Hello-
I need serious help in planning a last minute trip to Florence Italy in September 2004. My schedule just opened up for a week or so but i need to book soon to lock in the days. I need round trip for 3 adults from Toledo, Cleveland, or Detroit and two rooms/ 2 bathrooms in Florence for a week. Would like to spend about 1000.00 ea. Would it be possible and where should I start my search. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Well, that budget is a little tough if you are including airfare and hotel in your $1000. Airfare usually starts to go down in late summer and they really roll out some good deals starting in September. My advice: wait it out until you see that deal. My suggestion on hotels is to consult the lower budget end in Fodor's or Rick Steves. I swear by Rick Steves for budget travel. Frommer's on $75/day is a good resource, too. Explore all frequent flier benefits any of your traveling companions have also. Good luck!

I agree that $1,000 each for air, accomodations, meals, etc. is a really low figure for a week long stay.

Another money saving option might be to look into apartments, rather than hotels. We found renting an apartment in Florence to be less expensive than a lot of the hotels we researched.

I would start out by looking for good airfare. Price fares on all the usual sites (expedia, orbitz, airline sites,etc.). Maybe people on this board can direct you to the best discount flight sources and consolidators. Sometimes you're lucky and can find a good fare on expedia. If you have a little flexibility, try coming and going on different days of the week and different weeks. From there you can figure out your hotel budget. It does seem like a tight budget. You may want to consider a triple room instead of 2 rooms (twin and single I guess).

Like others have said, it would be very difficult if $1000 includes airfare. There are no direct flights from the US to Florence, so you are looking at at least 1 or even 2 stops and your choice of carriers that will fly the whole route is limited. Plane ticket prices may be lower if you can go towards the end of the month.

Another option is to fly to London, then take a budget airline from London to Florence. But that will "eat up" almost 2 days out of your 1 week vacation.

It just seems like it is quite a trek to go all the way from OH to Florence just for a week and with your budget.