Need recommendations for hotels in Florence and Venice. Want a good location and a decent size clean room and bath. Want to spend around $200.

Hi Kathie, <BR>I stayed at the Pendini in florence - (look them up on the web) great location ( a little noisy, cause there is a band outside) reasonable and nice family atmosphere. <BR>I stayed at the Paganelli in Venice (5 minutes from St Marks Sq) small and charming. I liked them both.

In Venice, a great little find for us in 1996 was the Biscanzio, only a few blocks from St. Mark's. Back then, it was in the low 300,000's. It's a Best Western, so look it up on their website. Good luck.

I stayed at the Paganelli also in Venice. Very quaint and GREAT location on the canal. Florence I stayed at Hotel Villa Liberty just across the street from the Uffizi across the river. Nice accomodations and great service. This was a small walk, but not to far. Enjoy!

Hi Kathie & Dumbo, <BR>Do you know how I can contact the Paganelli? Any idea about their rates? <BR>Thanks

If you type "Paganelli hotel venice" into any search engine, you will get plenty of hits. They do not appear to have a website, but here is the contact info: Albergo Paganelli <BR>Riva degli Schiavoni 4687 <BR>Castello <BR>tel: (041) 522-4324 <BR>fax: (041) 523-9267 <BR>Rates: Reasonable (about 300,000 lit. for a double) <BR>

Leon Bianco in Venice is a great small hotel ob the Grand Canal and was about $160. (US) a night for 3 of us. We had a large room with a full private bath with windows that opened out on the Grand Canal. Lovely.

Venice nice hotel is Lacando Sturion on Grand Canal...great rooms, but lots of stairs to climb as it is on upper floors of the building. CHeck it out

We stayed at the Hermitage in Florence last year. It's in a great location and our room was very quiet. They have a wonderful rooftop deck for breakfast or drinks. About $200/night. We'd definitely stay again! Their web site: http://www.venere.it/firenze/hermitage/hermitage.html

Kathie- <BR> In Florence I stayed at the Corona D'Italia on via Nazionale, close to the train station, almost next to San Lorenzo market and less than a 10 minute walk to Il Duomo. The hotel was recently renovated and the rooms are very spacious, clean and comfortable, a/c was very good. Ask for an interior room to get a bigger and quiet location. Breakfast was mediocre so try to get a rate were breakfast is not included. We paid less than $200 in Sept. 2000 <BR>For Venice I recommend Hotel Kette. Wonderful little hotel close to St. Marks and good breakfast. It was hard to get a reservation there so book in advance. <BR>Both hotels have websites.

I was in both places in oct 2000. In Florence we stayed at Belletinni(Ck spelling) it was in FODORS with ** and we loved it cost was 88.00 US inc bkfast. Good location- We had a nice large room/and bathroom. some of the rooms off lobby may have been a little noisy but we were up steps. They have a website (do a search) In Venice we stayed at Locanda Fiorita same price without bkfast. Location was great but i don't recomend the hotel. Rooms small and the front desk were all very uninterested in guests and the day we left we had ckd out the night before they didn't tell us the gate would be locked we almost missed the boat to the airport.

Hotel Pendini is the place to be in Florence for the price you're seeking. Great spot that is very central to all the walking you'll wamt to do.

The Hotel Principe is less than 100 yards from the train station...very convenient...and close to the vaporettos. It's clean, good sized rooms and a very attentive staff. I believe it was less than $200.00. <BR> <BR>In Florence, check out the Jolly hotels. They're equivelent to the Hilton chain in the US....clean, nice, resonable, and good location. <BR> <BR>Visit my website if you'd like to see some photos of Venice and Florence: <BR>www.jimtardio.com/italy.html