We are travelling to italy, among other places in October and have selected some accomodation places from trip Advisor.I would like some comments on the selections- Alloggi Barbaria , Venice - Hotel Aldini, Florence and Hotel Des Artistes, Rome. We are an Australian family of 2 adults and 2 teenage daughters (18,16), Does anyone have any great suggestions for these locations. Would like to be reasonably close to Railway Stations. Thanks

Don't know the hotels you have mentioned but can recommend the Pitti Palace in Florence and the Pensione Accademia in Venice. Both really well situated to all the major sights. The Pitti Palace has a roof top terrace that looks across to the Duomo and the Accademia has a private garden - almost unheard of in Venice. It is right near the vaporetto stop so you don't have to lug your luggage over lots of bridges. It also has family type accomodation around the garden area I believe. I loved both places and they were reasonably priced with good breakfasts. Hope that helps.

Unless you're planning several day trips by train, Rome is a city where I would choose a hotel located a bit closer to the main sights. Many people here have highly recommended the Hotel Parlamento which is well within your apparent budget and has a much more central location.

The Pensione Accademia in Venice is wonderful, but it's rate is significantly higher than the hotels you mentioned. The Pitti Palace in Florence is farther from the train station than the Aldini.

I am not familiar with the hotels you mentioned. But we took our kids a few years ago and a couple of our hotels had great setups for the 4 of us. In Rome, the Hotel Miami had two twin beds, then in a separate area a queen bed for us. Fairly large room, several closets, and a large bathroom. Even a nice table and 4 chairs. Great location, helpful and friendly staff, and the room was nice. In Florence we stayed at the Casci Hotel. Great location, again excellent staff, the room was not bare bones, but fairly plain. The room was large though and we had two twin beds and a queen. The bathroom was not large, but it was fine.

Thanks for your suggestions i will do some further research and maybe try B&Bs

Hi marie,

how long are you staying in each place? if 3 days or longer, you might like to think about renting an apartment instead. more space, more freedom, and usually cheaper.

Also, i would not necessarily recommend staying near the train stations - they are not always very nice areas where you would like your daughters to be wandering around by themselves. In Florence, a cab to our apartment cost 10E and we wre in a nice area where the kdis could go out and look at shops or buy breakfast. ditto in Rome, where our then 15 year-old son went out every morning to buy our breakfast, with no trouble at all.

and you can buy your own breakfast, store your cold drinks, make tea and cofffee, much cheaper than you could if you were in a B & B or hotel.

regards, ann

regards, ann

Thanks annhig, Could you tell me which apartment you used or at least the booking company. That sounds great

Hi, Marie,

in rome, we used www.rome-accom.com, [who also have apartments in other parts of Italy] and in Florence, www.bed-and-breakfast-florence.com.

in both cases, we paid a deposit through the web [paypal or c/card, I forget which] and cash on arrival.

in Rome we stayed in the Monti area just up from the colosseum, which for 3 days would not really be central enough for you, IMO, though i can let you have details of the apartment we were in if you like [it was 1400E for a week at easter 2006, with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 lounges, 2 terraces, but only one very small kitchen. it was on the top floor with over 80 steps and no elevator! - but you could see teh colosseum from the terrace at night].

the Florence one was only about 750E for the week, [october 2006] and again had 2 of everything, with a larger kitchen and a massive terrace. and a lift [elevator to you] though it was only on the first floor. it was on the via Alfani, which is off the via Cavour, about 2-3 blocks north of the duomo [10 minute walk]. It wasn't luxurious and the lighting was very poor until we re-arranged the lamps a bit but it would be fine for 3 nights or so.

there was a little cafe /bakery right opposite where you could buy bread and other things for breakfast, including hot chocolate and coffee, to take back to the apartment - our son who had started doing this in Rome, loved carrying on doing it in Florence, and somehow managed without any italian at all! if you start looking now, you should have loads of choice for that time of year.

do come back to me if you have any other queries,

regards, ann

Family members stayed in the Hotel des Artistes when they were visiting and we were living in Rome. We saw their room and it was clean and the price was right and it is good for trave in and out of Roeme being close to Termini. No air conditiong though and the whole set up was a little quirky, as if the hotel didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up: hosteller's delight, B&B or a real inn.