We are travelling as a foursome to Milan, Verona, Venice and Trieste in October 2004.

Can anybody give me some ideas with regard to guesthouse accommodation in the above cities on a bed and breakfast basis with a mid range budget. (Euro 40 -100) We need comfortable, quiet, clean rooms with friendly hosts.

It would be appreciated if you could let me have web addresses with your recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

Selwyn Davidowitz.

Just to clarify for anyone else who may respond: do you mean 40-100E for all four of you, or are you planning on staying in 2 separate rooms, each in that price range?

I may be able to help you with Verona: La Residenza Verona House has two bedroom apartments. We stayed in a one bedroom for 95E/night for 8 nights and loved everything about it. It included breakfast, although you had to walk across the street to get it. The hosts were pleasant but not overly friendly.

www.veronahouse.com

Here's a link to my trip report, which includes a lengthy description of our hotel:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34500984

We stayed at Villa Genestra, a B&B in Verona. It's owned and operated by Pier, a nice man who is very hospitable. The rooms are large with big baths. Enjoyed our stay and Pier's hospitality. Paid 70E/night.

[email protected] E-mail Address(es):
[email protected]


In Venice we stayed on the Lido at Villa Pannonia for 90E/night and also enjoyed the hospitality and room. I believe they have a website. Here's their e-mail. Pannonia, Hotel Villa
E-mail Address(es):
[email protected]

Jocelyn thanks for the tip about Verona accommodation. Your trip report is an excellent and informative one. Thanks. In response we are willing to pay between 40-100 (120) Euros per room and will need 2 rooms as we are two couples.

Mthomp77 thanks for the Verona and Venice tips. Villa Pannonia looks interesting and a possibility of a place to stay.

Milan and Trieste are still my biggest problems in terms of finding the type of accommodation we are looking for so any further ideas from Fodorites would be much appreciated, as a matter of fact the more the merrier.

Thanks in anticipation.

Selwyn Davidowitz

Does anyone else feel Verona is one of the better towns to spend a bit of time in all of Europe?

How large is a "bit"?

weber,

As I'm sure you know, you'll get different responses to that question. I'd say, if you want a place that will constantly entertain you with historically important sights, no. But, if you want a comfortable, clean, walkable, attractive city in which to soak up local culture, absolutely. Although it's not our favorite place to sightsee, DH and I agreed if we were to move to Italy we'd live in either Verona or Vicenza. Verona apparently does get good tourist traffic, especially in the summertime during opera season, but you wouldn't sense that by walking around the city. Sure, there are trinket shops in Piazza delle Erbe and a few street vendors selling fake handbags, but overall it felt very uncommercialized to me.

Topping so as to hopefully obtain
some more accommodation ideas.

Thanks

Selwyn Davidowitz

I stayed at the Villa Parco on the Lido in Venice in October 2002. Off season rates applied. It was very nice.
Breakfast included. Do a search. I paid about 60.00 dollars for a double room.

Topping so as to try and obtain more accomodation suggestions

Thanks

Selwyn Davidowitz

We used Venere.com and found a good deal in Milan. Sorry- I can't remember the name of the hotel, but Venere.com was great; I highly recommend taking a look.

In Venice we stayed at the Hotel Galleria right near the Academmia. We splurged on one of the large, canal-front rooms. It was large, beautiful and comfortable, with a stunning view. It may be out of your budget (130E or so) but worth it! The other rooms that we saw there were much smaller and less attractive, but the staff was nice.

BlueSwimmer and others,

Is it not more expensive to book through websites like Venere.com as opposed to direct booking with the various establishments. If so has anybody got any idea as to what the extra commission expense would be? Any input on this subject would be welcome even though it be a totally different subject. Needless to say all accommodation suggestions are always still welcome especially with regard to Milan and Trieste.

Thanks.

Selwyn Davidowitz

Selwyn, I stayed at Hotel Alabarda Flora in Treiste. It was a very nice, clean, basic, inexpensive hotel, in a great location. www.alabarda.com

Grasshopper, I tried that address and got a security system website.

Selwyn,

I think what some people do is check venere.com for hotel descriptions and availability, then book directly with the hotel.

I'm sorry. Try www.hotelalabarda.com I just tried it and it's good.

Grasasshopper,

Thanks for the Hotel Alabarda tip. Just what we need for Trieste.

Now all I need to find is a neat little place in Milan and then my Italian planning accomodation wise would be over. Anybody got some Milan ideas?

When our Italy planning is over Slovenia planning will be next on the cards.

Thank for the help Grasshopper and Jocelyn.

Selwyn Davidowitz

Selwyn, You might also want to consider Croatia. Rovinj is just a short bus ride from Trieste and is really beautiful.

Grasshopper and everyone else,

Yes we are travelling on to Croatia after our Slovenia journey. As a matter of fact we are hiring a vehicle and travelling as a foursome from Milan down to Dubrovnik and then back to Milan.

An outline of the POTENTIAL places we are going to be stopping at are:

Milan
Verona
Venice
Trieste

Cross the border to Slovenia

Lake Bled
Ljubljana (Use this city as a hub to explore the surrounding territories)

Is it worth travelling up to the Maribor area??

Cross the border into Croatia

Any ideas as to what border crossings we could use???

Zagreb

Travel via Karlovac down to Split and probably stop over somewhere along the way. Any ideas as to what to see and where to stop over on this journey.

From Split we would travel down to Dubrovnik and stay for a day or two.
Comments??

Then its back to Split and travel and up to Zadar.

Next stop would be Rijeka.

Then its on to Pula

Thereafter we cross back from Croatia to Slovenia - Can anybody please make a border crossing recommendation?

Eventually back to Trieste and Milan.

Does this seem feasible to you over a 26 day period

We dont want to govern ourselves with pre-arranged bookings at guesthouses or places of stay because if we like a place we would prefer to spend more time in the town/city. Thats our style of travelling.

Grasshopper, Jocelyn I know that you are a specialists in this area and your input would be much appreciated. Needless to say all other opinions would also be appreciated.

I am going to repeat this posting in a new thread that I will open on the Fodors Forum page headed Italy, Slovenia and Croatia as we are now moving off the original question somewhat.

Thanks a ton for all the help that all on this page have passed on and are all still to pass on to me. Truly very much appreciated.

Selwyn Davidowitz

When we used Venere, we thought we got a good deal. We paid much less than the posted rates at the hotel desk. Maybe I missed something and we could have gotten in cheaper, but the experience was good for us.

We stayed at Hotel Baviera in Milan. We were only there for one night, so we weren't too picky, but it was fine, with a very large bathroom.

Have a great trip.