We are looking for reasonably priced but nice hotels for our honeymoon in both Rome and Florence... I don't want to spend a ton (less than $150?) but want the Rome hotel to be near the Spanish steps... any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I know this has been asked over and over, but as I am new to this board, I am having trouble searching effectively

Start looking at www.venere.com.

Hi Emily,

Is there a reason why the hotel has to be near the Spanish Steps?

Lots of folks here have recommended the Pzza Navona area as being a better place to stay.

As to Florence, I would recommend Tourist House Ghiberti. We just returned from a wonderful trip to Italy last week and this hotel was one of the highlights. If you search for it on this site or on tripadvisor.com, you'll find many great comments. Their prices are listed on their website - www.touristhouseghiberti.com.

Best wishes,
Sally

It is not a hotel, it is a bed and breakfast but it is REALLY near the Spanish Steps: EVA'S ROOMS.
www.evasrooms.it is the website if I am not mistaken.

ooops, just now I have read that it is for your honeymoon.... sorry... The Spanish Steps area can be quite an expensive area... In this forum though great reviews have been bestowed to ALBERGO DEL SENATO, overlooking the pantheon which is between Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps... Lovely, lovely hotel. Also Hotel dei Borgognoni near Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps is a good hotel. By checking their websites you may find out if their prices are within your price range.

In Florence...try Hotel Davanzati...have a read of the reviews of the hotel in tripadvisor.com

Fabrizzio, the manager, is so approachable and helpful, the room we had was spacious and fairly new, and it is close to everything.

topping

The Del Senato is a wonderful hotel and very close to the Spanish Steps at the Pantheon. Beautiful rooms with lots of marble, friendly perople, incredible roof top bar, great breakfast. In Florence, a nice hotel in your price range is the Hermitage. Also a great location with a similarly beautiful roof deck overlooking the duomo. Rooms are not quite as nice as the Del Senato, but I'd stay there again in a minute.

Emily,
You might have already booked a hotel, but I just thought I'd throw in the Hotel Panda. It is very near the Spanish Steps, and we just booked with them. I can't recommend it yet, but all reviews I've read about it are positive. Definitely less than 150E. Rooms are supposedly small, but aren't they all? Have a wonderful honeymoon!

Hi Emily,
I can recommend the Hotel San Carlo in Rome (fax them, tell them what your budget is, and tell them Kathleen Kelly sent you; they'll fax back to you probably the following day to tell you what they have in your price range). If this place were any closer to the Spanish Steps, they'd be in them.

web site is www.hotelsancarloroma.com

For Florence, how about Il Porcellino tourist house? It's central to everything, and the rates are very reasonable.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

In Florence, Hotel Casci (hotelcasci.com). Do a search on the name here and you'll see lots of great comments. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but the people who run it are delightful. The rooms are clean and quiet. The location is great.

I am in Florence 3-4 times a year and have stayed in quite a few places.

I am not sure what time of year you are going whcih does make a difference.

Il Porcellino is well located but there is no A/C in the rooms (as of June).

I recommend Soggiorno Antica Torre right in Piazza delle Signoria. The Ivory Room can be had within your budget most of the year with cash payment instead of cc. Also, Residenza il Villino is lovely and convenient. Both are small and intimate. The Davanzati is very nice but not in your budget, at least not that I have ever seen.

In Rome, I love tostay at the del Seanot but have never seen it for that price. It averages 225-285 Euro. We are booked there in Janaury (really the lowest season) and it is still 225.

I would suggest you check out the Domus Julia (not Hotel Julia) and the Colonnato di San Pietro. Also the Daphne Inn. I am not a big fan of the Spanish Steps area and really enjoy being near the Pantheon the most but it is pricey.

Hotel Silla in Florence is clean, pleasant, and has helpful staff at front desk. It's reasonably priced for Florence and should be within your budget. although it's on the south side of the Arno it still has a good location because it's near the Ponte Alle Grazie bridge, so you can walk to the Uffizzi Gallery, and to the Santa Croce area. A bit further but still walkable is the Duomo. A very close walk is the Boboli Gardens and the Pitti Palace. Also the Ponte Vecchio bridge is the next one up from the Ponte Alle Grazie bridge.

Beds were comfortable. Bathrooms were clean. Breakfast was nice and filling though to be picky one day the eggs at the buffet were a bit runny for my taste so I didn't eat them. But there were other things to choose from so it didn't matter. Who wants eggs every single morning anyway? All of our hotels offered eggs at their breakfast buffet.

This is NOT an exciting hotel. But it's comfortable, relatively quiet, (Florence in general is noisy by the way because of traffic and vespas scooting by), and staff were helpful. In fact, staff at this hotel arranged our museum reservations for us without charging us anything for this service...and they took care of this before we even left for Italy, so it was nice that we didn't have to hassle with it.