meesa

After almost 6 months on searching everything on this site and other sites. I am totally confused, undecided and have information overload. I have finally made my airline reservations and one thing for sure, we are leaving october 3rd to venice and returning october 18th from rome. Now we are in our mid-40's and love restaurants, walking, shopping, and getting to know people. We will train everywhere, because we don't want to burden ourself with the car. What do you think of doing 3nights Venice, 7 nights tuscany (either station in Flo or Sienna and train everywhere but come to our base and walk to restaurants at night) and last 4 nights in rome. How does that sound. We would like to stay in bed&breakfasts to save some money, but we want something typical and quaint, around $100.U.S. Is that doeable? Any recommendations please for places to stay in Venice, Florence or Siena and Rome and any other ideas for itineraries?

Leely

Are you thinking $100USD for Venice and Rome, too? That's going to be tough.

I'm sure people on this board will have ideas. My sister and I are heading to Rome in a few weeks and have rented an apartment for 5 nights @ 97 euros a night. You might consider something like that, although then you wouldn't necessarily meet people.

You itinerary sounds good to me. I might split time in Tuscany between Florence and Siena or another hilltown, maybe four or five nights in Florence and two nights in Siena. Or add a night to either Venice or Rome and take a night away from Florence.

I mostly stay at "budget" hotels when I'm paying for myself, but I think they've all crept up well over $100 the past few years.

Good luck. You will have a wonderful time!

WillTravel

$100 USD = about 75 Euros per night will be a stretch for your accommodation. You could probably manage that if you use convents, or get hotel rooms with shared facilities, or stay in outlying areas. Otherwise, I like your general plan.

ira

Hi meesa,

Good itinerary.

I would add 1 night to Venice and one less night in Florence.

From Florence you can visit Siena, Lucca/Pisa, Bologna and some small Tuscan towns.

From Rome you can visit Orvieto, if you wish.

In Florence, I can highly recommend the B&B Peterson. Well within your budget.
www.bedinflorence.it

MFNYC

I agree, good itinerary, but $100/night will be tough. In general Venice is probably the priciest and the smaller towns probably the least expensive and Rome somewhere in the middle.

I think this may be a bit more than $100, but in FLorence we stayed at Hotel Casci which is great value in any case. the website is www.hotelcasci.com.

MFNYC

I just checked the Casci website. Unfortunately it's more than 'a bit' more, it's 150e/double for October.

rex

To make your lodging budget figure, you need 7 nights "out in the boonies" (which is some of the best of anywhere in Europe - - and Italy no less). That way, you could have, say... 7 nights at $60-70 (USD) / night (and this will require creative "hunting" as well), thereby freeing up more like $130-140 for your "city stays". Even that target will leave you in city hotels that are in low(er) demand for one reason or another: location, features, decor or something (or all of the above).

Best wishes,

Rex

Rookie

In Rome you may wish to consider B&B Red Rose. It could fit your budget requirements, and it is near the metro (Cavour stop) and the via Cavour bus lines. St. Peter in Chains church, Domus Aurea, the Colosseum & Forum/Palatine Hill are very nearby.

http://www.babredrose.com/home.html

Leely

For Rome, try this site:

http://www.b-b.rm.it/accommodations/

I think, as other posters have suggested, if you can keep hotel/b and b/apartment (whichever) costs down in Rome OR Venice, you can probably come close to staying within your total hotel budget.

And fourteen nights will be great.

MFNYC

ANother type of lodging to consider is convents. There have been several posts here with recommendations.

MFNYC

Here's a good post I did doing a search on 'rome convent', http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34605575

saraallison11

I think Il Poggiolo in Florence would fit several of your criteria. It is run by a sweet, quaint woman, Graziella, and her daughter. It is an old villa, which has plenty of charm, but not always hot water. It is inexpensive (see website www.il-poggiolo.it and contact Graziella if interested). The main inconvenience is that it is about 10-15 min. drive outside the city. However there are a couple restaurants nearby that you can take the bus to, and Graziella will bend over backwards to help you get and do what you want. If I were to go back to Florence, I would stay there again, but I would rent a car so I could get myself in and out of the city easily. As it was, there is a bus stop right in the driveway of this place, but the bus doesn't run as frequently or as late as you might like. The one thing that makes it so appealing is the surroundings- beautiful, rolling hills, and Tuscan countryside. And the fact that you are staying in a real villa with a sweet, grandmotherly Italian lady.