Am looking for a really nice hotel in Florence and Rome. Want to be central, want a really nice place but dont want to spend a lot. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

<<dont want to spend a lot.>>

Please define. Under 600 euro a night? Under 300? Under 100?

It makes all the difference in the world when it comes to giving you advice.

In Rome, central and "really nice" by my standards is typicallly about 400 euro per night. You may want less central or less nice and spend less. It's worth your while to browse through www.venere.com

Or www.eurocheapo.com

In Florence, central applies to a much larger fraction of hotels.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi Lorena, it's true, you need to specifically state what your budget is so that you can get some hotel suggestions.

I wouldn't recommend the hotels we stayed at while in Rome, but in Florence we stayed at the Hotel Centrale. The price was very reasonable and it was in a great location, very close to both the train station and the duomo. Rooms were fairly basic but very large, and the breakfast buffet was pretty good.

Here is the website if you are interested:
http://www.hotelcentralefirenze.it/s.../mappa_eng.php

Good luck!
Tracy

Lorena, a very central nice 4-star hotel in Rome is the Hotel Nazionale a Montecitorio on Piazza Montecitorio. www.nazionaleroma.it We just returned from a fantastic first family trip to Italy. Our family booked 2 rooms at this hotel for 4 nights.

The price I paid for our double room was 238 euros (for June). It was a very nice room, with a big bed (letto matrimoniale) and a sofa, a good size bathroom, and we had a view from our window of the relatively quiet Piazza Montecitorio. Hotel is next to the national parliament.

Breakfast at the hotel is good and filling...includes cold-cuts and cheeses, fruit, cereal, breads, pastries, cappuccino, etc.

From this hotel you can walk everywhere! We walked to the Pantheon 3 times, to the Trevi fountain, the Piazza navona, the spanish steps, the Roman forum, the colosseum. Took a public bus to the Vatican Museums and St. peter's.

I would definitely stay here again. Also lots of good restaurants within walking distance of hotel.

I booked our rooms directly with the hotel on the hotel's web-site. I had to try a multiple number of times until finally rooms became available.

My recommendation for Rome would be Residenza Cellini - http://www.residenzacellini.it/eindex.htm

Beautiful small, quiet hotel. Excellent service, great breakfast, well located (1 minute from Piazza della Republica). We stayed there 4 weeks ago and stayed in a Junior Suite (which has a jacuzzi bath!) for 185 Euro (cash price - it's 225 for Credit Card). We'll definitely go back.

hi plates. thanks for the info. the hotel looks beautiful. i sent them an email.

Good morning, Lorena
Normally have stayed at the De La Ville and the Internazionale both on the Sistina at the top of the Spanish Steps, however last November, decided to stay at the bottom and went to the
HOTEL PIAZZA DI SPAGNA, (www.hotelpiazzadispagne.it) which is about a block from the bottom of the Spanish Steps, a three star hotel with
17 rooms, plenty of ristorantes and shops around as it is in the Corso/Condotti area....
In Florence we have used the Continental and the Anglo-American, both close to the Ponte Vecchio. Last November we picked HOTEL TORRE GUELFA, which is a three star hotel with 21 rooms and located about a half block from the north end of the Ponte Vecchio. Had a special room no. 15 which has its own private terrace with a pretty good view of Florence again, plenty of shops and ristorantes around.Have a good trip, Ri.chard of LaGrange Park, IL>.