i'm planning to travel in Italy for 1 week in April. first, i haven't decided where i'll be spending my time there, so i would appreciate any advice on how to spend 7 days and see the most i can without being rushed. also, my main question is: do you know any cheap (decent quality) hotels, motels etc., in different cities? i just found out that to stay in a hostel you have to be younger than 25, and i'm a little over...
thanks so much!

I advise www.eurocheapo.com

Listings for both cities.

Best wishes,

Rex

What is your price range?

my price range is preferrably below $50/day (if that's an option).
thanks!

That's not necessarily true about hostels. Very few have an under-26 restriction, and I'm pretty sure Venice and Rome have hostels without this restriction. Have you specifically looked at a few target hostels?

i just started looking for hostels, and age doesn't seem to be a problem for most hostels, at least in Italy, which is encouraging.

REX, thanks for the "eurocheapo" website: it's very helpful!

Convents might be your answer. Try some of these:

http://www.exseminarians.com/rome/

http://www.santasusanna.org/comingTo...html#R-vatican

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=co...mp;lr=&ie=
UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=971012203135_-1362215841%40emout07.mail.aol.com&rnum=1

http://www.s-t.com/daily/03-97/03-30-97/e10li207.htm

http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgM...1&start=50

Hi,

I've over 25 too - did a trip to Italy last year - and guess what? convents are the way to go! actually Monasteries! They are stunning, and get this...under $20.

I went to Rome(3 full days), Venice(1 full day), Florence(2 full days), Sienna(1 day), Chianti(1 day), Cinque Terre(1 day)

I would advise Rome(4 days), Venice(2 days), Florence(2-3). I wished for more time in Venice simply to walk the streets and explore the alleys....I wished for more time in Rome simply because I was exhausted with the morning-night touring - didn't even get a chance to club coz there was just so much to see and I'm the kinda person who likes to sit at a cafe at a piazza for at least 2-3 hours and ppl watch. lots of walking. We walked everywhere and that tires you out...so 4 days would do justice I think.
Eurocheapo is great - I'm using it for my Spain trip in a few months.

We actually went to venere.com for Italy and got everything under $50, except Venice which was $60 - In Cinque Terre we stayed at the Monastery - fantastic and cheap.

Rome and Florence have a ton of hostels. In fact for Florence you can try Locanda Starlight - Starlite..it's a shared bathroom and reasonable prices. Venice is expensive - shop around a bit although I know they have hostels...

For hostels you can try out eurocheapo.com also and do a hostel/convent search off of google...you'll get plenty.

Actually, you need more than 2 days in Venice just to see the major sights, let alone experiencing the joy of wandering the streets and byways.

The Hotel Villa Parco is on the Lido part of Venice. The hotel is very nice and the rates are very good.
Do a search for it.