MarciaR

We are 3 friends age 30 looking for help with 10 day trip to Italy. We plan to arrive in Venice on a Thur. & stay there until Sun. We would like to finish our trip in Rome. In the middle we'd like
to see some lakes. This is the part that we'd like help with. Any travel suggestions
would be welcome. We're planning to travel
via public transportation. Also cheap accomodation suggestions would be helpful for lake area. Nothing fancy, just clean and private bathrm. Any other relevant tips and suggestions would be appreciated.
M.R.

Grinisa

What time of year are you traveling? By cheap, do mean hostel cheap (40 Euro per night, approx.) or inexpensive B&B, hotel cheap (starting at 100Euro per night)? You say you want to see some lakes. Do you mean the lake region north of Milan (Lakes Como, Maggiore, Lugano, Garda etc.) or would lakes like Trasimeno, Bolsena, Bracciano be fine? If you are traveling in high season (April through Oct.) triple rooms under 100 Euro can be difficult to find.

MarciaR

We plan to travel around end of Aug. beginning of Sept. Around 100--130 euro/night would be helpful. We're not really locked into a specific lake area. We're still at the planning stage, so we're open to suggestions re.
any other recommendations. Since we'll be using public transp., we also don't want to spend lots of hours travelling and wasting valuable time. Any travel suggestions as well as recommendations re. clean hostels?
M.R.

Grinisa

Hostels aren't going to have private bathrooms. Even a triple for 130Euro, if you find one, may not have a private bathroom. You are traveling in the height of the season for the Lake Como area as well as the other lakes I mentioned. You may have more luck around Lake Trasimeno, which would be on your way from Venice to Rome anyway. Umbria is beautiful. Try looking at sites like eurocheapo.com and venere.com. This is for 2008 right?

beli

Take a train to Varenna on Lake Como, it is one of the most beautiful towns on the Lake and not as touristy. Finding a hotel room will be difficult but I had better luck going through the tourist office website. try www.lakeofcomo.info. We stayed at Hotel du Lac and Villa Cipressi, both out of your price range but there are others. Good luck.

TuckH

I suggest you look into Lake Garda - it's closer to Venice than Como, Maggiore or Lugano and IMO would be much easier to reach by public transportation...