travellerwannabe

Hi guys,
My boyfriend and I are going for a 3 week trip to italy next spring (end of may, beg of jun). How far ahead do you book appartments and flights? what's too early? what's too late. We're particularly concerned about appartments. We were told that it's too early for flights.

suze

It depends on how determined you are to stay in a particular place. I'm just guessing apartments have more flexibility?

For instance, if you're talking Pensione La Calcina in Venice I would contact them now because it is an extremely popular hotel which books well in advance.

Why is it too early to book flights if you find good prices for airfare?

Patrick

We'll be in Italy for about three weeks next June. We have our two apartments and our one hotel already booked. We have our flights as well -- but those are FF flights.

travellerwannabe

thanks for the info Suze. We haven't done much research yet so haven't heard of Pensione La calcina but i'll look it up for sure.
It's too early to book flights because the charters haven't even posted their prices for next may yet. All the regular airlines seem to be very expensive right now for that time but it might drop as we get into the new year (at least according to the travel agent)

ira

Hi T,

Book hotels as soon as you can.

Airfares will probably drop about $100 pp around Jan-Feb.

travellerwannabe

ok now i'm feeling the pressure
Patrick which service did you use to book your appartments? We're thinking Rome, Venice, Tuscany and Sicily.

travellerwannabe

Thanks Ira,
Do you know if it would be more expensive to fly into one city and leave from another (rome and Venice) or are they close enough that it's ok to backtrack?

suze

Rome and Venice are approx. a 5 hour train ride apart from each other.

It usually does not cost much if any more to fly into one city and out of another and they you save time and money by avoiding backtracking on the ground. The term for this kind of ticket is "open jaws" or sometimes you need to look under the multi-city option if booking on a website. If you are using a travel agent they certainly should be familiar with the concept.

I mentioned La Calcina because there are a couple of hotels that are extremely popular with posters here on Fodors and with excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. These often are booked solid if you wait too close to your trip or are going at peak season.

suze

I don't know if this is different for flying on a charter because I've always gone on a regular ticket booked directly with the airline.

nancy

Definitely book your apartment now if you've found one you like in Rome. Last year the one I wanted was available in December but gone in January for a May 6 date.

Initaly.com is a very good site for checking out rentals and they respond quickly to your queries.

donnapg

We are going in April 06 and my hotels and apartment are all booked.

If you know where you want to stay and they are accepting reservations why wait?

Have a great time!

viaggio_sempre

We are not going until June, and are already booked into 3 places. After reading this thread, I'm going to e-mail the other two places right now! They are both places that I want to stay in.

On an aside, when I communicated with some places this last summer, they wanted me to wait until November. But, they are taking my reservations now.

viaggio_sempre

Whew, my other two requests are sent -- that means I might get a response. With good fortune, it will be tomorrow. It could take longer.