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.

Also, you're going to have much better luck in November through about March. I realize the weather will not be the best, but lodging should be considerably lower in the late fall and winter. For example, by q quick search found an apartment for two right outside Florence for 30 days at $66.00/day current exchange rate.

OK -- you want to have a car, and stay out of the city centers. But your budget is only $50 day. This makes absolutely NO sense to me at all.

You'll have expensive car rental (easily $30 -$50 per day), VERY expensive petrol (close to $9 a gallon) , and the daily cost for trains into the cities, or very expensive parking.

So why not ditch the car idea, up your nightly budget 100% to $100 and stay in the middle of cities.

You spend a LOT less.

You aren't going to find anyplace to sleep for $50/€35 a night double. Even hostels and convents will cost twice that.

Per your other thread you are only 'contemplating' buying a European delivery car and a lease buy-back or rental are also options.

I don't mean this to be harsh - but IMO -- someone who can only afford €35 a night for accommodations shouldn't even think in terms of buying/leasing/renting a car. That isn't even a backpackers budget.

I assumed they were going to buy a car and pick it up, then travel as long as possible using their car, and that their budget was probably limited because they knew they would be spending a good amount on the car. When we considered a 3 month stay, we discovered the lease/buy back arrangements are only good for one month, so that option was out. Buying a used car and selling it was really too cumbersome to deal with (one would want to have insurance, too). So we contemplated staying at one or two base locations where we could set out via train and rent cars as needed (possibly for a 2 week stretch of road tripping between base locations.

Clearly, you will want to figure out transportation issues along with accommodations. If it doesn't look like your original dream is going to work out, you can rescale your expectations to a good month-long exploration in Italy next Spring, than another in France in 2016 or even 2017, being able to put everything you learned on your first road-trip to use when you plan that.

BTW -- we never went for 3 months. After spending one month in SW France, my husband really felt not being able to speak or understand French very well was an issue for him. (My French gets better every time we go, but I am no where near fluent. I think we would do just fine, but it really did bother him. Possibly one good reason to go for a month the first time, to see how you BOTH do.) So, between the car issues and the language issues, we decided it just wasn't going to work for 3 months.

The next year we did the month in Italy. Neither of us speak Italian very well, but we got on splendidly. A month turns out to be just about right for us, no matter where we go.

uhoh_busted: Putting together bits and pieces from both threads I <i>think</i> they are going for 6 weeks, haven't decided about transport, it looks like they assume driving and staying outside the city centers is best, want to visit Germany and Italy, and they want to spend almost nothing on accommodations.

But the two threads are a bit confusing so maybe we need some clarifications . . .

>>>$50/ night double occupancy<<<

That is only 38€. Very low even for hostels, convents or way out in the middle of nowhere. I think even a camping spot would run that much.

>>>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.<<<

It's already been pointed out that you are not allowed to drive in the center of many Italian cities (including Florence,Rome, CT towns, Venice and many hill towns). There are cameras than monitor if you cross into those zones. The tickets are not cheap. Parking is not cheap.

You need to cut back on the length of your trip so you can up your lodging budget.

Agree this is VERY confusing. But frankly even $100 per night is a very tight budget - unless you are willing to go for pensions with shared baths and stairs versus elevators. This will - just - cover a room in a convent or a couple of beds in a hostel.

Not sure what is going on with the car - but frankly I would not be buying a brand new european car if all I could afford for lodging was $50 per night - essentially a flop house.

I do find this thread confusing but, of course, the OP may just be trying to weigh all the options.

I, too, would recommend a shorter trip so you can up your lodging budget. It is fun and more convenient to stay centrally located in cities in Europe so you can possibly walk to sites, have short rests, change clothes, regroup to head out for an evening stroll, and feel like you are briefly a resident of a wonderful place. It is tempting to want to see a great deal of Europe once you are there, but a first trip of three or four weeks would give you a good deal of time to do quite a bit. You can then start planning the next trip, and the next...

Is this $50, US or one of the other 20 odd counties who use $ currency?

It's more useful to use the currency of your destination than origin.

(USD 10 equivalent )
Australian Dollar: $10.88
Bahamian Dollar: $10.00
Barbadian Dollar: $20.00
Belize Dollar: $20.00
Bermudan Dollar: $10.00
Brunei Dollar: $12.68
Canadian Dollar: $10.52
Eastern Caribbean Dollar: $27.00
Fijian Dollar: $18.74
Guyana Dollar: $2,000.50
Hong Kong Dollar: $77.55
Jamaican Dollar: $1,007.00
Liberian Dollar: $745.00
Namibian Dollar: $99.00
New Zealand Dollar: $12.82
Singapore Dollar: $12.67
Solomon Islands Dollar: $71.40
Surinamese Dollar: $32.75
Taiwanese Dollar: $300.12
Trinidad and Tobago Dollar: $62.51
Zimbabwe Dollar: $3,748.00

Oh, I hope it's Zimbabwe... That would be an interesting trip.

Imagine paying cash in ZWD!

The OP is talking US$. IF you read their only other thread, they refers to "stateside" and European Overseas Delivery" program, which is for US citizens.

I think inexperienced posters/travelers often forget that not everyone is American nor clairvoyant.

DebitNM - don't tell me your crystal ball is in the shop for repairs, again?? LOL

Ball? Don't need no stinkin' ball! [in my best impersonation voice] :o)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges

Love all those stinkin' badges!

hahahah

We were in a bind looking for accommodations in Cinque Terre last year and ended up at this place. http://www.iltimonedimonterosso.it not only was it the cheapest option I could find, it was probably the nicest hotel I have stayed in throughout my extensive travels the last 2 years. It is on the main street in Montorosso. Although this town isn't as picturesque as the other Cinque Terre towns, not having to haul your luggage up hills and stairs was a blessing. Especially for my parents. The owners were awesome. It is more like an apartment than a hotel. Highly recommend it.

For Florence, I stayed at the B&B Residenza le Fonticine. It was a hostel style place, but very clean and updated. I booked a room with an ensuite. I really liked the location, walking distance from the train station and right near the San Lorenzo markets. I was only there one night while in transit. Not sure about parking your car, though.

The hostels almost certainly have room, but have not opened up booking. You can email them if you like, or telephone (many have Skype options on their sites too).

Another option you may want to consider is convents. For example, here is where I stayed in Florence:
http://www.fmmfirenze.it/