Prill1717

Hi everyone, I am new here. My fiance and I are just beginning to plan our honeymoon to Italy for August. We will be there for 11 days (including travel time) and would like to go to Rome, Florence, and Venice.
So far, I have only checked out hotels in Rome and like Hotel Alessandrino and Grand Hotel Olympic. We are both Catholic and very much into art, so spending time at the Vatican and the Vatican museums is a must!! I would not like to spend more than $150 USD a night in hotels and would like to stay within a mile from the Vatican. Can anyone give us some hotels in that price range for Florence and Venice? We will most likely do 4 1/2 days in Rome, 3 1/2 days in Florence and 2 in Venice. Thanks for your help!!

Jocelyn_P

A good way to start is to go up to the search box at the top of the page and type in "Venice hotels," "Rome Vatican hotels," or "Florence hotels." You should find lots of great info. In addition, at the very top of the page, click on "hotels," then go to your desired city, and you'll get reviews from posters here, along with price ranges and (I think) location. Tripadvisor.com is also very helpful. Good luck!

e_roz

Have you researched much yet? August is the worst time to go to Italy, all the Italians take their own vacations then and things are closed or packed.
For FLorence, check out Hotel Dali.
Venice, Hotel Galleria (a large room).

nytraveler

Another thing to keep in mind is that Italy is hot in August and very few things are air conditioned. If this is important to you check to see if any hotels you are interested in have air conditioning - and if it can be controlled by the guest. We stayed in a 4* hotel in Venice some years ago that was air conditined during the day (who cares) but not in the evening - making it very hard to sleep.

Judy_in_Calgary

Hi Prill1717, I'm new here too, and am just learning how to post a message.

Here are a couple of great websites on Rome's churches, which are fabulous repositories of art. Chris Nyborg's website is at http://roma.katolsk.no/index.htm and Bill Thayer's website is at http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/e...ches/home.html

At Chris Nyborg's site you can sort the churches' names by neighbourhood so that, if you want to know which churches are close to, say, the Pantheon, you easily can find that out.

Nyborg also provides information on the catacombs, which possibly may be of interest to you.

Hope you have a great trip.

dthntny

Hello Prill1717. My wife and I took our honeymoon in Italy last year in August and had a wonderful time. We visited Rome, Florence and Venice. The hotels we went for were a bit higher priced then what you are looking for, so I can't help you there. I wanted to reasure you about the time of year you are going. I would not listen to anyone who says that August is the worst time to go to Italy. We found it to be the best time and would go back again and again in August. Keep in mind that it is hot. Last year was a record heat wave and it was not unbearable if you don't mind it hot. You do want to make sure you hotels have air conditioning. That is the only place you really need it. As far as everything being closed? We had no problems finding restaurants at all and all the major tourist attractions are open. The only time you may want to watch out for is August 14th (I think) which is a major Italian holiday. So you may find many things closed on or around the weekend of that date. We went at the end of August. The only things that we saw that were closed were small private owned shops and family or private art galeries. If you were planning on shopping for very expensive things or $1000.00 paintings then you may have problems. All the attraction or museams that we wanted to go to were open. The people that write that everything is closed, I don't know what they are talking about. I don't think they have ever been to Italy in August. The best thing is you will not find the crowds that are in Italy in the beginning of the summer. We had no wait getting into St. Peters at 10:00 in the morning. Venice was relaxing. I could walk around freely in St. Marks square without bumping into people. It was great. My wife had been to Italy before in July and said that Venice and Rome we so crowded you couldn't move in St. Marks square (felt like a sardine) and had hour long lines in all the cities.
The weather was great. We were there for two weeks and it only rained one night. I know that its unpredictable but August is a dry time in Italy.
Enjoy your honeymoon knowing that you are picking a wonderful time of year to go. Italy with bright sun, blue skies and warm nights. What could be better?
One thing I would advise is arranging a private tour of the Vatican. There is so much to see and do that its best to be with someone that knows the layout and some knowledge of the works inside. We had a private tour arranged through our hotel so I can not give much info on how to set it up, but there is alot of good info about tour companies on this site if you do a search.

amcc

hi, we also had a wonderful honeymoon in Italy two years ago. We are Catholic as well and requested a newlywed audience with the Pope which was granted. Try requesting it of Rosanna Shedid, Parish Secretary, at www.santasusanna.org It was a beautiful experience, one of the most meaningful ways, I felt, to get my marriage off to a good start.
In Venice, we stayed at Locanda San Barnaba which was in Dorsoduro, easy to reach from a vaporetto, and a great location for walking. Their website is:
http://www.italian-shop.com/LSB/default.html
There are numerous places to eat close by.
Have a great honeymoon. Italy was wonderful, a place with both action and peace, romance, and excitement.