While we recommend and support good book shops as the obvious place to buy a Blue Guide, we also provide functionality from these pages to order copies for immediate delivery from Amazon. One of the advantages of this for us is that we can see the excellent rankings and feedback from readers that our titles receive, in itself rewarding for our authors, editors and production team, who put an enormous amount of work into publishing “the best-researched, best presented guide books in the English language”. Here are some recent comments.
ITALY: FLORENCE – ROME – SICILY – VENICE
CROATIA – FRANCE – GREECE – HUNGARY – INDIA – JORDAN – TRANSYLVANIA – TURKEY – UK – USA
Blue Guide Sicily
Covers the topic very thoroughly.
By Brooklyn Kid
Format: Paperback
I always find the ‘Blue Guides’ excellent. Very informative and easy to use.
Blue Guide Sicily
Great and Informative.
By Randy
Format: Paperback
I used an old edition of this years ago. Nice to have an updated copy! The book is very informative with lots of valuable history of the country and concise info on where and what to see.
Blue Guide Sicily
Excellent travel resource
By Jerome Cavanaugh
Format: Kindle ebook
Great detail about all locations in Sicily, even the small towns and villages between primary tourist sites.
Blue Guide Sicily
For the traveller who wants to know EVERYTHING about Sicily
By Lyvia Kalisky
Format: Kindle ebook
The Blue Guide tradition of giving full information is capably upheld in the volume about Sicly. This is perfect when you need to know all about an archeological site. I bought this book for a short trip to the island and I found it perfect for learning all the details I crave. I recommend the e- book edition on a Kindle or tablet to avoid lugging around a weighty tome.
Blue Guide Sicily
Intelligent book for intelligent art lovers.
By Marina K.
Format: Kindle ebook
In depth explanation of art, architecture and history. Not afraid to be sophisticated. Well above the level of more popular guide books.
Blue Guide Sicily
Good
By Reader
Format: Paperback
Detailed guidance on sites – very useful to supplement standard holiday trip guides.
Blue Guide Sicily
Best of this type. Scope is rather narrow.
By anthony tedesco
Format: Paperback
Well researched. Really for those who enjoy art and architecture.
Blue Guide Sicily
Excellent
By A. Malone
Format: Paperback
Excellent as this series usually is
Blue Guide Sicily
great book
By Amazon Customer
Format: Paperback
the best travel guide I’ve ever purchased. my planned trip is for art and architecture. this covers everything i need.
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 Sicily
Five Stars
By Robin Duran McBride
Format: Kindle ebook
Beautiful book full of information. Very readable and not boring.
Blue Guide Sicily
useful research book
By Kahanamoku “Kahanamoku”
Format: Paperback
One of the best books I have found for information on Sicily. If you want pretty pics go elsewhere.. this is really great on the information side. A much better format for me than DK.
Blue Guide Sicily
Simply the best and most complete travel companion
By Argyraspid
Format: Paperback
Simply the best! The editor of this Blue Guide, Sicily is Dr Michael Metcalfe, whom I had the immense pleasure to meet on several trips organized by Peter Sommer Travels.
This travel guide starts with a sketchy presentation of Sicily’s complex history. After that, each province of Sicily is being explained in detail, beginning each time with a short history of its own followed by the role its capital and other main cities played over the centuries, highlighting the main buildings and others, inclusive opening hours, entrance fees and handy phone numbers. Clear town plans and site maps help the prospective visitor to find his way among the Greco-Roman ruins and in the web of streets and alleys of these cities and towns. Key events or key personalities receive special attention in a framed window, and clear drawings and an occasional (black & white) picture definitely help to get a good idea of what to expect.
At the end of each chapter treating a separate province, there is a list of hotels and restaurants that deserve to be taken into consideration. That goes for all the provinces of Sicily: Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna, Ragusa, Syracuse, Catania and Messina.
The guide concludes with some practical information about opening hours, emergency numbers, means of communication and travel, and finally some details about accommodation and the island’s wide range of typical food and drink (wines). There also is a glossary of special terms, mostly pertaining to Greek temples and theatres, handily completed with drawings of the basic temple design, the classical orders of the temples, the design of ancient theatres, as well as the names and shapes of all kinds of pottery one can encounter. It also includes a list of Sicilian architects, painters and sculptors. At the very end of the guide we find a full road map of Sicily and a series of more detailed maps by province. In short, everything you need to know before heading for this beautiful island but also extremely useful while travelling around.
To my greatest pleasure and utmost satisfaction I did indeed visit this island in a two-weeks tour led by Dr Michael Metcalfe in person (for the tour details of Peter Sommer Travels, see Exploring Sicily), who truly brought Sicily and its rich history and culture to life!
Blue Guide Sicily
Amazing Sicilian Guide
By Jill Tata
Format: Paperback
Blue Guide Sicily is an exciting and extraordinary travel guide. Having visited with a large tour group I want to return solo. This book goes into depth and sums up the islands charm. It’s an excellent read in preparation for, or while on a trip to Sicily. Part guidebook, part historical and it is one of the most interesting books I’ve read. I’d say it’s the definitive work on Sicily! A great picture of Sicily and its hideouts through the centuries – very insightful.