going with the downloadable next time, tho I love the ability to re-read them at home.
When combined with any other guidebook that excels in the practical traveler’s type info (such as LP, Rough, Fodor/Frommer, etc. – your preference), the Blue Guides provide the excellent, in-depth detail into at what you’re actually looking.
Blue Guide Paris
Great Guide!
By Jerrold Anderson
Format: Paperback
Great book! I had an earlier edition and lost it. The updated version is even better!
Pilgrim’s Rome
Best in class
By Rich Leonardi
Format: Kindle ebook
Wonderful resource that provides brief, encyclopedic descriptions of the history and significance of nearly all the important sites of Christian Rome. The digital version is especially helpful, as one can flip through the Kindle version on an iPhone while walking the streets of Rome. I’ve read just about every similarly themed book on Rome I could find, and Blue Guides’ Pilgrims Rome is the best.
Blue Guide Venice
The best series of guide books are now better than ever
By Marco M
Format: Paperback
This is the first of the ‘rebooted’ Blue Guides I’ve bought. After going down the pretty looking, more populist route, Blue Guides are now back on track!
This is absolutely the best guide book to Venice available today. Let’s be honest here – one goes to Venice for her history, art and architecture, not for a week of lying on a beach at a resort. Blue Guides are unapologetically concerned with detailed information on every building and artwork you will see in a city. This guide is stuffed full of the most interesting information about everything imaginable relating to Venice, her art and her glorious past. Not just who painted what and who built that, but facinating titbits of trivia that brings the most beautiful city on Earth alive.
I have taken past editions of Blue Guides to Venice many times over the last 10 years, but this is the best so far. I thought I knew Venice inside out – my last trip there (for 8 days) revealed so much more that I didn’t know, all thanks to this brilliant guide. It really makes every other guide book on the market look like an article in a magazine.
Now I have to buy the rebooted Blue Guide to Rome for my upcoming trip back to the Eternal City!
Hungarian Wine
Great and informative book
By Miss Fly
Format: Paperback
Bought as a Christmas present and well received by someone who knows their wines. Very informative book.
Blue Guide Venice
Intelligent, reliable guide to those who want to find
By Richard Hyman
Format: Paperback
I cannot add substantially to the previous review of Joanie G. This much improved edition is almost twice the size of the previous which was inferior to the Blue Guides to London and Paris. To my knowledge it is the only thorough, intelligent, reliable guide to those who want to find and appreciate the overwhelming riches of this city. Plus advice on getting about efficiently. Recommend without reservation.
Blue Guide New York
Made a wonderful Christmas gift for my Dad
By Samantha B.
Format: Paperback
Lovely book! Made a wonderful Christmas gift for my Dad. He’s raving about it.
Blue Guide Trentino & the South Tyrol
Just the ticket
By Ziz
Format: Paperback
Handy, super-slim volume, packed with cultural, leisure and practical information on this part of Italy, which few publications cover. It gave me the details I needed to plan my holiday.
Blue Guide Emilia Romagna
Great book!
By Alexandra Neustadt
Format: Paperback
Great book! Covers all of the main cities in Emilia-Romagna–Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna, and more. Pretty slim, so easy for traveling. I disagree with the other reviewers who gave it one star. Blue Guides have never been your typical tourist book. They include much more information and history about the sights. I use online research and other basic travel books to map out what I want to see. Then I take a Blue Guide with me so I can really learn about what I’m looking at. This Blue Guide is perfect for that.
Blue Guide Rome
The blue guide is One of the best books
By susanna majolino
Format: Paperback
The blue guide is One of the best books I’ve ever read About my mervellous city!! It is very well written, clear and with many details!!
Blue Guide Trentino & the South Tyrol
Meran/Merano is the place to go in the Tyrolean Alps
By Phedippides
Format: Paperback
Not always easy to find an English language guide that is useful. The South Tyrol includes many German speaking communities from its history as part of the Austrian Empire, and with Italian their country’s language, English is a poor third. So a good English language guide is important.
Blue Guide London
Five Stars
By Elaine Potters Bar
Format: Paperback
Brilliant guide for anyone interested in London and it’s hidden treasures.
Blue Guide New York
Literally everything you could want to know about NYC
By Duffee
Format: Paperback
Literally everything you could want to know about NYC. Using it to study for my NYC Sightseeing Guide Exam.
Blue Guide London
Very good on anecdote…
By David Poyser
Format: Paperback
Very good on anecdote, and excellent for looking up stuff at the back. I took it out with a whole load of trainee London guides, and we all found it the best source.
Blue Guide Umbria
Great book, I used it everywhere in Umbria
By Ilikebooks
Format: Kindle ebook
This was such a helpful book, truly detailed and has extremely useful descriptions and explanations of art and architecture. Traveled all over Umbria and took this book (on my kindle) everywhere and referred to it often. Buy it.
Blue Guide New York
The book is recommended to not only exam takers but also newbies to…
By Ellen Kim
Format: Paperback
Very specific information about NYC is included. The book is recommended to not only exam takers but also newbies to the city.
Pilgrim’s Rome
Excellent
By K
Format: Paperback
Bought for upcoming first trip to Rome. Had it spiral bound at a local shop in order to use it on the go. Excellent size. maps and resources.
Blue Guide New York
Absolutely the best guides for those looking to really appreciate a city
By Andy R.
Format: Paperback
In the internet age, the need for a traditional travel guide with hotel listings and maps is becoming a thing of the past. What is not and can no be replaceable is the ability to get a wealth of beautifully curated information on a destination, the stuff that makes a trip/ visit worthwhile.
The Blue Guides are absolutely the best guides for those looking to really appreciate a city. Whether traveling, new to a city, or a native history buff, these are unparalleled in their informative and interesting content.
My only complaint is that they don’t publish more of them for other cool cities. I always check for a Blue Guide when I get a new airplane ticket bought. I feel like there used to be more? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Blue Guide Travels in Transylvania
Five Stars
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
A beautifully written guide that takes you on journey through an undiscovered gem.
Blue Guide Rome
Superb
By cubby43
Format: Paperback
Excellent detailed guide, just the right amount of information for me, thorough but in no way boring, very well written, very nicely laid out and organised, much better than the more common big name guidebooks in my opinion, indispensable.
Blue Guide Rome
The ultimate DETAILED art and sights guide
By GerryR
Format: Paperback
The Blue Guide is all about DETAILS; about the many many sights you could see when in Rome. This is NOT about where to eat or stay or how to get around, but about what there is to see – who built it, when and why – who painted it or carved it and how it all fits into the big picture. Very authoritative and accurate.
Blue Guide Paris
Five Stars
By Amazon Customer
Format: Kindle ebook
The Blue Guides fill in all the blanks that the other guidebooks have.
Blue Guide Rome
The Gold Standard for guidebooks to Rome
By G.B. Piranesi
Format: Paperback
Just arrived today in my mailbox, and am thoroughly pleased. Layout, image quality and substantially updated information makes this the guidebook of reference for the Eternal City. As erudite as ever, but more user-friendly than previous editions, this is the one to get.
Blue Guide Southeastern Turkey
Great Guide to Turkey. A Must!
By Dana J.
Format: Kindle ebook
Great book. Great guide. Thank you.
Blue Guide Sicily
Five Stars
By Robin Duran McBride
Format: Kindle ebook
Beautiful book full of information. Very readable and not boring.
Blue Guide New York
Blue Guides are the best for the more serious traveller
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
You will quickly understand why Blue Guide New York is required reading for licensed City sightseeing guides.
Blue Guide Literary Companion Rome
Five Stars
By Audrey in Rome
Format: Paperback
Wonderful book. I give them as gifts.
Blue Guide Paris
The Blue Guides are the best guides for people...
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
The Blue Guides are the best guides for people who really want the details of museums and historical sites. There are very few restaurant and hotel suggestions; use a different guide for those. I use these wherever I travel and I have learned a lot from reading them as I visit a site.
Blue Guide India
The Only Printed Guide You Will Need
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
This is the standard for Indian guide books. It doesn’t cover the hotels and hostels in any kind of detail, but it doesn’t need to, you can find that information online. It does cover the cultural attractions in exquisite detail. On several occasions I found the guides I used almost parroting what was in this book. I spent six weeks in South India and referred to this book on an almost daily basis. It is thick and bulky, but I appreciated having it in paper format so I could refer to it even if I had problems recharging my devices. It could use some updating for some of the attractions in terms of admission details, etc, but still well worth purchasing.
Blue Guide New York
Blue Guides are the best for the more serious traveller
By Andrew Porter
Format: Paperback
Blue Guides are the best guide books for the more serious traveller, for those who prefer to visit art galleries and museums rather than, well, less cultural places. I’ve been using them for around 40 years and have not regretted one moment of my long and happy relationship with Blue Guides.
Being comprehensive guides they are a tad heavier than the more lightweight ones, but quit kvetching, Reader, buy a satchel to hold it in…I can highly recommend the following company as purveyors of fine satchels, Chapman of Carlisle (UK), their fishing bags are perfect for keeping cameras, maps and guide books in whilst exploring New York.
By all means use other guides for information on hotels, places to eat and drink, shopping and LGBTQI venues but Blue Guides are the business for architecture, art galleries and history.
Carol von Pressentin Wright “has been writing and revising editions of BLUE GUIDE NEW YORK since 1976” . Her meticulously detailed writing in this, the fifth and latest edition of the BLUE GUIDE NEW YORK, should ensure this edition remains at the top of the list for the more discerning travellers to New York for quite some time.
Pilgrim’s Rome
Great Rome companion visiting Rome with a spiritual or religious purpose
By Smith
Format: Paperback
Very handy small format, almost pocket size and full of relevant information if you visit Rome with a spiritual or a religious historical purpose. Need to get used to the small maps but complemented by a tourist guide or a map, it worked very well for us. It is not a visual guide full of photos. Do not try cover the whole book unless you spend a few weeks in Rome. We will be back and indeed with this little great book in the bag.
Blue Guide Rome
Buy this guide for Rome travel
By Rich72
Format: Kindle ebook
I swear by the paperback editions of this guide, of which I have had two different one. Thrilled to see it available as a e-book, I purchased it immediately. This guide is the a thorough and comprehensive travel reference, with details other books simply ignore, figuring their users are real dilettantes. This is a serious book. We visit Rome for several months every year and always have a copy of it on hand. Now with the e-book, I can quickly access to Rome information with a couple of clicks. Will be great for walking around central Rome and all of its neighborhoods.
Blue Guide Paris
THE guide to seeing Art in Paris
By J. B. Arran
Format: Paperback
This told me everything I wanted to know about my reason for visiting Paris. That was to immerse my wife and myself in the art of the M. d’Orsey. Thanks to the book we also spent time in the wonderful M. de l’Orangerie. We also used two of the walking routes which were a brilliant way of seeing Paris as it were, behind the scenes.
Hungarian Wine
An inviting introduction into Hungary’s fascinating wine culture
By D. Bolger
Format: Paperback
A fresh look at the new Hungarian wine scene and its fruitful history. The book examines the traditional and new methods of wine production in a way that lay wine drinkers can absorb but also has depth for more educated connoisseurs. A well rounded exploration of the region’s wine, touching on grape advice, food and culture with a warm anecdotal flavour. It’s about time this culture rich and wine rich region was discovered again. An excellent and indispensable guide to Hungarian wine in general and a must for visitors.
Blue Guide Venice
This is an excellent guide-book and includes very intelligent and descriptive articles
By Jilly Clarke
Format: Paperback
This is an excellent guide-book and includes very intelligent and descriptive articles. I bought it, together with the Pocket Rough Guide and they complimented perfectly.
Blue Guide Florence
Still the best and most thorough series of guide books around
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
Still the best and most thorough series of guide books around. The Florence volume is a worthy member of the series.
Blue Guide India
A comprehensive book about Rajasthan
By uri haelyon
Format: Paperback
A comprehensive book about Rajasthan. You may not find details about hotels or restaurants, but I find that kind of knowledge irrelevant today. You will learn a lot about the sites the area. More comprehensive than any other book I’v read.
Blue Guide London
Best London Guide I have Seen
By M J Henderson
Format: Paperback
Concisely written yet full of relevant detail. Sets a very high standard for guide books.
Blue Guide Venice
Blue is the colour
By Intermeddle
Format: Paperback
The Blue Guides are still the best choice for visitors seriously interested in architecture and art. This one improves with every edition.
Blue Guide Paris
Best guide books for architecture, museums and galleries
By Andrew Porter
Format: Paperback
I’ve been using Blue Guides for over forty years and they really are the best guide books for architecture, museums and galleries. I usually use them in tandem with a Rough Guide or a Lonely Planet guide which are better for hotels, restaurants and shopping. The Blue Guides are not cheap but, as ever, you get what you pay for, quality costs money. I’ve found they don’t become as out of date quite as quickly as the other guide books mentioned above. Highly recommended.
Pilgrim’s Rome
Love it!
By Rev. J. Setelik Jr.
Format: Paperback
The Christian’s best friend in preparing to see Rome. Absolutely love it! Pocket size will be helpful.
Blue Guide Emilia Romagna
This was a real find!
By Gaby
Format: Kindle ebook
This was a real find! So accurate and really detailed! Recommend it wholeheartedly – the best guide around on this area.
Blue Guide Jordan
This is the best guidebook I have ever used
By Agnieszka
Format: Kindle ebook
The Blue Guide is designed to serve travelers who prioritize the history and archaeology of sites. The ground plans are particularly helpful. The book covers well-known sites, e.g. Petra, as well as places off the beaten track, e.g. Qasr Burqu. The directions are usually clear. There were only a few times I was not able to match the directions with what I saw, which may have been caused by factors beyond the authors’ control. The newest edition contains accurate and up to date information, even for the opening hours of the Jordan Museum. This is the best guidebook I have ever used. I would recommend it to anyone serious about history and archaeology.
Blue Guide Rome
Excellent guide to Rome
By Kurt Schweighauser
Format: Paperback
Excellent guide to Rome. I recently spent a week there and good this book everywhere. The last day I went to the Vatican and hired a tour guide. There were 25 people in the group, but with the help of the Blue Guide, I didn’t miss anything.
Blue Guide Crete
If a Mediterranean vacation is in your plans
By suej
Format: Paperback
This is one of three guides I have and is easily the best especially if you are interested in the history of Crete. But even if you’re not, it is a mine of information, as well as useful recommendations for accommodation and eating (we tried a few of the recommended restaurants and weren’t disappointed in any of them). It’s divided into different geographical sections, each beginning with a history of the place, then recommended places to visit, with the emphasis on historical sites and museums but other places of interest as well. There are guided walks and drives, with masses of background information. There is also practical stuff about travel, where to stay, (with price guides) tourist information, where to eat (also with price guides), shopping and markets, festivals and events, walking, and recommended further reading. The detail on places like Knossos is great – I can safely say that it’s all we needed to guide us round the site. Highly recommended.
