We are going to Florence, Venice and Rome for our 10-day honeymoon. Can anyone recommend mid-priced hotels in any of these cities? We are not planning on renting a car and so we would like to stay within walking distance of most attractions. Thank you so much for your help!

"We" should define "mid-priced" for you based on our perceptions of what the median is going for these days (but even that is hard, not knowing what season you are going) - - or you should define for "us" what you mean by mid-priced (specifically, what can you reasonably afford).

Make the range as specific as possible(either total 10 day lodging budget, or price per night for each city, if you have looked in to it that much) - - because when people say, for example, they are looking for 150-250 per night (and do you mean USD? or euro?), they always seem to be disappointed when someone suggests a place that is 249, or 260 - - what they really meant was 150-175, but they were afraid to say it.

Someone just reported here today getting a room at del Senato (in Rome) for example at the rate of 168 per night _in June_! Normally, I would have said that it was at the upper end of mid-priced, but it's a great bargain, if its in your price range, and at the time you are seeking.

Answers here will try to meet your real needs - - and will require a little bit more info from you. Otherwise it's still too much of a crap shoot to guess if places "we" know about are a meaningful match for you.

Browse www.venere.com to get an idea of what some places cost; it's an excellent resource for window shopping, checking availability for specific dates, booking actual reservations (and equally importantly, canceling them if necessary). 100% reliable in my experience of using them 15-20 times.

Whatever your needs, this forum will be able to help...

And as important as anything, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex,

You are correct - I should have provided more information. We will be in Italy in August. We would like to start our trip in Florence for 3 nights, Venice for 2 nights and Rome for 5 nights. Since it looks like Venice will cost the most, we figured we'd nail that down first. Overall, we would like to spend an average of EUR140 per night for the entire trip. Is there a particular hotel in each city that you can recommend to a first timer? Many thanks,

First- - partly to stay in budget, and partly to enhance your trip, I would recommend subtract one night from Florence and one night from Rome and "average down" by staying in some little town somewhere - - I could suggest any number. You can find rooms for 80 euro for two nights, and that could help with your overall 1400 euro figure (i.e., allows for 8 nights at 155 and 2 nights at 80). And you will get to an entirely different side of Italy by getting out of its "big three" cities.

I cannot claim to an expert on hotels in this price range - - so my advice will be general. Even what I know is colored by recollections from my last trip to Italy, when hotels were cheaper than are now.

In Rome, the Centro Storico is worth spending an extra 25% in my opinion if you are weighing two hotels of similar features. In other words, I would rather stay in a 160 euro hotel IN the Centro Storico than a 120 hotel NOT in it, even if they were identical.

Florence is much more compact, and you will not need to be as critically picky about any the location of hundreds of "center" hotels. And they will run slightly cheaper than Rome or Venice.

In Venice, resist the temptation to stay in (actually "on the&quot Lido, It will cost you 160 euro to be IN Venice when you could find similar quality in Lido for 80. But you will miss a key magic time in Venice; the best two hours of the day are the first hour immediately you wake up (go out and walk, even before you have breakfast) and the last hour before you go to bed. (Well, of course, on your honeymoon, you may have some good hours between those two!)

Some lower cost towns that come to mind are Trento (north of Veropna, and this, slightly out of your way, but I like it a lot) or Orvieto, liked by a lot of people, and directly ON your way. BVut there are many other choices scattered around Tuscany or the Veneto, just to name two regions.

You really do need to look through venere.com - - and take a look at www,eurocheapo.com as well (it links directly to venere.com for booking or availability checking, for what its worth).

In venice last may and stayed at Cà della Corte, Dorsoduro, 3560 - Corte Surian. It's a small B&B, very nice and situated off the beaten path. We walked everywhere.

In Venice, we like the Hotel Ala. It is about 10 minutes walk from San Marco but in a very quiet area on a small square. It is on a small canal and many rooms overlook the canal. The service is great and it is 1 minute from a vaporetto stop.

we loved Locanda San Barnaba in dorsoduro. It's website is http://www.italian-shop.com/LSB/default.html
It's in a great location, not too expensive, the reviews on tripadvisor are very good as well. It was our honeymoon, and the hotel was perfect for it. We got it from a new york times review (maybe 3 years ago, if you check their archives)

We're taking our trip late April, early May, 2004. Here's what we found:

In Rome, we've got a reservation at Hotel Smeraldo www.smeraldoroma.com for E120/night with our 2004 Rick Steves guidebook.

In Venice we're staying at Gli Angeli, based on rec. from this forum. It's only E89/night and is near San Marco. It's a B&B. www.realvenice.it/english/gliangeli/index.htm

We'll be in Tuscany/Florence for 5 nights so we're basing just outside of San G. at a B&B for E60/night.

That all being said, your budget is do-able. As rex suggested, check out www.venere.com to get an idea of what's out there. Then when you find something that looks good, check out the reviews there, here and at www.tripadvisor.com. Good Luck and Happy Honeymoon!

~Allison

Hi mb,

We stayed at the B&B Peterson in Florence for about 60E/nite and found it to be quite acceptable.

See my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

mbriones,

I am going on trip to Italy this August too. Here is what we are planning for Venice, Florence, and Rome:

Venice: Locanda Orseolo at 150 Euro per night with breakfast and a/c http://www.locandaorseolo.com/uk/rooms.htm

or

Pensione Guerrato at 110 Euro per night with breakfast and a/c http://web.tiscali.it/pensioneguerrato/homepenen.html

Florence: Tourist House Ghiberti at 120 Euro per night with breakfast and a/c http://www.touristhouseghiberti.com/

Rome: Relais Banchi Vecchi at 130 Euro per night with breakfast and a/c
http://www.banchivecchi115.com/

All of these have good to great reviews and would pretty much appear to be in your budget. Have a great trip!
SRS

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ttt

I will be going on my own honeymoon in late april/early may and staying in those same cities.

In Venice we are staying at Locanda Ca'Amadi right near the Rialto area. Great reviews on tripadvisor.com, rooms look very pretty on their site. We have a double room with view on the canal for 150 Euro a night inclusive of breakfast.
http://www.caamadi.com

Our next stop is Florence where we are staying at the Tourist House Ghiberti. Again, a very well reviewed small hotel that looks very charming. At this one we have a double room at 138 euro per night (the room was more, but you get a discount if you plan to pay cash.)
http://www.touristhouseghiberti.com

Finally in Rome, we really wanted to splurge on the del Senato but with the rising Euro, we had to leave it for a future trip. We found a small bed and breakfast which has recently gotten good reviews on here AND is in the same Piazza Navona/Pantheon area. We will be staying at Relais Banchi Vecchi for 130 Euro a night!
http://www.115banchivecchi.com

Hope this info helps ya!!!

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