Back from Italy - had great trip - WillTravel checking in
 

I just got back today.

I didn't have the greatest start to the trip, as I was just recovering from a sudden, ferocious bug (as I posted on the forum at the time). But I got better quickly, and everything went perfectly once I got to Italy.

I had 4 nights in Venice, 4 nights in Florence, and 5 nights in Rome. I had no problems whatsoever of the types that are commonly associated with visiting Italy. The weather was ideal, and I never even felt any rain. Every day was a perfect strolling day. I went from place to place being charmed all the way. My accommodations were all budget (43-50 Euros/night), but all clean, comfortable, conveniently located, and with good breakfasts. I did many, many miles of walking.

I will give a full report and photos later, but just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice and stories. For sure these all helped. There are so many Italy fans here and I am sure I learned something useful from every one of them.

Benvenuto, Welcome back Willtravel..I am happy that you had a great time in Italy.
Waiting to hear all about your trip.

Welcome back, WT. I'm especially eager to hear about your accommodations in the 43-50 Euro/night range.

Welcome back and I am so happy for you that being sick as you left, did not ruin the trip for you :D

Can't wait to read the Report!!

WillTravel, yes welcome back and I too will be looking forward to your report once you settle in being home.

How great you got over your bug (not a good way to start a trip overseas).
And how nice to hear that your trip was wonderful including the weather ((*))

Welcome back WillTravel. What a great way to start the new year - a trip to Italy. It's great that you got well and were able to have a good vacation. I'm glad to see you using the budget accomodations. I finally made it to Italy last year and definitely want to return. Again, welcome home!

Welcome back WillTravel. I, too, want to hear all about your budget accommodations as you travel like I do! Glad to hear that you had a nice time.

Welcome home WillTravel. I too am looking forward to your trip report as I will be making this same trip in about 6 weeks.

Welcome back! I look forward to reading about your trip and I hope that there are pictures for sharing, too!

Always enjoy hearing about folk's adventures in Italy.

Welcome back, will.

Look forward to your report.

((I))

Here is a rundown on my Italian accommodations. I will post photos in a few days.

So let's start with Venice.

La Forcola, Venice
http://www.laforcolahotel.com
I stayed there Dec. 27-31. I booked it at 47.50 Euros per night through http://www.ryanairhotels.com .

My single room was small, but very clean. It had matching wallpaper, chair upholstery, and bedspread. It had hardwood floors. There were matching dark wood wardrobe, desk, chair, and bed.

The ensuite bathroom might be a bit quirky for American preferences, but it worked fine for me. As in many European hotels, there's not a separate shower enclosure, and I've found these a bit of a challenge in the past. But I figured out that if you shower while standing over the bidet, the water will not leak into the bedroom (plus I rolled up a towel and put it outside the bathroom door, although that turned out not to be necessary). The bidet and toilet are actually combined, and you lift the bidet cover to use the toilet. All in all, a clever use of limited space.

The breakfast was very good compared to what I have read of typical Italian breakfasts. There were fresh rolls, croissants, tortes, butter, jam, nutella, different selections of yogurt, juice, coffee, and cappucinos available on request. As throughout much of Italy, they played English-language pop music during breakfast. I seem to recall hearing several Beatles Christmas songs among others.

The staff was friendly. The location was walkable to anywhere if you wanted to do so, or you could walk about 100m to a vaporetto stop (San Marcuola). Of course there are tourists everywhere in Venice, but I found this area in Cannaregio had a pleasant mix of locals and fewer tourists. The grocery store Billa was not too far (and it is open - I think there was controversy about that before I left).

The only reason I would stay elsewhere would be to try a different neighborhood of Venice.

I forgot to mention for Venice above that the hotel has 24-hour service. There is a good lift. The TV featured only Italian options. My family had no problems phoning me at the hotel.

Also, I had a small terrace that I could step onto that overlooked a courtyard, and which I used to store cold foods.

Now on to Florence.
Casa Santo Nome di Gesu, Florence
Piazza del Carmine 21
http://www.fmmfirenze.it
I stayed here from Dec. 31-Jan. 4. The winter curfew time is 11 PM, but with my sedate tendencies I didn't find this a problem. They did make a special exception for New Year's Eve, and you could stay out until 1 AM, but I didn't make use of that.

I had wanted to try a convent to see what it was like. This is a lovely old palazzo, with very high ceilings. It has a library, albeit mostly with religious books in Italian and French. I did find a few tourist-oriented books, although none in English I don't think. But I suppose someone could donate a few. There is a common TV room, but once again all the options were Italian.

My room was very spacious by budget accommodation standards. Furthermore, the ceilings were perhaps 15-16 feet high (5m or so). There was a radiator in the room that has a cup attached that you put water in, presumably to prevent the air from getting too dry. There's a tall shuttered window that you can open and look out over the piazza. I found I could store some cold food between the doors to the shutters and the actual shutters (hope the design is clear). My only complaint is that the room did get cold at night, despite the radiators, presumably because of the high ceilings.

There is no lift, and it is 42-43 steps from the ground floor to the first floor. I think it's about the same from the first floor to the second floor. The floors have terracotta tiles. The place is very clean and bright.

The bed was very comfy. I had an extra blanket and pillow in the attached closet.

I chose not to have a private bathroom here to save a few Euros. I did have a sink in the room. There were always bathrooms available, and the showers and water pressure were fine. I had two fresh towels per day. These were of a material that I associate more with dish towels (although fluffier and more absorbent). They worked fine, though.

Breakfast was a bit more spartan than where I stayed elsewhere. There were regular rolls, croissants (I think), butter, jam, Nutella, apples, coffee, milk, and juice. But all nicely presented and the apples were a good touch.

Some of the sisters spoke English, although not all. They also speak Italian and French.

Every morning at breakfast I was given a dinner menu to fill out if I wanted to stay for dinner. For 14 Euros per night, I had a four-course dinner, although dessert was on the simple side (like fruit). Furthermore, I typically was given the option to have an "encore" for all of the courses. I purchased one bottle of wine for 7.50 Euros and used it up over the course of the four nights. Dinner is optional, but it was obvious to me I couldn't get a better deal in Florence and it was so easy and comfortable to eat there.

The location is in the Oltrarno, right next to Brancacci Chapel and Masaccio's famous frescos. I walked from the convent all over the place. I had posted an inquiry about taking the bus before I left. Most posters suggested not walking from the train station. So I did take the bus there, although I walked back uphill (about a 20-minute walk) on depature. I also took the bus from Piazzale Michelangelo after having walked up there. But otherwise I didn't take the bus anywhere, and walked from Brancacci Chapel to San Marco to Santa Croce and all over Florence. It just didn't seem worth it to try to wait for the bus.

The center of Florence was very crowded while I was there, and the area where I stayed was considerably less so. It seemed like a very pleasant area.

I forgot to mention that the main disadvantage of the convent for me is that there is no phone, which I did have at my other locations. I did buy a cheap phone card and phoned my family twice per day or so from a phone box.

Now onto Rome.
Hotel Julia, via Rasella 29
http://www.hoteljulia.it
I stayed here from January 4-9. I paid 50 Euros per night, which was pretty good considering part of my stay was during high season. I had a single room with an ensuite toilet and sink and hairdryer, and a bathroom down the hall that was to be for my "exclusive use". As it turned out, I think someone else used the bathroom a couple times even if they weren't supposed to. But this was a minor detail, as I only needed the shower, which was perfectly comfortable in my case (not small as described in other reviews). They could put an extra lock on the bathroom, though. Towels and toiletries were generous and replenished daily. The room was clean, and had a single bed, small wardrobe, chest of drawers, table, chair, and TV that was ceiling-mounted. Of course it was on the small side but you expect that in Europe for budget accommodation, and I felt very comfortable taking a break there and sleeping there. There was rarely any noise from the street and my sleep was never disturbed.

There is a lift and 24-hour service.

Breakfast was very good by Italian standards. I hope I recall everything available, but there were croissants, baguettes, jams and marmalade, cream cheese, butter, nut spread, yogurt, cornflakes, tortes, ham or salami, tea, coffee, real orange juice, other mixed juice, coffee, milk, tea, and cappucinos and other such hot drinks on request. No problems with quantity or quality and this was a great start to my day.

The staff were very friendly.

The location seemed ideal. It is close to the metro stop for going to St. Peters and the Vatican. Otherwise, I found it an easy walk to the Trevi, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo dei Fiori, and more. I did take the metro to the Colosseum, but that was more for a chance to take a slight break from walking. This hotel is about 100m from Piazza Barberini, so I can definitely recommend staying at the bottom of the Via Veneto. I enjoyed walking up the VV to the Villa Borghese one morning, and then back.

Welcome back, WillTravel. Glad you had a good trip and enjoying your report. Looking forward to hearing more.

I forgot to mention that La Forcola also served fruit cocktail, and Hotel Julia served canned peaches. I think both are unsweetened, and are exactly the same thing you get if you buy Del Monte or whatever. It was almost eerie. I found that having a good breakfast in a pleasant, cheerful room really helped give me a good start to the day.

Costs for the trip:

Transport
* $837 Canadian for the YVR-LHR flight (Vancouver to Heathrow)
* 52.40 pounds for the LHR-VCE flight on BMI (Heathrow to Marco Polo airport near Venice)
* 34.49 Euros for the CIA-LGW (Rome Ciampino to London Gatwick) flight
* 5.10 pounds for the London TravelCard one day pass Zones 1-6 (or was it 5.30?)
* 16.73 Euros for train travel from Venice to Florence (I couldn't get the next Eurostar, so had to take a route through Bologna, because I didn't buy tickets in advance)
* 29.40 Euros for train travel from Florence to Rome (nonstop on Eurostar)
* 8 Euros for Terravision coach from Termini to Ciampino
* 16 Euros for Rome transit pass (CIS)
* 9.70 Euros for Florence 3-day bus pass (a mistake, because I only took the bus twice)
* 22 Euros for Venice 72-hour ATAC pass (good for bus trip from airport and vaporettos)
* 10.50 Euros for additional Venice 24-hour ATAC pass
* 17 pounds for National Express trip from LGW to LHR

Accommodation
* $113.72 USD for two nights stay at Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel (one night at the beginning and at the end)
* 190 Euros for stay at La Forcola (4 nights) in Venice
* 172 Euros for stay at Casa Santo Nome di Gesu in Florence (4 nights) (the dinner is lumped in with my other expenses at the end)
* 250 Euros for stay at Hotel Julia in Rome (5 nights)

Prepaid tours and tickets
* Performance at La Fenice 22.40 Euros
* Scavi tour 10 Euros

Other tours
* Enjoy Rome, three tours: Ancient Rome, Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto, Vatican. 21 Euros each, so 63 Euros

Other lumped together expenses for all attractions, food, postcards, etc. for the entire 13-night stay in Italy:
* 708 Euros (give or take a few cents)

For my one half-day and two mornings in London near the airport:
* 20 pounds

This method of going through London worked well for me, given the prices that I would otherwise have to pay for direct travel to Italy, the fact that these would involve early-morning flights which I really dislike and quite likely with two connections, and the fact that I like to visit London even for brief periods when I get a chance.

Sorry, I double-counted a few things, and it is really 650 Euros instead of 708 for the remaining expenses.

Thanks, WillTravel, & welcome back. I really like reading your report, your approach to travel is refreshing and all the cost info is very helpful. If you have time to recount your experiences on a day-to-day basis, would love to read it. Also curious how you liked the Enjoy Rome tours.

Wow! What a nice report! Thank you.

Great trip report WillTravel, it's great to see how reasonably it's possible to travel and enjoy lots of time in Italy!

I'm inspired, since one of the #1 reasons we're holding off on going back is that we've got to save enough $$$!

Thanks! Trish

Thank you for posting your experience. We love the Cannaregio area, too.

Although, it was kinda hard to picture this one -
"...if you shower while standing over the bidet, the water will not leak into the bedroom..." -
So I assume there was a shower head with the expandable tube/hose attachment. Itake it that there wasn't a bathtub, too?

Thanks for your nice comments. I will post more about what I actually saw in the next few days, plus my photos.

Billy_Bob, there wasn't a bathtub. Every now and then while showering you'd tip the bidet cover over so that the water went into the toilet. I can't say I was doing this the "proper" way, but it worked to keep everything dry.

I had a hairdryer in Venice and Rome - the standard Italian types that look like a vacuum cleaner hose. These work all right actually, but you have to pause every couple minutes because they get too heated.

I really like the format of your report. Was interesting to see that you stopped at Heathrow first. We are flying from Calgary and planned to do exactly the same thing for the same reasons you noted. Would you recommend the Holiday Inn Heathrow?

We also want to return via Gatwick because we are planning to rent a self-catering cottage in Kent/Sussex.

Look forward to hearing more about your trip.

WillTravel: Thanks for all the great tips on how to travel on a budget. I too am a budget traveller and it's nice to know there are low cost accommodations out there. I am planning a trip this fall with about 4-6 other women to Rome and Amalfi Coast. I live in Wash. State just south of the border, but they all live in the Vancouver area. They of course want to fly out of Vancouver. I can't believe how expensive flights are out of Vancouver, so I was interested to see how you did it. If I can't find something comparable, I'm afraid I might just have to fly out of Seattle and join them all in Rome, although it would certainly be more fun to fly together. So it looks like you flew BA to Heathrow and then on to Venice with BMI? and on your return - Rome to Gatwick - was that BMI or Ryanair?
Because I'm going to Rome in March, the fall trip needs to be very budget, which it will be as far as accommodations with us all sharing something, but the airfare can be a real killer. Any ideas on getting a cheap flight from Vancouver? Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Hi WillTravel: Thanks for the expense breakdown re: your trip. The night cost at the Casa Santo Nome di Gesu in Florence wasn't specifically mentioned as you combined the total with the food ordered. How much did it end up being per night for the room (sans food) - 40 euros/night?

I would like to try some of your places in the future - thanks again for the great tips and prices!

Barb: My Mom lives in Seattle and flies to Europe via British Air to visit my sister in Germany. British Air stops in London, then there are connections throughout Europe (Italy, etc). Check out their website as they have very good air specials running nearly all the time.

Huitres: Thanks, but I don't have a problem getting good fares out of Seattle, it's out of Vancouver that's the problem. I'm flying to Roma in March, out of Seattle, for $575.00!! Right now out of Vancouver it is around $900 to 1,000 and that's just to London or Amsterdam!

Barb, I have gotten good fares on Air Canada from YVR-LHR when I looked at just the right time (actually I was checking a couple times per day on various sites for several weeks). If you are willing to consider other options, look at these sites:

http://www.flyzoom.com
http://www.canadianaffair.com
http://www.airtransat.com (not very comfortable, but sometimes cheap)
http://www.selloffairfares.com

Of course consider the exchange rate also, which can make the deals better than they look at first glance. But there are rarely any good deals from Vancouver to anywhere but the UK and less often Amsterdam. I flew EasyJet from Ciampino to Gatwick.

========
Huitres, sorry that was unclear. The accommodation at the Florence convent cost 43 Euros per night for a single room with sink, including breakfast (so 172 Euros for the four nights). The optional dinner is an extra 14 Euros per night. You can get budget hotels in Florence for about the same price, but I doubt you'd get as nice a room in as nice a house.

Rick, there are several Holiday Inns near Heathrow. I stayed at the Ariel, which I got on Priceline (I bid $43 USD/night and then there were the extra fees and taxes). I have now stayed there three times, considering my stay in July also. I've had pretty good stays each time, although the room was chilly on Dec. 26 (they did send up a space heater and extra blankets). I'm not sure what the problem was, but they seemed to think all the rooms were like that (and it was a cold night for London). With the extra blankets and space heater I did fine. For my Jan. 9 stay, I was upgraded to an executive room at no extra charge, because with my late arrival they had sold out the regular rooms, so that was very nice.

I like the way you itemized the transportation and lodging costs. Very nice. Maybe you could also include a breakdown of specific food costs, or at least the big meals at some later time.
I think my travel approach is very similar to yours.

Congratulations! I really admire your budget approach. I'm looking forward to hearing about your experiences and seeing your photos!

WillTravel, your hotel in Rome, with the price and the location is fantastic. I was interested that you enjoyed being by the Piazza Barberini, I too like that location.

But for sure I could learn some lesson from you on how to travel more economically.

Your trip sounds fantastic! ((*))

Another here to welcome you back ((F))

I can't wait to hear about where you ate (here's hoping your illness didn't affect that!)

I find it so weird that Billa in Venice is open... when in September the building seemed so destroyed. I hope you went to La Cantina right down the street from there...

WillTravel, thanks for the euro clarification re: the Florence lodging. I would like to try your places out. Indeed, you got quite a bargain for all locations - bravo for you! :)

Here are some pictures. They should be in more or less chronological order, although I had to stop taking pictures at nightfall, so you can't see my nocturnal wanderings. Also I notice at least a few are oddly out of order for no apparent reason. Let me know if the links don't work.

Venice:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzv4

Florence:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmztw

Rome 1:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzpg

Rome 2:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzro

Rooms and bathrooms:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGTZi3cNmzwA

Huitres, the convent seemed very family-oriented and I noticed several families staying there.

Wow, WillTravel...you took A LOT of photos!!!

Especially like the bedroom/bathroom pix. Certainly clarifies the shower/bidet situation. Assume the room with the pic of Mary & Jesus over the bed is the convent room? Very appealing in a simple sort of way.

Thanks for the trip report and the great photos. I think they effectively answer the eternal "Should I go to Italy in the winter?" question. Lovely.

Wow, WillTravel, you took a lot of photos (I always thought I do since I use ~ 12 rolls of film per trip). I liked your Grand Canal photos in Venezia, especially the photo with the colorful boats against the red (brick?) building. Nice contrast.

You beat me out with your 43 euros/night place in Firenze. However, my lodging choice comes in at a close 2nd! In Firenze, I have stayed at the Soggiorno Bavaria, Via Borgo degli Albizi, 26 (Tel/Fax: 011 +39 055 23 40 313 E-Mail: [email protected]) The hotel is located in the former 16th Century palace "Montalvo Ramirez" and is in the historic city centre, close to the Cathedral square (Duomo), Dante's House, and the Piazza della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio and Uffizzi). Being that it used to be a former palace, the rooms are huge with very high ceilings and frescoe-decorated walls with double-casement/wooden shutter windows that open onto a large, inside courtyard/garden. The staff is very friendly and attentive. The single and double rooms with bathrooms range from 50 euros (low season) to 98 euros (high season) and they accept all credit cards (V/MC/AMEX). I have always enjoyed staying there when in Firenze.

Huitres, that sounds like a great deal.

One thing that surprised me was how crowded some areas were, despite the fact that this was winter. But of course much of the trip was around the Jan. 1 and Jan. 6 holidays. There was a big lineup for the Uffizi on the morning of Jan. 2 (I had a reservation), and the Ponte Vecchio and Duomo areas were swarmed when I checked it out Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. When I was walking between the Trevi, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona on Jan. 6 around 5 PM, it was really shoulder to shoulder all the way, and in order to move you really had to be pushy. But crowds are a lot more bearable if they aren't accompanied by intense heat (IMO). And as someone pointed out, if it makes any difference, there were a lot more Italians in the mix than there would be during the summer, where tourists would predominate. But if you really want a low-season experience, maybe early in December or later in January would work better. But I should emphasize that these crowds did not affect my trip negatively at all.