Very good, with drawbacks
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A very, very good map of Venice, with lots on it. In fact, perhaps, too much. You have to read this map in advance of your trip - become adept at finding a grid reference for a restaurant, for example, or a "sight" if that's what you are on your way to see.
Good:
- the public transport routes are right, though not very obvious from the map, but there's an official "venice transport" map on the back.
- even the traghetto routes are right(a gondola ferry - E0.50 this year, 2008)
- "road" names are clear and easy to read, if you've got the right glasses on... you reach an age.....
- many reasonable restaurants/bars marked, but coded by cost, which means there are 20 or so entries marked as B on the map, the grid is crucial for this task
- the toilets are in the right places, or close enough that you can see signs on walls, or on the pavement in some cases, they will cost you E1.00 per person per visit unless you have the Venicecard ("Carta Venezia")
- it's "plasticy" - laminated, but not rigidly
Bad:
- the size is awkward (as with any sheet map) if it's breezy and you're trying to work out which of the waterbuses in front of you is the one to go on, however, there is no alternative to a flappy map. At least this one holds its folds, so it sort of goes back the way it was when you got it.
- you sometimes have to look at the back, then the front, then the back etc. - also unavoidable, really.
If you buy the Venicecard ("Carta Venezia"), it comes with a decent map, too. No bars or restaurants on that one, though, but its "B" side is a list of places you can get into free.
Overall, I was glad I had this map, Venice is difficult to navigate around, the only city in the world in which I have been lost, or at least, misplaced, because I was looking at the wrong part of the map, having gone in the wrong direction because there isn't always a way through, unless you can levitate over the canals!
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