Hello fodorites!
Can you share your favorite place to stay 3 nights in Venice? Not just the neighborhood, but a specific hotel or apt. that is historic rather than leaning modern (ok, except the bathroom haha). I've been there, he hasn't. Day trip to Murano. Hoping to spend a max. of $300-350 for a total around or less than $1000.

First stop is Bologna. We are planning a 5 night stay to use as a base for exploring Bologna, but also day trips to Parma and Modena. Best area that's not so near the train station, but close enough to go back and forth. Same kind of idea as for Venice, although for 5 nights we'd lean towards an airbnb/vrbo.

Additionally, in a hotel, what's your take on breakfast? Take it or venture out to the local spot?

Thanks for your help so far in planning our trip this October. There are so many options of places to stay that I'm getting overwhelmed TBH.

I just looked up the hotel where we stayed in Bologna but, unfortunately, the prices have really shot up. You might check booking.com's site. I find their reviews pretty accurate and you can look at their map to help you figure out what location would work well. If you find a hotel, I would also check the hotel's website to compare prices and room availability.

We tend to like to have breakfast at the hotel, particularly if it is rated as a very good breakfast. We then return to our room afterwards to finish getting ready and grab our things before heading out. My husband wakes up hungrier than I do so he sometimes showers first and heads to breakfast and I join him a bit later.

Thanks for taking the time to look it up!
Does anyone know of an Italian travel site, like booking.com?

In Bologna I very much enjoyed my stay at the Hotel Corona d’Oro, a recommendation from Leely2. It looks like availability in October is limited. Should a room be available at your price point, know that the rooms vary in their size/views e.g. charming pedestrian street vs wall.

You can use booking.com to book hotels in Italy. I have booked hotels in London, Spain and Australia using that website. I can see I made a typo in my comment above. I meant to say you can look up hotels on booking.com.

We stayed in this Bologna Vrbo apartment a few years ago and really liked it. Excellent central location and we did walk to the train station although it is a bit far.

https://t.vrbo.io/UxDGMjkJrMb

We also stayed at Hotel Corona d’Oro in 2022 and liked it very much. Considered staying there again last year but the prices had doubled so stayed at Hotel Pedrini instead. It was fine but a bit out of the center.

In Venice we’ve stayed at the Hotel Galleria in Dorsoduro, Hotel Serenissima near San Marco, and Ca’ Amari near Rialto. We liked them all.

Generally Italian hotel breakfasts are better value than cafe deals. I don't stay in international hotels so I cannot advise if this is your target.
booking.com is good, the alternatives I also use are
google maps, enter the name of one of what you are looking for in the search tool. "albergo" "gite" (yes it is French but seems to work), "B&B" (yes English but ...) "hotel"
agriturismo.it (less useful in town but an interesting alternative)
https://www.bedandbreakfast.eu/

the benefit of using non booking.com sites is you often get the chance to pay the base price not the base price plus the booking.com premium

When we were in Venice two years ago, we stayed at Palazzo Vitturi, which is on Campo Santa Maria Formosa. I really like that area, because it's quite close to the well-known sites, but the Campo itself is somewhat quiet, has some cafes, and it seems like people who are locals also congregate there. The hotel may be already booked for your dates, or above your price point, but if so, you could look at other hotels in that area.

About hotel breakfast, it depends on what you want. My spouse and I don't eat big breakfasts, so we usually prefer to find a local cafe and have a caffe latte or cappuccino and a croissant (called a cornetto in Italy), while people-watching. If you want more food than that, especially a cooked breakfast like eggs, then you may want to pay for breakfast at your hotel.

Venice is our favorite city. We usually stay a minimum of a week in Venice and rent an apartment. We love to shop at the Rialto fish and veggie market, take our purchases home and fix dinner. We have had success with veniceapartments.com. They may have shorter term rentals in your range. Would also second The Hotel Galleria at the foot of the Accademia Bridge, though I imagine their prices have gone up since we stayed there more than 20 years ago. Good luck in your planning.

There are lots of trade fairs in Bologna, and hotel prices can more than double during a trade fair. I once spent several days there with a friend, and she changed her travel dates to avoid a fair.

Via dell'indipendenza is the main street that leads from the train station to the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna. You can easily walk between the two, but a hotel halfway would be very advantageous. I would look for one on a side street off Via dell'Indipendenza, because the street itself is a bit busy, but with great shopping.

The hotel my friend and I stayed in also managed apartments in an adjacent palazzo. However this hotel is no longer in business. I see Indipendenza Luxury Apartments on booking.com in approximately the same location. There was also a stop for the airport shuttle along Via dell'Indipendenza, which was convenient for my friend.

I live in Italy, and can assure you that booking.com is widely used here. It may be the most widely used travel site in Italy.

We will be visiting Venice and Bologna for the first time in May 2025 so I obviously don't speak from firsthand experience. In Venice, we have reservations at Hotel agli Alboretti in Dorsoduro. Someone on this forum recommended it to me. I think it was aliced. I made our reservations directly with the hotel because their prices were better than booking.com. Sometimes hotel prices are better; sometimes booking.com prices are better. And I always check the cancellation policy which is very important to us.

In Bologna we are staying at Casa Bertagni, which gets excellent reviews on booking.com and tripadvisor.

ITINERARY shaping up!!
I checked every single recommendation offered, thank you so much! Plus, the last place I stayed in Venice in 2006, Hotel Concordia. Wow, reallity! I think we're staying at Ca' Angeli, which has a nice location, available breakfast and period furnishings, and a reasonable price point near 250EU. Now, on to Bologna, Parma and Modena lodging, lol.
Itinerary:
2 nights/1.5 days Bologna:
Arrive Bologna evening for dinner. Sleep.
Bologna/Bologna
Bologna/ train, move to Venice
4 nights/ 3.5 days Venice
arrive Venice late afternoon
Venice/Venice x2
Murano/Burano (I had a rush through last visit), stay in Venice
2 night/2 days Lake Garda:
early train Venice to Verona/- rent car in Verona/stay in Lake Garda (probably Sirmione):
Lake Garda/Lake Garda
Then, 3.5 days left before we have to be on the Amalfi coast...
drive to Parma/dump car
Parma, train (or keep car and dump in -) to Modena
Modena
Bologna, leave for Amalfi. It's a long 4+ hour train, but ah well.

Any helpful comments?
2 nights in EITHER Parma or Modena? One night in the other. Your preference?
Thanks as always!

I stayed in this wonderful apartment in Parma! Parking garage is very close.

https://www.vrbo.com/10198323ha?unit...rredirect=true