Profah

We will have 5 nights in Tuscany. We would like to drive to Sienna, San Gimignana, Montichello, Greve, Montepulciano, ?
I would also like to have one day at the coast.
Any recs for inexpensive places to stay.
We prefer to save on hotel and spend money elsewhere. THanks

tara3056

What is your budget? "Inexpensive" means different things to different people - for instance, my husband and I rented a *gorgeous* apartment in Tuscany last fall for only 90 euros/night, and I thought that was a great bargain.

Profah

Thanks. I would like to pay under 100 US dollars. We prefer to spend money on food and activities. Just need a comfortable place to sleep. However, a view and a chance to meet other people would be welcomed.

daria

Hi tara3056,

That is a great bargain. Can you share some information about the apartment, and how you found out about it and booked it?


Thanks,

Daria

see_the_world7

You don't say when you are traveling. You could pick a fairly central location and rent a cottage/villa for that time. We always do this when staying in one area and it gives us more space and is usually much cheaper than a hotel room for the same time. Look at sites like: www.holiday-rentals.co.uk, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaylets.net, etc. You can just search on 'accommodation' and the area you want and usually you can find specific places to the area as well. During high season, many places want a minimum of 1 week, but outside of high season they are usually more flexible. Sometimes the minimums are only 2-3 days even in high season. Good luck.

Henry

Profah,
Try La Crociona http://www.lacrociona.com/eng_index.asp
outside of Montalcino. They have apartments for under 100 a night.

Henry

kybourbon

Do you want to stay in a town where you can walk to restaurants at night or in the country? What time of year? We can't suggest places within a certain price without knowing if you are traveling in high season or low.

bab706

Last year we stayed in Montepulciano at a lovely place called Le Manzinaie - website www.lemanzinaie.it. It is a beautiful place, with outstanding reviews on Trip Advisor. As I recall, the rates are very reasonable. They offer either nightly or weekly rates. If you contact them directly (not through a booking agency) you can negotiate a lower price.

Our room had a very comfortable queen bed, an enormous bathroom with a walk-in show, plus a bathtub, double sinks; a complete kitchen, sofa, TV. The owners stocked the refrigerator with milk, eggs, cheese, ham, bread. Coffee, tea, jam, crackers, etc. and wine were also in the room. The owners are very helpful - it was one of the best experiences we had.

Good luck with your trip planning!

Profah

THanks everyone. Great suggestions. I will check them out and let you know. We are going July 1.

tara3056

Hi Daria,

Sorry I didn't see your question until now. We stayed 4 nights in an apartment in Monticchiello, a tiny village just a few minutes away from Pienza. While there isn't much to do in Monticchiello (it has only 3 restaurants total and not a lot of shopping), it is absolutely gorgeous. Parking is close by and easy, and it's easy to explore the surrounding area by car. When we visited larger towns, we were actually happy to be staying in Monticchiello.

The owner of the apartment is also named Daria. She also owns the much-loved restaurant Osteria la Porta. We found her to be extremely warm and welcoming. Her website is here: http://www.osterialaporta.it/osteria.en.php and we stayed in the Bella Vista Apartment. It was extremely comfortable and we were pinching ourselves the whole time that we had managed to find it and that we were only paying 90 euros/night. (That was in late September, so it might be a bit more in summer, but I can't imagine the price changes much.) It's a 2 bedroom, which we didn't need, but it looked cuter than her other 1 bedroom apartament. Daria's pictures are nice, but my pics have more detail. You can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tara_la...7613833489798/

If I were working on a novel or wanted an extremely laidback month away as a break from a stressful life, I'd rent that apartment for a month and love every minute of it.

vsd

I would also recommend http://www.lemanzinaie.it/. We are staying there July 5 for 6 nights. Great reviews and close to everything. The owners are great to work with - highly recommended.

travelfan1

Here's one I'm considering in Pienza. Recommended on this forum and Trip Advisor.

http://www.ilgiardinosegreto.toscana.nu/

bobthenavigator

Why do people bother to suggest places that are clearly double the price that the OP wants?

scrb

If you stay outside town centers you can save money.

For instance:

http://www.venere.com/hotels/siena/hotel-ai-tufi/

I paid 52 Euro a night in May 2008.

It's about 1-2 miles to the parking garage just inside the southern gate of Siena and about a 1/2 mile hike from the garage to the Piazza del Campo.

musicjones

My wife and I are going to Italy in a month. We will be staying 7 nights in an apartment in Cortona. The apartment will cost us only 560E for the week. The name is "Appartamento del Borgo". From there we will explore parts of Tuscany and Umbria.

I have a link that shows a description of the place. It is an insanely long link. I hope it works...

http://translate.google.com/translat...%26rls%3Den-us

We have some friends that have stayed there 5 times and have loved it. The apartment is near the Piazza Garibaldi. The owner speaks no english, but has a good friend who is British. She has been our contact person.

Not sure whether one can rent this place for less than a week. However, I thought that I should share this VERY inexpensive possibility with you folks!

travelfan1

This is another accommodation in Pienza I am currently trying to get info on. 60 E per night.

http://www.soggiornoapienza.it/

LisaG

Profah,

We just got back from 4 weeks in Italy, and the most wonderful place we stayed was in Tuscany. It's called Agriturismo Savernano, and was recommended to us by someone we met in Umbria. It was 90 Euros a night, including a wonderful breakfast.

Here is the link to the reviews on TripAdvisor, as well as the link to the place itself. It is just south of Florence, and we took the train into Florence on 2 different days. It's about a 20 minute train ride.

http://www.agriturismosavernano.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...o_Tuscany.html

The rooms are very large, and the bathrooms are very well appointed. Hair dryers, great shower, towel-heaters, in-room safe, and very comfortable bed.

Savernano itself is well-situated for drives all through Tuscany. If you are looking on a map, it's right near Regello. They also serve dinner every night for 17 Euros/person. We chose to eat there every night because the food was that good. They bottle their own wine (3 Euros a bottle, very good) and their own olive oil. They are located amidst large vineyards and the views are great. We stayed a week, and could easily have stayed longer. This was the highlight of our month-long stay in Italy.

Happy travels!

LisaG

Amanda23

Tara that apartment you rented in Montichiello is amazing! What a darling place and what an incredible price. I'm bookingmarking this for sure

francophiletasmania

ttt

Peteralan

Not an apartment but last year we stayed at Chitti Melania in San Gimignano where the woman has two rooms which she lets out . We had both. One was a double and one was a twin. Both have private bathrooms and she can arrange private parking if you are driving. It is right in the main street, handy to restaurants etc.Very reasonable and very clean and private. She only charges 47euros each room!