The Venice Directions

Travelling with a Venice Directions in your pocket is like having a local friend plan your trip. Providing accurate, up-to-date coverage, the guide – with a third in full colour – is fully illustrated with specially commissioned photographs. Browse the "Ideas" section with 28 themed spreads – from "Death in Venice" and "On the water" to "Venetian oddities" and "Eighteenth-century Art" – with each caption cross-referenced to the practical part of the guide. There are critical reviews of the best places to stay, the coolest bars and the shops, all located on our user-friendly maps. Additional chapters cover festivals and special events from the Film Festival and Carnevale to the spectacular Regata Storica. The language section has a useful menu reader and handy phrases to have you speaking a little Italian by the time you arrive.

Jonathan Buckley is co-author of the Rough Guides to Tuscany &Umbria and Florence and has published three novels: The Biography of Thomas Lang, Xerxes and Ghost MacIndoe.