Brooke

Hello. My husband and I are going to Italy from August 30-Sept. 9. We're wondering if we should worry about booking hotel/B&B reservations ahead of time for the Cinque Terre part of the trip and driving through Tuscany/Umbria part of our trip? We'd like to end up staying in a place that's about $100 or a little more a night. What do you think?

Katherine

Brooke, <BR> <BR>In May of '98 we blew into Vernazza expecting to get a room at one of the two hotels/inns listed in Rick Steves book. Oh how naive we were. But there is an interesting thing that happens in Vernazza. We asked at Trattoria Gianni's (one of the inns) and the bartender took us across the way to the souvenier shop who called over to the man at the tabacchi who brought over the lady from the gelato store who walked over and looked us up and down. Then she motioned for us to follow her. We did, up a long series of steps through alley ways to a place where she offered us a room to rent for cash (I think about $50 a night). It worked for us. Later we talked to a couple who went through much the same process and got an apartment with a kitchen for the same rate! So you might be able to go for it but realize you get what you get.

Barb

I'm glad someone addressed this question. I am planning a three week trip to Italy the end of Sept. I naively thought I could just go from city to city and call ahead a few days to reserve a hotel for the next city. Hah. I did get reservations for the first night at Varenna, which was ok, but then thought maybe I should just be safe and also reserve a hotel in Venice, next stop. After contacting practically every hotel in Venice, I was finally able to get a room w/o bathroom at the Hotel Guerrato. So from there I have been making reservations at each city. I'm having problems in Rome now. So, now after these postings, I will try to make reservations in Orvieto, Siena and Vernazza too. So much for Rick Steves' advice. I don't want to spend the time I should be spending seeing the wonders of Italy, trying to find a hotel.

Katherine

Barb, In my experience you CAN get rooms on a dime. The thing is if you go through the list of accommodations in your tour book; Fodors or Frommers or Rick Steves or anyone's... you are calling the same places EVERYONE is calling. If you go to the tourist information office in most train stations they have a list of hotels and the areas they are in and the number of stars. Be sure you have a phone card and hit the phones. My guess is you won't have a problem. The nice thing about getting rooms the day before or the day of is you retain your flexibility. If you love Como and want to extend a day or two you have the perogative.

linda

Hi Barb, <BR>I strongly recommend reservations for CT. <BR>I just booked a three night stay in Monterosso for the first week of Sept and it wasn't easy. <BR>I had a listing from a CT web site that listed all accomodations for each village from 4 star to apartments to hostels, and was able to get a room in a 2 star in Monterosso. <BR>I would have prefered to stay in one of the smaller villages but they were all booked. <BR>I personally would rather have the rooms booked than arrive in a town and waste hours trying to get a room. <BR>Good Luck

Barb

There are good points to each thought. It would be nice to have that flexibility, but I just have a picture of us getting off the train, dragging our bags behind us for hours looking for a place to stay. Precious time wasted. I would love that CT Web site if you still have it. Thanks for great responses.

linda

No Problem, its www.5terre.com. <BR>Good Luck

Santa Chiara

Not necessarily for Cinque Terre but for last-minute availability, go to www.itwg.com. It is an Italian booking service, and it lists available hotels for the upcoming 10 days. The site, www.venere.it also offers a similar service. <BR> <BR>We did the same thing (going from person to person in the piazza) in Vernazza the first weekend in October. The first night was great, a room with a view for $50, but we had to move the next night. The same person referred us to another couple who rented out the second bedroom of a tiny, one-bathroom apartment. You walked through their living/dining room to get to your bedroom, which was next to theirs. Again, the view was great, but the privacy issue was something less than desirable.

brooke

I SO appreciate everyone's advice! Looks like we'll definitely try to book ahead in CT -- but what about Tuscany? Are naive to think we can drive through Tuscany and when we decide we want to stop for the night, go to the nearest town and find a farmhouse or a B&B? <BR>Thank you again!!

Diane

In May we saw people at the Information Office in Montepulciano easily getting rooms for 1-2 nights. We had reservations for everywhere ourselves except Orvieto where we did the Info center thing ourselves quite successfully, and Frascati -- where we simply walked in off the street, looked at a room and said OK! You shouldn't have a problem in Tuscany. You might want to pick someplace sort of central and stay both nights there. I'd recommend trying Montepulciano, Montalcino or Pienza.

Diane

oh! I almost forgot! One of my favorite towns was Chiusi. It is well placed for Tuscany and Umbria daytrips. We stayed at Residenza re Porsenna, but the little tourist office in town there had listings for other places nearby. The Residenza is a super B&B and I highly recommend it if there is a vacancy. Tell Esmeralda "Hello" for me. She took us in when we found out a week before we left that the hotel we'd reserved was indefinately closed.

Sean

Hey there, <BR> My name is Sean and I am an American who lives in Monterosso of the Cinque Terre. I was just browsing through here and saw your post. There is a new beautiful bed and breakfast that just opened here. It is an old 15th century building with magnificient restored frescoes on the ceilings of the rooms. I think it runs around 120-150 dollars a night. I just looked at it lastweek, so it was fresh on my mind... I thought I would let you know. It is called Il Maestrale the number is 0187 817013...Good luck! <BR> I recently started a walking tour business here. It is called Cinque Terre Trek, info can be found at the 2 internet places in town......good luck

daniele

Don't waste your time when you want to reserve rooms or appartments in the Cinque Terre.We have differenr prices from 50.000 to 100.000 for person.And then you can reserve agriturism or hotels everywhere you want in Italy. <BR>ciao