Fred, I forgot to mention that there's a series of books for France, Spain Britain, and Italy which focus on hotels with private baths that are $50-99 per night. The guides are called Hello Italy, Hello France, etc.<BR><BR>Right now you can get the (old) edition of Italy for free and the new Spain and France editions at a 35% discount when you go to the website www.helloeurope.com and click on the journeywoman promotion. I just received the Italy guide and it divides hotels according to areas, with a brief introduction of the areas. (For example, Siena has a list of hotels around the Campo, the center of Siena).

Fred--try Hotel du Dragon in Paris. I found it in the Frommer's $ per day guide and faxed for reservations. It's in the 6th arr., near St. Germain des Pres, one of the finest neighborhoods. The rooms are clean, big, and have private baths--no lift. We stayed in Aril 2000 for about $85 per night. I would gladly return. I also think you're trying to do too much in too short a time, but only you can set your goals for a trip. If a taste is all you are looking for, then you can go back later. Barb

Fred, my wife and I did something like that for our honeymoon except we didnt cross as many borders. We toured Paris and Italy in 21 days and we didn't feel it was rushed. My itineary was:<BR><BR>Paris (3N) <BR>- night train to Venice on 4N.<BR>Venice (2N)seeing Murano and Burano too.<BR>Milan(1N, just as a rest stopover)<BR>Monterosso(2N)seeing Vernassa,Portofino and Santa Magherita on day trips.<BR>Florence (4N) seeing Pisa on a one day trip,San Giminagno & Siena the other.<BR>Assisi (2N)<BR>Capri(2N)<BR>Sorrento(2N)seeing Pompeii and driving thru the entire Amalfi coast.<BR>Rome (3N)<BR><BR>How did we not feel tired?<BR>1. Rent a car. Time spent waiting for public t'port is most tiring.With a car you can stop and go as you wish.<BR>2. Have a flexible itineary. If you like a place stay longer, if you don't, move on.<BR>3. Don't have to see everything.Even in the Louvre we only saw the things we wanted to see (classical paintings) skipping the lesser known sculptures and fabrics.<BR>4. Dont do two big cities back-to-back.The small towns gave us the break to recuperate and plan for the days ahead.<BR>5. Use a city as a base. We used Florence as a base to see Tuscany. This way we don't have to pack and unpack, check-in and out so often.<BR><BR>However $50-80 is not enough in the big cities. You could stinge on the smaller cities but US$100 is the min to spend in the big cities such as Paris,Venice, Rome. We did that and we still got lousy rooms with no a/c and shabby toilets in Rome. We traveled in Oct, which is not as expensive as June.<BR><BR>Best rates we got was from the tourist office arriving after noon as the hotels would just want to sell their otherwise empty room. To travel in June w/o booking is risky tho.<BR><BR>Enjoy yourself!<BR>

Fred, it is possible that by including information on the amount of time that you are spending in each place, not to mention the order in which you are visiting these places, that this is why people are treating your question as an itinerary question, rather than a hotel question. <BR><BR>I note you have included 3 countries in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy) and three in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, France, Switzerland.) Of the 14 places you plan to visit, 7 are major cities, 3 are smaller cities/towns, and 4 are small village areas in the country. <BR><BR>This is how I'd start thinking about planning location, and also budget. Try breaking down your query into smaller bite sized pieces - you may then find the answers you get are a bit more in tune with your needs. For example, a discussion of what is the best location in any of the cities is a thread in itself. <BR><BR>Bonne voyage. <BR>

&lt;&lt;Also, it looks like you're purchasing a open-jaw ticket for your flights across the pond, which has got to be ungodly expensive.&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>I suppose that "Fred" has already long gone - - deciding not to come back and read any more of this thread.<BR><BR>Still, I wanted to address this statement made earlier by Leslie - - and this is NOT an attempt to stir up any old friction with you, Leslie.<BR><BR>Open-jaw transatlantic ticketing is often a very INexpensive way to plan travel to Europe. When it makes sense to complete a circle, then you shouldn't feel like it's a mistake to do so. But often it is more economical to travel in a line, arc or zigzag and yes - - do plan on an open-jaw ticket being cheaper that returning to your point of entry into Europe.<BR><BR>Just for instance, we'll use Columbus (Ohio) - - my "home" airport as the origination, and June 4 to 18, arbitrarily as the desired dates of travel:<BR><BR>All of the following are the best published fares on www.orbitz.com excluding their service charges(s)<BR><BR>CMH-BCN, NCE-CMH = $1016<BR>CMH-BCN, BCN-CMH = $961<BR>CMH-NCE, NCE-CMH = $971<BR><BR>So the open-jaw adds less than it would cost to "close the loop".<BR><BR>I'm sure there will be much, much cheaper fares in June from Columbus to relevant destinations on Fred's route than these fares. But that's what Orbitz quotes today.<BR><BR>For what it's worth, the implosion of Sabena airlines takes Brussels off the table as a candidate that might have been a good choice for this itinerary - - $1130 roundtrip for these dates, even though it is typically cheaper than Paris ($940) or London ($882).<BR>

Rex, you are not necessarily correct, as I checked into a flight that is Boston - Budapest, train from Budapest to Vienna, and then a flight from Vienna to Boston -- the cost was $1230. My roundtrip flight, Boston to Budapest is $403. Budapest to Vienna is 3 hours by train, and that cost is under $25, so it is not worth flying. And, the roundtrip flight Budapest to Vienna was no bargain at all, and I was willing to spend up to $300 for a 45 minute flight, but the quoted cost (and I tried 15 different search engines, including the inter-European ones) was ridiculous and the time spent within the airports and the flight time was more than the time on the train.<BR><BR>So, in general, open-jaw tickets are more expensive, and not usually slightly more, but a lot more. With so many legs of a trip, it can sometimes be more cost effective to make a circle.<BR><BR>Besides, Rex, I use Boston as a gateway to Europe, which is one of the 3 least expensive gateways for departures to Europe.

Okay, we'll use Boston as the origination city, if you insist - - but why use Budapest and Vienna? - - you criticized Fred for his open jaw into Barcelona and out of Nice - - but then throw in your own (irrelevant) choice of cities in central Europe.<BR><BR>BOS-BCN, NCE-BOS $749<BR>BOS-BCN, BCN-BOS $759<BR>BOS-NCE, NCE-BOS $732<BR><BR>for travel dates June 4-18 (2002) checking Orbitz today on December 26, 2001.<BR><BR>Neither my isolated examples nor yours prove what is GENERALLY true - - but I have priced a LOT of open jaw trans-atlantic air travel - - and purchased dozens of such tickets. And I think that your initial "ungodly expensive" assertion simply isn't true.<BR><BR>Moreover, I feel certain that the collective experience of many travelers on this forum will not back up your "ungodly expensive" claim - - GENERALLY speaking.<BR>