We will be traveling in Italy in mid June. What are your opinions on finding hotels. Will it be hard to just stop at the end of the day and find one with vacancy. Are reservations a must?

By mid June there will be a lot of competition for hotels. Colleges are out and in a lot of the US schools are out so both families and teachers will be traveling. If you go without reservations you will have to spend a lot of time looking for places to stay, with the possibility of very limited choices and higher prices.

We were hoping to just wander through Italy....you know, not knowing where we would be at the end of each day. Guess thats not advisable. Does anyone just wander?

Just wandering is a great chioce if you have a lot of time. I have a fried who travels this way - but she goes for 8 to 10 weeks at a time. When she finds a place she likes she stops and stays for a week or so. But the first day is usually given up to finding a place to stay. and she has ended up in some very interesting places in towns that were booked up by some meeting or festival or? (A 4th floor walk up room with shared bath down the hall in a pension above a live sex show club in Berlin. A room in someone's house in the suburbs in Budapest. A room in a pension 25 minutes from the center in Florence.) So, if you have plenty of time and are very flexible (or have unlimited funds - there' s almost always room at the most expensive hotels) its a great way to go.

Well, I don't fit any of those! So, I guess I need to figure out how long it will take to get from one place to the next. It is just hard because it takes much long there to get from point A to point B then it does here in California. BUT, I better do it and hope it all works out. Reminds me of one day on our last trip there...I thought it would only take us 3 hours to get to this town and it ended up taking 6..yikes!

I guess it depends on what type of hotels you want. June is high season so if you want a pretty nice hotel good luck finding a room on the spot. I always like to make reservations but that is only me.

Just wandering is fine in the off-season. Did it myself in France in October, and even after 25+ years of traveling there ended up in a couple of spots I regretted.

I would never do it in June - unless I didn't mind spending hours finding a decent place and possibly sleeping in the rental car.

Get Michelin Red Guide to Hotels Italy so you know where to find a Hotel. If all else fails go to the train station in town. Here the hotels are always getting last minute drop ins and often have rooms. Not pretty but it works.

debbeymer, I plan my trips, with hotels, rental cars, etc. but then I also have alternates, in case the plane gets late, or we enjoy so much one town, that we want to stretch it. Then, we call the hotel we had made the reservation, generally they ask for 24 hours for cancellation, but during the peak season, when there is such demand, filling the room is not a problem. Prior to the trip I email thenm, fax or call to make sure about the policy, etc. Check always if they have not charged into your credit card afterwards, and make sure the card company has a good dispute policy. I follow my plan, even for an off season trip, because this way I know where we are heading to at the end of the day. And it seems you are not travelling alone, and if you are in two, or in a group, probably finding rooms is a lot harder. I generally start planning my trips about 6 months prior, then slowly build up the itinerary, then reserve the hotels, buy the airline ticket, buy the train tickets, or reserve a rental car, then look for some interesting restaurants or shows. My trip planning might seem too organized, but it helps for a relaxing vacation, with very many happy surprises along the way. My husband's travel planning ideas are the opposite of mine, but now he has very much agreed to mine. I set the itinerary, and the reservations, and he plans the daily activities. And our travels are getting more and more enjoyable and rewarding.
I don;t know if I answered the question, so here it is RESERVATION A MUST,but always check for CANCELLATION POLICY.

There is no rule that says you must have reservations to travel Italy in summer! People have different styles that fit them. What I feel you need to understand though is the trade off... that if you want to be able to "wander" you may also have to spend considerable time seaching out a place to sleep at certain destinations, or stay in a hotel much more expensive or (at the other end) less than what you would usually like. What I'm trying to say is that if you have lots of time, patience, and flexibility and are a roll-with-the-punches kind of person, sure it could work.

Thank you, everyone! I will probably go ahead and make reservations. Someday when we go there I want to have more time to explore each town. I never get enough time. I started out with 12 towns I wanted to at least stroll through on the way to and from Rome but we only have 8 days and knew that would be impossible. I think I am down to four and I will bet I don't have enough time for even that!

Well, might sound crazy, but we always go with no reservations, and always go in June. Even when we were traveling with the 2 teens.
We do reserve the first night or two, in the major city that we fly into, then pick up the car and wander. Can't say we have had that many problems, except one time, couldnt find a room on the Cinque Terre in late June.
We sometimes call the day before, to a hotel in a town we will end up in for the next night.
I guess it sounds crazy, but we do like to wander. Now...we always have our own car and not pulling luggage around from a train station. That would be a pain.
Let me know if you have other questions.
EK

I think that for (many? some? of) us who plan substantially where we will stay, there is the implication that we lack spontaneity, or the curiosity to wander - - and I think that in general, this is exactly the opposite.

We "wander" for weeks and weeks, and even months BEFORE we go - - making the trip last from December to June. We are mentally "there" traipsing along one mental itinerary or another, investigating what are the pensions in this little town, or what are the pros and cons of staying in this or that sestriere, or quartier or barrio - - in any given larger city. The internet... and the "communities".. globally and here on Fodors of fellow travelers - - allow us to "drop in" on a dozen or more places in scattered countries in one evening, without giving up time from work, burning up gasoline or experiencing (so much of) the frustration of the one-and-only-daughter-of-the-owner-who-speaks-English not being there when we "pull up".

It DOES mean that if a place is "invisible" to the internet - - or the hundreds of fellow Fodorites ears, eyes and recollections - - then we are not going to find it "here". And we DO look out, a lot, I submit... for those places when we are THERE.

But by planning ahead, we do not waste that most precious commodity of all - - time THERE - - figuring out where we will sleep for the night. We get better deals in places we might not have found, if we had not driven around one more bend - - and we have all the more time to seek out what we could NOT find in cyberspace.

After all, "we" know we are always going back... and we can stay there on the next trip!

Best wishes,

Rex

Respectfully Rex, that all sounds nice but searching on the internet is not the same as freewheeling on your own after you arrive in a place.

I find it exhilerating and liberating when I don't have reservations with cancellation rules, etc. HOw many times I have been in a wonderful place and have to move on to meet a reservation? Too many for my tastes.

It is not hard or time consuming to have a good hotel book with you and at a lunch thumb through the book and call ahead for the next day, it takes maybe a half hour of your time.

Also it may get you to a place that is less touristed and this way you find some real gems. I have done this all over Italy, France and Germany with good results. Not in the high season, mind you, but June should be fine.

Can anyone report negotiating a great rate in person that was not available online? I'm sure there are some great places not on the Internet, but these probably aren't going to be easy to find just by wandering either.

I think the main issue is whether you have enough budgetary flexibility to have to accept a higher rate than you planned. There will always be something available somewhere at some price.

I think that the answer to this might also depend on how comfortable and familiar you are with the area. If my family were to drive down to California, we would not make reservations along the way, because we know there are a zillion options along I-5 and we can stop whenever we are tired of driving and we know what cities are probably not that great to stop in. But I can't see having the same comfort level in a country you aren't already familiar with.

I traveled through Italy the last week of June and the first 2 weeks of July 2002. We had reservations for the first week, but then went through Umbria and Tuscany without reservations. We (3 of us) had a great time. We stayed in wonderful hotels in Lucca, Orvieto, Todi, Perugia, and Chaniti by just arriving. We did not spend more than 30 minutes finding a place. We did make reservations for the CT before we went and for the night before we flew home. I have also done this in Greece. Last June we arrived in Paris with my brother-inlaw and his wife. I thought I made it clear we needed 2 rooms for our stay. The hotel had only one room, but they called around and found a hotel on the same street that had vacancies and all was well. Try it. What ever you do, it will be a great vacation.

As already mentioned car vs. train makes a difference. Along those lines... I'll throw in solo vs. 2 or more people together. Since I'm often traveling alone, I really prefer to do my "wandering" with my little suitcase already safely stowed in the hotel I know I'll be going to later that day or night.