robin8642

Hi!
My husband and I are traveling to Italy in June 2010. We are flying in and out of Florence and have booked a place to stay in Florence for the latter 5 nights. (with one day in Florence devoted to a possible day trip to Siena). We have 6 nights on the front end of our trip that we'd like to get feedback on. We are interested in spending 3 nights in the wine country and then 3 nights in the Cinque Terre (or similar coastal setting).

I have been reading forums and looking at travel books and feel overwhelmed. We are going to try to avoid a car rental and take the train/bus (it seems that some suggest that is more cost efficient...) The main thing is we are on a tight budget.

Suggestions for where to visit and where to stay in the wine country or in the cinque terre for two young adults who are on a budget who don't mind roughing it a little? (I do require cleanliness however...) It would be amazing to stay in places that have at least a refrigerator as we will be trying to save money on food- or in a place with a breakfast... I am not afraid to fill up on breakfast, eat gelatto for lunch, and then buy dinner!

The last time I was in Europe I stayed in youth hostels and ate baguettes out of my backpack... Just being there is amazing... please share your wisdom with us!

THANK YOU!!!!

KayF

I agree that taking the train/bus will probably be cheaper than hiring a car. With a car you have the hire cost of course but also petrol, parking, tolls to pay etc. With a train trip, you can both enjoy the scenery and if it's a long trip, settle back with a baguette and a cold drink or read a book. It's a nice way to travel. We did a 5 week trip to Italy a number of years ago and figured out that buying point to point tickets as we went along was cheaper than a train pass. Travel agents in Italy will book train tickets for you, they don't charge any extra and we found they spoke more English than the train station staff. I wrote down what we needed - from / to / date / time / one way etc and handed it over as my Italian is pretty basic.

We stayed at a cheap place in Manarola, http://www.casacapellini-5terre.it/ It was pretty basic, just a bed, bathroom and wonderful sea and village views from the balcony. One night we sat on the balcony and had bread, cheese, wine etc that we'd bought at the little supermarket in Manarola. If you want more info on this place, happy to help.

Orvieto might be of interest, we stayed there and really liked it. It's a beautiful hill top town in Umbria, about an hour by train north of Rome.

You may already know but in Italy, it's much cheaper to have a coffee standing at the bar, rather than sitting outside. The only trouble is, usually the sitting down part is what I crave after sightseeing for hours!

Good luck with the planning.
Kay

Grinisa

You won't need a car for Florence or the Cinque Terre, but touring the "wine country" really is best done by car, especially if you are thinking about the area around Montalcino. If you are thinking the Chianti area, you could base in one of the towns along the Chianti Road (S222) like Greve or Panzano. There is a bus that travels the road between Florence and Siena but service may not be as efficiant as you would like. I would look around for a good deal on a three day car rental. Get the car at the Florence airport and drive to the wine area. After three days, drop it in La Spezia and head to the Cinque Terre by train. Train from Cinque Terre to Florence.

LucieV

We are a not-so-young couple on a budget, who has been traveling on a budget since we were in our 20s.
DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED!!
Just do it...it can be done, without compromising, sacrificing or even fretting.

If you like train travel in Europe, you're set, imo. The one time we rented a car to travel in Europe is the one time we "sweated" stuff more.

In order to provide specific suggestions for you, it would help if you defined what you mean by "budget"...

jetsetj

my sister and i stayed at http://www.cinqueterre-laposada.com/...partments.html in 2006. aks for sole y luna apt.

I couldnt have loved it more. The scenery are what dreams are made of. Cant wait to go back in 2013.

robin8642

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions!!! KayF and jetsetj, I emailed both places to find out availability... thanks!

LucieV, as far as a budget, it's basically as cheap as possible. To give you an idea, this is how we've planned the trip so far.

airfare: we used ff miles and some finagling and got our round trip tix for $250 total.

florence: we booked a b&b with a fridge and comp airport tranport for 5 nights for $350.

that's as far as we've gotten...

transportation: i am 26 so i don't think i qualify for the youth price since the youth price is under 26, i think...

so far on the trenitalia website it looks like a train from florence to san gimignano (not hooked on sg, just looking for price estimate) is 5 euro per person one way.) sg to la spezia is ~ 15 euro per person one way. la spezia to florence is about 12 euro. i can't find exact info on the bus from florence to siena but i think it's ~8 euro one way.

so if we don't rent a car, we're looking at about 100 euro (or more) for transportation. i'll say $175 to be safe. does this sound right?

i think that brings us to ~$800...

i also realize that the lodging at the cinque terre and in tuscany will be more expensive than in florence...

basically, the less we spend on accommodations, the more we can do in the day. (some may not be in this school of thought, i just think we'll mainly be sleeping in the room so it doesn't have to be elegant) again, i can do with bare bones minimum, just not dirty. has anyone ever camped out in the cinque terre or tuscany? is camping out cheaper?

if we could choose, i'd like my husband to be able to rent a surfboard and surf in levanto and we would like to go on a wine tasting tour in tuscany.

ok- sorry if that was way too much information!! i am new at this... the fodors board said to be specific tho bc its posters love a challenge! well we are that challenge!!

dreamon

Don't think there is any surf at Levanto - just very gentle lapping waves as I recall. However, Levanto is bigger than the five Cinque Terre towns and may therefore have a greater range of accommodation - and it's only a hop, skip and jump by train to those towns and the coastal walking paths.

If you're visiting Florence and the Cinque Terre, then the obvious third place would be Lucca or one of the towns near Lucca.

The market in Florence would be a great place to buy picnic provisions and I know that at least one of the cafes there makes create baguettes.

adrienne

Hi,

I'm not young but I'm traveling on a budget too so I understand trying to cut back wherever possible and still have those small splurges.

You didn't specify which wines you're interested in but here's an inexpensive apartment where I stayed in Pienza a few years ago - they have several to choose from. It was lovely and within a town so you could walk to restaurants and to supermarkets. I'm not sure how good the public transportation is since we had a rental car.

http://www.intuscany.net/apartments/...conditions.htm

Almost every hotel in Italy has complimentary breakfast but in budget lodgings you'll find it's usually rolls and coffee/tea. If you're lucky you might get juice and yogurt. Without protein, breakfast won't hold you throughout the day but you're welcome to bring extras to the breakfast table - fruit, cheese, etc. that you buy yourself.

Some small cost cutting measures that can add up - buy a small bottle of water when you arrive and refill from the tap. Ask for tap water in restaurants rather than bottled water.

As someone posted above the cheapest way to eat out is to stand up at the bar - you'll see many Italians doing this. Many small places have sandwiches (panini) or slices of pizza/tartine that you can buy and stand up and eat. This is really a good way to eat an inexpensive lunch. Don't buy a beverage but drink from your own bottle of water (or fill one water bottle with some wine and find a wall or step to sit on and munch and drink). There aren't a lot of benches in Italy to sit on but you'll always find a place to sit.

If you do find it possible to rent a car it's less expensive to book and pay before you leave home, that way the rate is locked in. Often the 5 day rate is the least expensive.

If you go to San Gimignano go during the week. On weekends it's crowded. I found San Gimignano to be very over-rated. The church had wonderful frescoes but the main street to get there is full of tourist shops selling non-quality goods very expensively.

The smaller, lesser-known towns of Tuscany are wonderful with few tourists but it's best to have a car to visit them otherwise you'll spend the whole day getting to one town and back to home base.

kybourbon

Trains do not go to San Gimignano. If you looked at a train on Trenitalia, it only went as far as Poggibonsi where you would have to switch to a bus. It will probably be easier and cheaper to take the bus all the way (and faster). The bus from Florence to Siena was 6€ last year. For buses in Siena province of Tuscany:
http://www.sienamobilita.it/EN/index.html

There are other buses such as Lazzi that will go to some of the places you want and cover some of the other provinces in Tuscany.

The Florence Tourist Board was sponsoring a full-day wine tour on Thursdays for 15€ per person. There is no way of knowing if it will still be available next year.
http://www.firenzeturismo.it/en/even...l-chianti.html

For trains between Florence and La Spezia you need to enter a date on Trenitalia within the next 7 days or it won't show the prices for the cheaper/slower trains. The r train is 9.20€.

I've also stayed at Il Giardino Segreto and booked directly through the owners. I paid 45€ for their smallest apartment which isn't mentioned/shown on the link above. They used to have their own website, but it doesn't seem to be working now. I'm not sure it would be a good location for someone without a car.
[email protected]

Are you locked into 5 days in Florence? Is that at the end of your trip or will you also have to book your last night in Florence to catch your plane?

jkbritt

On the "ask for tap water in restaurants" did not work in Milan. Restaurant experience in Milan not really memorial. We had to pay a 2.50E to 3.50E sitting fee each to sit down, and we could not get tap water to drink. We had to buy sparkling or still at 1.50 - 2.50E per 12 oz bottle. Then, after eating, we had to pay a 20% service charge. Got really tired of fees really early into trip. We found a brassarie close to the train station, run by an Egyptian, who did not charge all the extra fees. He got a lot of our business. We also ate at -Saints for give me - McDonalds (first time eating in a MickyD's on any of our trips)to save the 7E sitting fee. We also bought bread, cheese, drinks, fruit an ate in our room and at benches sitting on the street and parks. So be warned, in Italy, the sitting fees and service charges can be more than the order.

KayF

If you do decide on San Gimignano, try this place:
http://www.sangiroom.it/indexe.htm

It's 65 euro in low season, 70 in high season. We stayed there a few years ago and loved it. It's owned by a friendly Italian family, the son runs the B&B (breakfast is extra if you want it, at the bar in town), the daughter runs the bar in the square and Mamma oversees the whole thing.

We found San Gimignano peaceful and atmospheric at night, once the bus tours had left. It almost seemed like a different place. You get the train to Poggibonsi, then a bus from outside the station to San Gim. You can buy the bus ticket in the little tabacchi/shop at the train station.

One other thing with using public transport, it was easier than we thought it would be but it does help to know a few words, like one way, return, ticket, etc. And if you know the station before your stop, you can start getting ready to get off. Sometimes the trains don't stop for long.

Kay

LucieV

I agree w/KayF re: public transport. It's really pretty uncomplicated -- certainly much less complicated than in the US, imo! Even if your Italian is non-existent, most people speak English. And even if you can't find somebody who speaks English, you can figure it out. Seriously!

I also agree re: San G. Daytripping is not the best way to enjoy the place (which we learned first-hand last year, when we had limited time to spend there.) Staying overnight is the way to go. And it's a beautiful, beautiful spot on earth -- there's a reason it's so popular!

We've always taken the train then bus to San G. I don't know that the bus straight through is any less time-consuming. Certainly no less complicated (it's not complicated -- period!)

robin, I definitely think you can do this trip w/in your budget. I am older and more demanding now, but at your age, we stayed in some realllllly basic places, usually without bath/toilet in the room. We even do that now on occasion -- I just don't find it a problem cleanliness-wise, as long as the management is on top of things. Huge savings to be had by getting rooms w/o ba.

Kay2

We still always travel cheaply--lowest airfare, train fare, food etc. to afford a slightly above basic room and any activities/experiences/entrrance fees we desire.

It has been a few years since we stayed in Florence (at a hotel we found through Rick Steves), took the hot bus roundtrip to Siena (gorgeous) following his directions with no problems (would be nice to stay overnight when tourists gone), and took the train to Cinque Terre.

We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure. I'll see if I can find the place for you, if you like. I think I found it in a guidebook and booked directly with the hotel. We walked to Portofino (do not recommend) and took the bus back. We hiked the trail along the coast and took the train back. We didn't take a boat anywhere, but that would have been fun, I think.

We found that breakfast in most of our budget hotels was so minimal that it was better to ask to have the breakfast removed from the bill if they would agree to just renting the room and we could get better at the train station or other stands for less.

kybourbon

>>We've always taken the train then bus to San G. I don't know that the bus straight through is any less time-consuming. Certainly no less complicated (it's not complicated -- period!)<<

The reason the bus is easier, it involves no changes and takes 1:20. The train takes 1:05 just to get to Poggibonsi and then you have to catch a bus (25 minutes travel time). Sometimes there is one right away and other times you have to wait awhile. Not a big time savings unless you have to wait for a bus. It's also easier if you have luggage since you don't have any changes. The Florence/San G schedule is on page 2.
http://www.sitabus.it/sita-toscana/Firenze-Siena07.pdf

Usually a bus will cost a few euro less than the train.

KayF

That's an excellent suggestion of Kay2 (above) to ask the hotel to pay just for the room, with no breakfast. Usually they will do it if you tell them when you book. Particularly in Italy, the breakfast will be minimal and you can get the same thing cheaper down the street at a cafe. We did this in Rome and saved money, it also meant we could eat when and what we wanted.

Kay

MileHighHC

Hello! I realize this is a very old post but I just searched the forums as I'm in the same exact situation - young couple on a strict budget planning a euro trip for next fall.

I'm curious to hear where you ended up, what type of accommodations and if you don't mind, what you paid?? Any places you'd recommend?

Thanks - hope it was wonderful!

kybourbon

I suggest you start your own post as the OP had not been back to Fodor's (it was their one and only post). List the cities you plan to visit when you repost.