Hello travel enthusiasts! I posted an earlier message. My son has just graduated from College. We are sending him (he's going w/his girlfriend) to Europe as a gift (lucky kid). I desperately need some help as we are trying to be frugal. Not the way we usually travel. Here's what I have so far. I would love your comments/suggestions on the itinerary and recommendations for hotels (trying to keep it at or below $100.00. We could go over for a few nights but not every night. They want some beach time and don't want to rush around.

Sept 6: Travel Day
Sept 7: Arrive in Rome 3:00 p.m.
Sept 8: Rome
Sept 9: Rome
Sept 10: Rome
Sept 11: Positano or Capri??(best means to get there - train???)
Sept 12: Positano or Capri ??not sure which, would like beach time
Sept 13: Positano or Capri ??
Sept 14: Travel to Santa Margherita (fly from naples to genoa or train, how long train ride)?
Sept 15: Santa Margherita
Sept 16: Santa Margherita
Sept 17: CinqueTerre (day trip? how to get there?)
Sept 18: Travel to Paris (best means to get there, fly or train, how long train ride)?
Sept 19: Paris
Sept 20: Paris
Sept 21: Paris
Sept 22: Paris
Sept 23: Paris
Sept 24: Depart

Hotel Help??
Paris Hotels (recommendations, have you stayed? location, cleanliness, staff)
http://hotel-mondia.com
http://www.hotelgobelins.com/frame.html
http://www.ehi.com/travel/ehi/france...ents-hotel.htm (not sure about rates)
http://www.hotel-du-champ-de-mars.com/champs2.html
http://www.hotelmonge.com/ (need lowest cost double room)
http://www.paris-hotel-richmond.com/

Rome Hotels:
Daphne Inn Trevi (couldn't find URL or prices)
http://www.hoteljulia.it/ (would need lowest cost double room)
Domus Julia (shuttle from airport too)
http://www.domusjulia.it/ (would need lowest cost double room)

Positano or Capri Hotels:

Help??

Santa Margherita:
http://www.nuovariviera.com/eng/tariffe.html
http://www.domusjulia.it/ (may be too pricey but looks lovely

Why head south when the ultimate destination is north? And Positano is NOT a frugal destination. I'd also like to point out that there are far cheaper beach destinations than Italy if sunbathing is a big priority for the kids. "Some" beach time is a little different from 1/3 beach time, which is what the itinerary is now.

If the kids won't give up the Amalfi coast, they should look to stay in Atrani, Sorrento or south of Ravello for frugal lodgings.

In the Cinque Terre area, Levanto offers more affordable accommodations than Santa Margherita Ligure. CT is an easy day trip from there.

You will have to do some digging to find budget accommodations in the capitals of Rome and Paris. Don't skimp on air conditioning, however, if this is a summer trip.

Instead of 1/3 beach time, I would recommend:


Sept 6: Travel Day
Sept 7: Arrive in Rome 3:00 p.m.
Sept 8: Rome
Sept 9: Rome
Sept 10: Rome
Sept 11: Pisa plus afternoon at beach
Sept 12: Pisa with daytrip to Firenze
Sept 13: Pisa with day trip to Lucca
Sept 14: Travel to Levanto
Sept 15: Levanto
Sept 16: Levanto
Sept 17: Travel Stresa (on Lago Maggiore north of Milano)
Sept 18: Stresa
Sept 19: Fly to Paris from Milan airport
Sept 20: Paris
Sept 21: Paris
Sept 22: Paris
Sept 23: Paris
Sept 24: Depart

I'm suggesting Pisa as a base for Tuscany because it is (a) cheaper than Firenze or Siena (b) it is close to nice sand beaches if that's how they want to spend their afternoons (c) it easy to day trip to other places from Pisa and (4) it's a college town with lots of young people and some nightlife.

I'm also suggesting two nights on Lago Maggiore and a flight from Malpensa airport to Paris because the train trip is so long.

Overall, if you really want to save money, cut some days out of this trip. If your original itinerary reflects how much time they want to spend at the beach, it's silly to spend that kind of money sending them to Europe, no matter how well they did in school.

Since they will be able to get some beach time in the Cinque Terre area, I too would skip Positano/Capri and concentrate on areas north of Rome, perhaps adding the extra days to Rome or including Florence/Tuscany in the itinerary.

On a different note, we stayed at the Hotel du Champ de Mars in November and loved it. Its a small hotel, with small rooms, but the rooms were lovely, we had a priceless view of the top of the Eiffel Tower from our window, and we were in a great location. There were several metro stops nearby, lots of great restaurants and cafes abound, and we were within a short walk of the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. We wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

Hotel Julia gets lots of good recs on this board. If you do a search for MaureenB, you will see that she recently stayed there and has given it rave reviews.

Tracy

Peanut - S.Margherita-CT is easiest by train:
www.trenitalia.com

For CT-Paris try:

www.easyjet.com
(Pisa-Paris)

www.condor.com
(Genoa-Paris)

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks to each of you. Very good feedback. Now you've got me thinking which is exactly what I was looking for. Keep the comments coming...please. THANK YOU

For budget travel, don't forget the youth hostels. Florence has a particularly nice one in an old mansion/castle. Besides being budget, they are frequented by young people just like your son and his girlfriend. They will meet lots of interesting, compatible fun people.

Romelle

Thanks for the plug, Tracy-- my daughter and I did like the Domus Julia for its location, price, roomy accomodations, new-ish bathroom, and breakfast buffet.
We also stayed at the Nuova Riviera in Santa Margherita Ligure. It is a very good deal, and charming. I think we paid 98.5EUR for a twin/double room. Book directly with them and I think you save a bit more.
I posted detailed trip reports for each of the cities we visited, including reviews of some good mid-priced restaurants.
The Daphne Trevi doesn't seem to have its own website, but I found it through many rental agencies. It was my first choice for Rome, but they would only take reservations for 4 nights or more.
Your gift to your son is really generous. Lucky son!

Hi Peanut,

What a nice thing to do for your son and his girlfriend -- lucky girl if you end up being her parent-in-law!

My advice is on the how to get from Rome to Paris. I researched this for an upcoming trip I'm doing myself. It's either flying or train, obviously.

For flying, I would suggest checking out one-way flights on Alitali and AirFrance (I wouldn't fly one of the budget airlines bc they fly out of farther airports and I'm sure you want to make the trip as seamless as possible). You could save about $75 per ticket, though, so it all depends on whether that's worth it.

To avoid having to deal with flights and airport security, why not take advantage of Europe's great train system? Do a night train from Rome to Paris (check it out Rail Europe). I think your son and his girlfriend would get a kick out of the adventure-like atmosphere of taking a night train and they dont have to worry about getting out to an airport. Check out the itinerary and prices on www.raileurope.com. The cost is about $250 per person, I think, which is pricey but you do save the hotel room cost for that night. Also, the $250 per person is if you want to reserve a private, 2-bed sleeper compartment for them. You can do it cheaper with a couchette seat or 6-person sleeper (though not everyone is comfortable with that, even though I hear they're safe). Oh, by the way, the train ride is 14 and half hours, I believe. Sounds like a lot but a good chunk of it is spent sleeping so it's not that long, plus there's a dining car to pass the time in the earlier chunk of the ride.

Whatever you decide, though, they will have an incredible time! Happy planning!

Hi P,

>... recommendations for hotels (trying to keep it at or below $100.00)...<

For two? In Sept? That's still high season on the AC, Rome and Paris.

We very much enjoyed our stay in Praiano at the Le Sirene. They have a special for 80E/night dbl.

www.lesirene.com.