A week in Italy!
 

Hi,

first of all, I am new on forum so apologies if i have missed something.

We are traveling to italy in a last week of April. Arriving in Milan on 21.04.12 and

Planning to discover Tuscany, Florence, and Pisa. we have allowed 4 nights to discover region. then
Travel to Naples and spend 4 nights around Naples and amalfi coast.

We love:
Food
visting country side.
wine
cheese
(like every other tourist)

Can you please suggest nice and cheap accommodation (Area and hotels)?
Last time we were in Italy, we booked Hilton and chain hotel, later we realized that we hardly use any of luxury stuff it had, so this time we are looking at boutique hotels.

Also, should we hire a care or catch train everywhere?

We have been to venice and rome last year.

Thanks in advance.

What is your idea of "cheap?"

Do you have 4 nights total to explore Tuscany, Florence and Pisa? Or 4 nights each place? 4 nights gives you basically 3 full days. Tuscany is a big area to cover with lots of beautiful little towns. If you are interested in visiting the countryside then staying in Pisa or Florence might not suit you. You could find a smaller town and stay there 4 nights and take day trips. Driving in Tuscany is fairly straight-forward. I would not recommend driving in Florence.

You'll have no problem finding good wine and cheese!

I was just in Florence and stayed at Relais Calvacanti. It is a B&B and we paid about 115 euro. The price went up slightly because of a city tax that was added on but that would have happened at any hotel. It is in a great location by the Old Market. Our room was big and very comfortable.

I spent a month in Italy recently. We didn't spend more than 90Euro a night. It took a lot of personal research to find properties which fit the needs of my husband and myself. You really can't expect to post once here and get recommendations that will give you the perfect results. You need to specify what you want to spend, what is important to you -- e.g., being in walking distance to major sites, good restaurants, or wanting to stay in places where you can cook your own breakfasts and some dinners, etc.

I suspect you don't mean "boutique hotels" -- which are usually luxurious and expensive, but rather "guest houses or B&Bs" which can be expensive, but also can be quite cost efficient, OR just a small, independent hotel.

Personally, I suspect you may be happiest on this trip to pick one base in Tuscany, from which you can day trip to Florence and Pisa -- consider Lucca, or San Gig. Some of the most fun you will have is looking for a base that will fit your needs the most. Will you have a car or do you want to depend on buses/trains? My own preference is to rent a car, but you can do what you want in the time you have assuming you will be happy with 1 day trip to Florence, and 1 day trip to Pisa and maybe a quick bus trip to a neighboring town. However with a car, you can let the weather dictate where you want to go on any given day.

For your "southern" destination -- again, pick one base and do daytrips to what you want to see in the region -- maybe a day trip to Pompeii, and another to Naples, while spending the rest of your visit visiting Amalfi Coast towns via bus. You really can do that with public transportation...but in late April, the driving may be not terribly difficult. Depends on how much you enjoy challenging driving!

@tenthumbs; I meant economical

@cls2paris: We have 4 nights in total to spend around Tuscany

@uhoh_busted: i am working around 90 euro/night budget. as you said we will base in a location and travel around it then travel to southern italy and do the same. we were thinking to hire a car for a week and do "northern" part" then drive to south.

i am happy to find a good and clean room for good price as most of the day we will be out.

Thank you all for your reply. looking forward for more feedback