Help please! Value lodging in Italy
 

Dear Experienced Travelers,

Please help! We are a recently retired couple. Because we're hoping to spend an extended amount of time in Italy, Spain and France, we really need "value" lodging. I've spent the better part of today just researching Florence and Tuscany. I've searched Camp Sites for rental "apartments" and bungalows - We just can't do tent camping. I've also searched hostels in and around Florence. I've learned that some hostels have very nicely appointed rooms and a bathroom down the hall. I'm assuming those rooms come with a matching price but almost all of them have indicated "no availability" even for November of 2015.

We will have our own car but we prefer not to drive in the metros. We are open to sharing a bathroom as long as it's shared by a reasonable number of people. We are open to staying in simple accommodations as long as they are reasonably clean and safe. We would love to stay outside of the metros if we can catch public transportation into the city as long as it doesn't take more than 30 or 40 minutes.

In Italy, we hope to visit Florence, Venice, Rome, the hill country and Cinque Terra region. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For a couple, you do nearly as well in cheaper hotels or B&Bs, where you normally get private bathroom. You should be able to find something from around 50 euro a room per night. Also try some religious accommodation. Though some have curfews, others operate just like a hotel, and though the rooms are simply furnished, they are perfectly adequate, esp in Rome. You will pay more in Venice, but avoiding the peak period, you should find something suitable, perhaps near the train station. November isn't a good time to visit Cinque Terra because of the weather. It's too early to book accommodation, as most smaller places don't upload room availability until 12 months in advance, sometimes less.

If you're American then you need to be aware of Schengen rules. You're planning 3 months in the spring and returning for an extended stay in November. You may have overstayed your first trip.

November 2015 is more than a year away. That's probably why you don't see availability.

November is not camping weather so I'm sure camping sites will have closed for the season.

Hostels will have availability but you have to look next year.

<< We would love to stay outside of the metros >>

I'm guessing you mean metropolitan areas rather than subways.

We spent the month of November in Languedoc-Roussillon (France) in 2010. While we were fortunate to have a friends' flat to stay in, we did a lot of short trips and just found lodging when we got there. It isn't difficult at all. Sometimes you have good luck stopping at a Tourist Info center in any given town, but if you have a couple of guide books or are bringing along an iPad (it is embarrassing how inexpensive a data plan is in France -- do one for France, one for Spain and one for Italy) there are websites that can help -- for example, look at gofrance.com and search for Logis de France, which gives you a good idea of what is available. We used a Lonely Planet guidebook in Spain one trip, and stayed at a perfectly acceptable place in Zaragosa (for example) for 30Euro per night (shared bath). You really don't need to "camp" at all. I have always had good luck with venere.com when looking for inexpensive places to stay in Italy. Try staying at places with free or cheap parking. To visit Rome, if you want to stay on the outskirts, you might want to try Frascati. You can drive from there to easily visit Tivoli, Villa Adriana, etc. as well as leaving your car while you take a bus into Rome. To visit Florence, find a place in Chianti on a a bus or train line in the Tuscan countryside. Planning is the fun. Shoot, I think one of our long (usually 30-35 day) trips, I only had a Kindle with a really dodgy internet app. Now I have an iPad that I load up with guides. France may be easier to negotiate than Spain or Italy -- Italy will be the most expensive of the three, but you can do it. Good luck!

Oh -- when we wanted to see Barcelona, we discovered that the best thing to do with our car was to park it at the airport and take the shuttle into town. We lucked out and found a small flat to rent for 5 nights, inexpensively, but I would suggest it would be better to have reservations before you leave for Barcelona in Spain, Venice (it isn't worth not staying in Venice, if only for one night) and you would be best served to visit someplace like Paris at the end after you have dropped off your car.

March/April/May is a good time to travel, as is October/November. We spent mid Sept to mid October in Italy, with a week in Rome then 2 weeks outside Spoleto (and lots of daytripping from there). The other flat in our building in Umbria, was used by 3 ladies from UK, who drove all over the country from that base! They even went to Pompeii. A bit more driving than I would want to do, but apparently they do it every year.

>>>we really need "value" lodging.<<<

You need to state an amount you are willing to spend. Value could mean anything.

As pointed out, most small places won't have rates that far out yet so you will simply see not available because they aren't taking bookings yet.

In Italy, convents or monasteries can be quite cheap, but you need to book directly with them for the best rates and not a reseller like monasterystays that marks up the rates.

A car will be an expensive hindrance for any of the big cities (and some of the smaller ones) in Italy. YOu are not allowed to drive in the centers and parking can run 35-40€ per day. You might want to reconsider a car the entire time.

Agree that you need to provide a budget per night. And it may well be cheaper to stay centrally and not have a car - esp with tolls and gas at $8/9 per gallon - than park it in the outskirts and waste time and money getting into city centers. Train tickets bought 90 days in advance are often incredibly cheap and perhaps you can limit car rental to a limited time and save a lot.

Budget, please. What do you feel comfortable spending per night for lodging, food, etc.? Then we might be able to make sensible suggestions.

Search on www.venere.com and/or www.booking.com for your destinations and budget range. Use similar dates in November 2014.

If you're on a very modest budget, you can also search www.cross-pollinate.com. This is a web service started by an American couple who own/operate the Beehive (budget B&B) in Rome and wanted to be able to refer guests to reliable lodging in Rome and a few other European cities. Most (all?) of the lodging is spare rooms in residences, small apartments and small, budget hotels/B&Bs.

Have you looked at airbnb.com? Also - you could look into getting a retiree visa for the country you plan to spend the most time in. I believe most of those are good for a year, but you'll need to go through some hoops and prove you have enough money.

We don't know your budget nor how long an 'extended amount of time' is.

Awfully hard to give any sort of useful advice w/o at least that info.

But >>almost all of them have indicated "no availability" even for November of 2015 << is almost 100% certainly because you are searching months before they are willing/able to take bookings.

So fill in some of the blanks and we be able to help you.

Dear Travelers,
We sincerely appreciate all your help and suggestions. Here is more info.
1. We are hoping to stay 90 days. If, as we plan, we find we can't afford 90 days, we won't stay as long.

2. We'd like to find lodging for $50/ night double occupancy (so $50 total not $100).

3. We prefer not to drive in the metropolitan areas. So we prefer to stay outside on a bus or train route.

4. We may find that staying in the metro is cheaper if we can find someplace to park the car.

5. We are planning to travel April 2015 - June 2015. It was silly of me to type in November for lodging. I just was in disbelief that there was "no availability" on so many sites for next Spring. I am sorry for the confusion.

Any websites or specific names of accommodations are very much appreciated. I'm getting ready to search again! Thanks!

I love the website booking.com. You can filter the results based on price and it has worked really well for me.

$50/per night is going to be hard. We usually find places around $100, and that sure gives you more options. If you can find a couple of "bases" from which to day trip for 2 weeks, you are likely to be able to get that $100 down to maybe $75...

We used umbriaholidayrentals.com when we found our place for 2 weeks in 2011, and that cost us about $95 per night.

Checkout venere.com for places in Italy that fit your budget and see what you come up with.

You may decide that 2 months gives you more breathing room to fit your budget.

<< We may find that staying in the metro is cheaper >>

Every time you talk about the metro I get a good chuckle as I envision you sleeping in the subway! LOL

Why not travel to less expensive countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, etc.

You might want to consider renting a car for just part of your trip as you won't need one when visiting Florence, Venice and Rome. Consider also the cost of staying in town versus the transportation costs and time if you are staying in the outskirts. Having a car to tour Tuscany, however, would be very helpful.

They're buying a car and shipping it home after their trip.

Rather than spend all that money on a rental car I would put most of it toward lodging - and concentrate on getting from one city to another on super budget train fares. There are some places where driving makes a lot more sense - such as getting around small towns in Tuscany - but then you may have the option of staying at very inexpensive lodgings in the countryside - unless of course you already own the car and its use is essentially free.

Try some legitimate apartment booking sites (not airbnb which may have regulatory trouble.) Look on tripadvisor.com and google for "apartments/flats to rent short term" or something like that.

We're contemplating doing the same thing and have found some reasonably priced apartments that way. And if you get an apartment or a series of apartments, you can save money by doing your own cooking.