mythical

Hey, I am new here to fodors- need advice on travelling to italy. We are 2 couples and we are going in nov. We are flying in and out of rome and our stay ( excluding travel) is 8 days. We kinda wanted a mix of city and country side, maybe drive around and would also like to stay in decent places. I think we have outgrown the youth hostel days. Would like some advice on places to stay in rome and some itinery ideas. ALso some tips on renting cars etc Thanks.

subcon

here's what we did on one trip...

arrived rome 7am. checked into hotel julia for one night (jet lag and driving on italian roads don't mix well). hotel is well located to the trevi and spanish steps areas respectively.

picked up rental car (europecar) in rome close to the ring (avoiding airport surcharge) and drove to assisi. stayed at il maniero just outside the town for one night.

meandered to siena the following afternoon arriving about 6 pm. don't remember the name of the hotel but stayed for two nights spending one day in town and the other driving about tuscany.

drove up to florence stopping for a while in san gimignano stayed two nights at the hotel orcagna in the residential part of florence with available on street parking. both days spent in town.

drove back to rome stopping off in orvieto. stayed in rome for the balance of the trip returning the car when we arrived.

in retrospect, i think we packed a little too much into that trip but it gave us a taste of what we would later come back to more in depth. the car gives you a tremendous ammount of flexibility and adds to your time since you're not constrained by public transport schedules.

if you think you can handle it, you might want to drop the first rest day in rome and drive out immediately adding that day wherever you choose.

mythical

sounds nice- but you did not really get to see rome much did you? Also what are estimated car rental rates-
thanks for your suggestions

sandi_travelnut

the rates will vary depending on the cities you pick up in or whrther you pick up/drop off at an airport. Go to
www.autoeurope.com to get an idea of fares.

What is your budget for hotels per night? What time of day will you arrive in ROme?

mythical

I think we are reaching mid morning-
As for rates- we are two couples and we would be willing to share a double room which means we could spend 70-80$ a night- is this unreasonable.

sandi_travelnut

I can't help you there. That would be considered a quad room which are more than a single or double. It's based on the number of people in the room. That's only 64e a night for 4 people. Sounds like hostel money to me. Anyone else help?

SusanP

You can't put 4 people in a double room. Even if you're willing to do it, the hotel won't be! There won't be 2 double beds like you find in the US.

Do a search here for Rome convents. You will find a lot of possibilities close to your price range.

SusanP

Also, this is a great example of why people should give an exact dollar or euro amount they can spend per night. Medium or moderate or low budget mean different things to different people. You said "medium budget," but I don't think most people consider $70-80 per night medium, that's definitely lower budget.

Robdaddy

Perhaps mythical meant $70 or $80/nt. per person, which whould be in the neighborhood of 130 euros/nt. for a double (occupied by two people, of course).

Lots of people would consider that a medium budget.

mythical

Apologise for all that confusion- I did mean 70-80/person.
I guess if we did want to stay in decent places and we had to up our budget then that's what we are gonna have to do.
Also- sounds like we will have to get independent rooms for each couple- so in that case would 100-120 euros for a couple ( is this a double room with a full/queen bed) be reasonable- What the hotels call single double- is so confusing. what is this equal to in terms of full bed/queen etc-

nytraveler

In europe there is no such thing as a single double.

A single room has one twin bed for one person. A double room has one bed (usually double but you may be able to find queen) for two people. (Europeans hotels very rarely have rooms with two double beds - and then it would generally be american chains at very high prices.)

For four people in one room you would need a quad room- very rare - and usually for two adults and two children.

Reco two double rooms - and 100-120 euros per room is in the budget range. (Anything less than that would be a hostel or a convent.)

If you do a search above on budget hotels in Rome you will find some info - also you could check venere.com.

(In Rome a moderate hotel would be $250-$300 per night - a deluxe hotel in the area of $500.)

With only 8 days you are quite limited as to what to see - and in November the countryside will be not much to look at - quite dreary in fact.

I would suggest that you spend several days in Rome and then several in Florence - doing a couple of day trips into the smaller towns in Tuscany if you like.

You can train from Rome to Florence - and do day trips either by rental car or by bus tour or train - depending on what towns you pick. (I suggest Siens, San Gim,, Assisi, possibly Perugia)

mythical

Thanks so much- all this information is really useful. Ny traveller- u mentioned not doing too much country side- what about cinque terre- any thoughts on that- Am really facinated by that and would like to go- unless it is going to be not worth it around now.

sandi_travelnut

I would suggest going to www.venere.com put in "Rome" in the field and then click on two star hotels. You'll find some hotels in popular ares in your price range. You can then take the names of those hotels and plug them into www.tripadvisor.com to see if anyone has written a personl review about them.

As far as your itinerary, You could spend 3 nights in Rome and take the train to Siena for 2 nights, train to orvieto for 2 nights then back to Rome for the last night. It would save you a lot of money to take the train as opposed to renting a car. Maybe then you could stay in a nicer hotel?

suze

If you really want to put all four people in one room, then you want a "quad". These are not common but possible because I've seen families who went to Rome posting about them.

Otherwise you simply want two double rooms, i.e., 2 people in a room, 2 rooms bed configurations could be a double bed or two twin beds.

100-120 euro in major European cities is more "budget" than "medium" IMO.

kswl

Mythical, the closest you could get to the bed arrangement you describe is a "family room," but I'm not sure any hotel would allow two adult couples to share one. My then-13-year-old son and I shared a very nice room that had two beds that were larger (wider, that is) than American twin beds, but not "full" size by any means. There is no way more than one person could sleep on each bed. But the room was lovely, with a small balcony opening onto a courtyard, a fantastic bath and very tiny sitting room/ foyer. This was about $177 per night at the Hotel Canada, a solidly 3-star property that is not really near any of the tourist sites. I think that, with your stated budget, you should look for a bed-and-breakfast arrangement. There are lots of threads you can search on this board, or try this site to narrow down your choices both geographically and by cost:

http://www.romaturismo.com/v2/en/main.asp

Good luck--I am sure you will find something, as Italy is not very crowded with visitors in November. It is a wonderful time to travel. Have fun!!

suze

Another thought is an apartment rental for a week in Rome, and take day trips on the train into the countryside?

LoveItaly

Hi mythical, another thing to keep in mind is that the hotel rating in Italy is based on what services and ammentities they supply not how clean or beautiful the hotel is. The star rating, unlike here in the US, is governed by the government.

Evidently the more stars a hotel has the higher rate they have to pay in taxes.

So you can find a two star hotel which is really wonderful but because say they do not offer food room service they have a lower star rating then a hotel that does offer food room service but has not kept the property in good shape.

Some hotels, and I personally know of one, on purpose keeps their star rating at a lower rating on purpose because of the tax situtation.

You will defintly want to get two double rooms for two couples. Or rent an apartment. I like the idea of an apartment for the four of you in Rome and then do day trips from Rome. Does that sound good to you? It sure would be more relaxing. Moving from hotel to hotel in different areas/cities causes you to lose so much precious vacation time. Best wishes.

mythical

Has anyone heard of pensions ( some form of BandB)- what are they- would like to know if anyone has stayed in a 'pension'.

bardo1

For such a short trip, you are better off staying in Rome and taking some day trips to see the countryside (Ostia Antiqua, Handrian's Villa, and the Appian Way for starters).

8 days will allow you to get a weekly rate for an apartment - a great idea.

You really don't want to pack/move/unpack it will take a lot of time out of an slready short trip.

You could stay in Rome a month and still not see all the major tourist attractions.

Others here can give you car rentrals help - I always manage to take day trips by train or bus.

suze

I'm not certain this is a complete answer but I know in Venice my hotel was called "Pensione La Calcina". It was a normal 3-star hotel.