New city guides launched
Friday, 03 Mar 2006 17:11
Frommer's Rome Day-by-Day guide
Riding a scooter over broad cobblestone avenues and mastering the art of taking a caffé at a real Roman bar are among the recommended activities in a new guide to Rome.
The guide is one of series of city guides to be launched next week, which also cover Amsterdam, London and Paris among others.
Rather than listing everything there is to see and do the
Day by Day guides, published by Frommers, focus only on the best activities under headings such as dining, nightlife, shopping and neighbourhood walks.
All the guides contain a 'favourite moments' section where the authors detail the activities, often off the main tourist trail, which most impressed them.
Rome guide author Sylvie Hogg's favourite moments include wandering the untouristed narrow back streets of Trastevere, standing along the high western rim of Circus Maximus and doing some serious retail damage around the Spanish Steps.
In Paris, walking through the courtyard of the Musee du Louvre, strolling along the Seine on a warm summer night and getting an ice cream from Berthillon on Ile St Louis are among the favourite moments listed by
Paris Day by Day author Christ Daugherty.
Point-by-point walks around the cities offer structure to the time-poor tourist's day, while the 'best' sections at the beginning of chapters such as dining and nightlife make choosing a place to eat or drink far easier.
The categories, which include 'best lazy lunch', 'best people watching' and 'best gourmet splurge' for dining, and 'best for smoking Havana cigars' and 'best for Doors fans', are original and insightful.
The guides detail a range of itineraries for one, two and three days as well as special interest tours; for example the Paris guide includes a
Da Vinci Code tour, detailing the main sites of the best-selling novel by Dan Brown.
They also include tear-resistant (although not tear-proof) foldaway maps and fold out front covers with detailed colour maps, along with chapters expected of travel guides on accommodation and need-to-know facts.
The guides, which will be in the shops from March 8th 2006, priced at £7.99 also include San Francisco, New York and Venice.
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