2 week trip in Europe / looking at hotels/resorts
 

So, our 2 week trip has been divided like so:

Dates: Jul 22 - Aug 2 (give or take 3 days)

London, England (4 days)
Paris, France (2 days)
Venice, Italy (2 days)
Rome, Italy (3 days not including return flight home)

We are now searching for hotels (or apartments) for London, Paris and Venice and Resorts (if any) for Rome.

There are 5 of us, 4 adults and 1 child. (age 17)

So far, I've researched hotels/resorts in Rome, and these selections have caught our eye and are within our price range:

-Home Suite Rome ($913.76 Total for three nights)
-Clarion Collection Hotel Principessa Isabella ($859.18 total for three nights)
-Alpi Hotel ($913.76 total for three nights)

Do you have any suggestions for affordable but enjoyable places to stay in London/Paris/Venice area?

Thanks so much for any feedback~

*Rome, Italy (4 days would be including the day we head home)

Not sure how you are calculating days - but 2 days for Paris is really cutting it short.

And sorry - a 17 year old is an adult -not a child. I hope you didn;t tell hotels you are bringing a child or they may provide you with a crib for the 17 year old.

I was very curious about the lodging you listed and would suggest that yu might want to clarify te information you have.

Looked at Home Suite Rome - which is apartments and they don't seem to have any that hold more than 4 people. Also the price listed - and you may have found a wonderful deal - seem to be more like $500 per night for an apartment for 4 people.

So technically, it looks like the days spent in Paris and Venice would be looked at as over-night stays, where London and Rome would be 3-nights each.

**5 adults then.

I'm running into the problem of finding hotels and such with room for more than the listed 4-person limit...which is bringing me to look into Suites or rooms that can be connected.

We haven't made any reservations or bookings yet.

Hotel Borromeo has space for 5 in a family-room option.

I'm finding others as well which have space for us all now, which is good, but none listed as resorts.

What are you looking for in a resort? It may be that what you'd expect to get in one could be addressed in a different manner in an urban environment like Rome...

Have you tried Venere.com? It is one of my favorites for finding lodgings. When discussing time per location, I suggest you look at it as how many nights, not days. Rather than simply searching for 5'people in "1" room, specify "vacation rentals" as well in your search criteria...that way you will get choices such as 2 bedroom apt for 6 people, 4 nights for $1567.66 @ London Apartments Shoreditch -- which is one that came up when I put your dates in. It's a starting point, anyway.

Then Read the reviews posted, check out the map, do a search here to see if anyone has stayed there. Give yourself a couple choices in each city. You may want to consider getting 2 rooms in destinations where you will stay less than 3 nights, as 5 people and one bathroom may not work all that well. It will also give you more options to chose from.

What my dad is thinking of is a place that has:

a) an in/outdoor pool
b) fitness/workout room
c) dining
d) nice views
e) a place to relax and stay most of the day
f) is all inclusive
g) holds (5) adults

Lauren, I admit I'm not aware of "all inclusive" resorts in mainland Europe away from the "normal" European holiday areas. Though www.clubmed.com might have somewhere

Lauren, you will not find a lot of those all-inclusive resorts in the major cities in Europe. Anything you do find is going to be very expensive. I think your Dad needs to realize that if you are going to these places you will be spending little time in your accommodation, and lots of time, and lots of walking, seeing the sights. A swimming pool is not needed for exercise after you have spent the day walking. And a gym may be something you just dispense with for the duration of your trip. If you want an all inclusive resort, you need to change your destination!! Head for the Amalfi Coast.

You should not confine yourselves to a hotel dining room. You will get a filtered version of the local cuisine. Get out into the cities and find little local cafes and restaurants that serve good food.

I really think you need to get a better idea of what people go to those cities for. It is not for a resort/spa expeerience.

Another alternate destination in Italy would be around the lakes: Como, Bellagio, etc. There would be more resort-type opportunities there. But you will then have an entirely different european experience.

1. What is your budget?
2. You are unlikely to find a pool unless you have a very LARGE budget.
3. Ditto, workout or fitness rooms,
4. If you are only there for 2 nights, I hope no one is planning on staying most of the day in their room...although if you get a flat in London and Rome, the privacy of having your own living room should fit that need.
5. "all inclusive?" Like the resorts Jamaica or Mexico? Not going to happen. The city, it's food and culture are the draw.

Most family rooms assume two adults and YOUNG children. Sometimes you will find triple or quad rooms but they are only going to have one bathroom' unless you find a place with two bedroom suites. (and those will only be found in 4 or 5 star hotels ... Again your budget will determine if that will be possible.)

If you have not made bookings, perhaps you should think about how much time you will spend getting from place to place in a 2 week period. Also, charnees is right about European cities and the all-inclusive resort exerience, you may not find a fit. There are resorts out in the countryside, so perhaps you need to do some reading and get a better idea of what you really want, I would also cut out one city in your time frame.

You don't have enough time in these cities to worry about work out facilities if you intend to see anything. You won't be at the hotel to use them.

Your priorities need to be:
1. Central location
2. Air conditioning
3. Two bathrooms

Most apartments have a three night minimum.

Lauren_S, that's what I was thinking you might say... and as others have said, Rome is really not the place for (a) staying inside a hotel room all day; (b) spending significant amount of time in a pool or fitness room; and (c) eating "all-inclusive".

That said, we were going to spend a night (anniversary) at this hotel two years ago. (The Icelandic volcano changed our itinerary.) Just look at that pool! In the middle of Rome!!
http://exedra-roma.boscolohotels.com/

We did end up staying at the Hotel Valadier. Breakfast was included - IMO, if you're used to all-inclusive, you might want the ease of knowing where your first meal of the day will be - and the hotel has two good restaurants, Il Brillo in the cool cave-like cellar, and Hi Res with a rooftop view. The third restaurant is where the breakfast is served; we didn't eat any other meals there. Rooms are small, typical of an urban hotel, though they list suites and junior suites on the website. If I remember correctly, they also have an apartment for rent nearby.
http://en.hotelvaladier.com/

Hi again Lauren,

In your other post, one Fodorite suggested apartments for your family trip. Have you looked in to any? It's really the best answer for a family group of 5. However, most require at least 3 night says so for your planned itinerary an apartment will probably only work in 2 cities. One advantage of hotels is you have the staff to help you get acquainted on a first trip to Europe.

I hope you are sharing the advice received here with you Dad. He will need to adjust his ideas of travel in order to enjoy Europe.

Since you are trying to stay within a "reasonable" budget for 5 people, you really should think about this: less is more. The more you move around, the more it costs and the less you actually see. You are spending more time and money GETTING somewhere than actually BEING there.

I know you have already cut way back on the number of destinations, but I think you need to consider further.

As mentioned above, 2 days in Vencie is really only 1 full day. A minimum of a half day will be taken up just getting there from Paris. Same on the day you travel to Rome. Almost a half day will be used just to get there.

I would highly recommend adding these 3 additional days you seem to have available, plus cutting one city. You choose.

Keep working on it, keep asking question here, and you will have a wonderful trip.

I found the best site for looking for rooms for a family of 5 is booking.com, a priceline company.A lot of info on their site, and they will describe exactly what you are getting. I would do 2 searches . One search for 5 persons(adults) 1 room and the second search 5 persons 2 rooms.Do not limit yourself to connecting rooms. Important is location, you do not want to be too far from the tourist area.Read the reviews.There are no resorts. If your dad is expecting newer American type hotels at your price point, he will be disappointed.The cities are 1000+ years old and so are their mattresses.But that's part of the fun.

Sorry -

Major cities in europe don't have all -inclusive resorts - any more than does Manhattan.

There are all-incusives - a few - but they r in typical resort areas - not capitol cities. And agree that getting a hotel with a pool in any of these cities is going to be probbly a 5* property - at a very high budget. I would assume that a suite for 5 people in such a property woud be well over $1000 a night.

You really need to make up your mind if you want a city or a resort. And if you really want all-inclusive beach resorts - frankly, europe is not the best plae to go.

Thank you so much, guys, and Charness for your input. Very very helpful advice and info.

I didn't think resorts would be available where we were looking to be located. I'll read over all the posts and do further research.

On a side note, have any of you had experience flying through Iberia airlines (Boeing 767) ?

Well, London and Rome will be visited for sure.
We're going to try our best to secure a great deal someone pointed us out to with our airline tickets and that includes flying into London and then later out of Rome and if all goes well, the tickets work beautifully for us.

I'm currently using Booking.com to locate hotels/apartments that best suite our needs.

I agree that a pool and fitness room and all-inclusives are not and won't be needed.

My sister wanted to see one thing in Paris and that of course was The Eiffel Tower.

We included the one day stay in Venice to separate the trek into Rome for the remaining duration of the trip.

*suit

Hmmmm...Iberia Airlines reviews don't look very promising, but then again, I am always left with the perception that most people feel like writing reviews on airlines when the experience was slightly more unfavorable.

I guess the low cost of our flight deal is in part thanks to this airline (Iberia - coach class), but at least we have a very nice flight back home (British Airlines - Biz class) and won't be flying with them again both ways if we choose to run with this deal.

Lauren,

You might also want to look at venere.com for your Italian lodging. It's useful because you can sort by stars, or location, or price. Has a huge number of listings.

I've just been looking at rentalinrome and sleepinitaly for apartments......

Hi Lauren

We flew Iberia Chicago to Madrid last year, not a 767 but on an Air Bus, and it was fine. Service, seating, cleanliness, food,were all good. For your vacation I would recommend London ( I do have some concern about attainable flights and lodging because of the Olympic games), Paris, and Rome. If you could spend 4 nights each city that would be an enjoyable vacation.

Lauren,

I'm beginning to feel the stress you must be feeling. It seems as if you have a family group of adults who are traveling together and YOU are the one stuck trying to assemble an itinerary that will please everyone. And so you end up adding an incredibly brief, and therefore expensive, visit to Paris so your sister can see the Eiffel Tower. And I get the feeling that your father is coming on this vacation under duress, thus his need for resort facilities to avoid touring all day.

With this in mind, I'm troubled that you are trying to put 5 adults (a 17-year-old is an adult size-wise) in one hotel room--a bathroom nightmare, and no place to hide when patience wears thin.

To answer your question-- please tell us the number, in dollars or euros, that you consider "affordable." What is the highest amount you can afford to pay per night to lodge your family? An actual number will help us help you in the best way.

The best site for accommodation for families of 5 or more is http://www.roomfor5.co.uk

A one-day stop in Paris to see the Eiffel Tower... Right now, access into the Eiffel Tower is extremely limited, and the wait in line to go up/down very long: 2 hours at the base. (Even without the current problem, it's never quick to go up.) So perhaps the Paris stop can be saved for another trip?

This is the page on the official Eiffel Tower website that describes the problem. They don't identify when the problem will be fixed; it could be before your trip, or not...
http://www.eiffel-tower.com/preparin...our-visit.html

<i>We included the one day stay in Venice to separate the trek into Rome for the remaining duration of the trip.</i>

Here are two suggestions, just to put them out there:
1) Remove Paris from the itinerary, and do London-Venice-Rome instead, with more time in Venice to get away from the city center.

2) If you want to keep Paris on your itinerary, remove Venice and "separate the trek into Rome" with: Florence; the lakes region like Lake Como; OR on the coast at Cinque Terre. Venice is geographically farther away, and ultimately is yet another urban environment (albeit different from ones you may have experienced before!). Since your trip is in summer, perhaps a day or two on a lake or the coast between all these urban areas will be a good respite. (You also could look into a resort-type place in Tuscany or elsewhere.)

Can we just ask is there any actual reason you want all five adults to share one room? to be honest this is quite peculiar unless you are a bunch of kids looking for a small hostel dorm! You'll find it a lot easier to get a double and a triple (or even 2 doubles and a single and let the 17 year old have their own room). I don't even think a 5 person room in a nice hotel (if you find one) would work out more economical that 2 rooms.

anyway, if you really all have to sleep together you might have more luck looking for a 5 or 6 person room in a hostel.

In Europe - in fact most anywhere - to put 5 people in a room you will need a suite (as in a bedroom with 2 dboules and a pull-out sofa in the LR) or a family room. But family rooms are really meant for parents with several children - and often have a double and then several small beds.

It's not clear who the members of your party are - but you need to be clear about 2 things:

What bed configuration do you need - how many doubles and how many singles

What your budget is in euros or $

Often you will find that two double rooms or one double and one triple room is cheaper than a suite. The other issue is everyone sharing one bath - a really bad idea. When we traveled with our two daughters we always got them their own room so we didn;t have to be joined at the hip 24/7, didn't get on each others nerves - and I didn't have to share a bath with 2 tween/teen girls. If you're all stuffed in one room what do you do when someone wants to sleep, others are still awake and the 17 year old is still out at a student cafe or bar?

Apartments would work better since you would have more room and a kitchen - but if none of you have traveled before you don;t have a concierge or front desk to fall back on with questions or for recommendations. (Of the places you have listed above for Rome the first is an apartment - with no lodging listed as allowing more than 4 people. The Alpi hotel does have rooms for 4 - in which you wouldn't fit - you would have to get one double and one triple - the latter with one double and one single bed - with the triple costing about $300 per night and the double $230 - so $1600 for 2 rooms for 3 nights.)

People can help with recos if you provide more info.

It also helps to build a spreadsheet to track your plan. For example,

Leave home July 22
Arrive London July 23
Stay 3 nights: July 22, 23, 24
Leave London July 25, fly to Paris
Arrive Paris July 25
Stay 2 nights: July 25, July 26
(this would give you one and 1/2 days in Paris)
Leave Paris July 27 for Venice
options -- if you take an overnight train on the 27, it gives you most of another day in Paris
If you fly, assume you get to Venice in the late afternoon
Arrive Venice July 27 or 28
Stay Venice 2 nights, July 28 and July 29
Leave Venice July 30, train to Rome
Arrive Rome July 30
Stay Rome July 30, July 31, Aug 1 and Aug 2
Leave Rome to fly home on Aug 3

(You did say "give or take" - this is only adding one extra day.) Personally, I would add two more nights (not days) and stay one more night in Paris and one more night in Rome.

Busy, but doable.

Oh Drat. (not what I actually said) You need to move everything up a night as you would stay in London July 23, 24 and 25.

BUT this gives you an idea of what you need to plan for, including travel time between destinations. If you drop one destination, it gives you more time to enjoy the cities you do visit.

My dad said that about $250/night is best if we can find it.

After talking about it tonight, he's still keen on flying into London for 4 days (3 if you count travel time into France) -which looks like we all want to hit one night in Paris before making it out to Venice for another night and ending the trip in Rome for 4 days. (3 if you count flying home on Thursday)

My mom is going to start helping me look into lodging information, but any guidance is much appreciated.

Yeah...there doesn't even seem to be tickets left for Eiffel Tower visits/tours on the day we'll be there.

Thank you for the suggestions, ggreen. (:
I'll explain both of them to my parents tomorrow.

It looks like it would be better to skip Paris if access to the Eiffel Tower is going to be cut, and therefore, best for another time even though we'll be passing through Paris via train, which was my dad's argument in cutting Paris in the first place. He might still opt to stay a night there anyways, i'm not entirely sure. But your suggestions will definitely be brought up. Cinque Terre seems like a wonderful addition if we are to pull Venice from the list.

nona1- We certainly don't have to be rooming together. My dad is fine with looking at the option of 2 rooms or inter-connected rooms, so long as they are offered and within the price range. ($250/night)

If we're able to find rooms with 3 beds, ie. one for parents/one for me and my sister/one for my brother (a couch or pull out will also suffice) -that would also be best. Again, we don't all have to be in a single room.

uhoh_busted - I'll work on pounding out a spreadsheet like the example you provided asap, and see if France is still in the cards as well as Venice, as they might change due to this new information and suggestions given to me.

I would definitely get two rooms, one double and one triple. The rooms are very tiny in europe! The bathrooms even smaller! I would agree on limiting the travel to several cities as it takes a day to get anywhere even if the flight is an hour. I think London and Rome with day trips if you wish would be the best. If you do two weeks (5-7 in each city) you can more than likely get an apartment. If less, I would go the hotel route.

"even though we'll be passing through Paris via train, which was my dad's argument in cutting Paris in the first place"
If you will not be visiting Paris, then there is no reason to take a train from London to Italy. A flight would be a much more efficient use of your limited time and will probably be cheaper.

Just verifying: $250 per night is for all 5 adults per night, yes? For the expensive cities you plan to visit , that will be a challenging budget. Even better to save money by NOT going to Paris which would add in extra transportation expenses. The more you move, the more it costs.