Hi, all - we're in the midst of planning our Italian honeymoon for Sept. 6-19, with stays in Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice.

Here's the rub: I generally prefer to have accomodations reserved for wherever we're staying, so I know we have someplace to put our bags and sleep. My fiance, however, likes to "wing it" - show up in a city or town and find a hotel (usually through a toursit info center or the like) when he gets there. We're trying to compromise by getting hotels in Rome and Venice, then winging it in Florence and Cinque Terre.

First off, is this a good/bad idea? We don't speak much Italian other than the tourist basics... and I've heard Italy hotels fill up very quickly with reservations, but I do like the idea of being able to leave an area if we get bored or add an extra day if we're not bored!

Second, any suggestions on which CT town would be best to stay in, if we will be finding a place when we arrive?
Thanks in advance for all advice!

I think that's high season and you're hitting the highest of the high spots. You can decide if that's a good time to go reservation-less.

I think you will find this is not a "wing it" crowd.

I have gone to Italy several times with no reservations and had no problem finding nice places to stay. If you're a person who is really really particular about where you stay, you might find winging it more complicated.

Thanks... Grasshopper, any tips on where to look/how to find places to stay if we do go the no-reservation route?

Start with www.venere.com

Whatecer your decisions, congratulations on your new life in marriage... and...

Best wishes,

Rex

The best thing about winging it is that you can stay as long as you like at a place, and leave if you want to move on, without of prepaid hotel commitments.

If you have favorite places where you've stayed in the past, and you find them to be full the hotel staff will nearly always help you find a suitable accommodation nearby. The trickiest place on your list might be Venice. If you really want a place on the Grand Canal, or a specific place you might reserve ahead. But one way or another you will find a place to sleep, maybe just a little farther afield.

What if you made up a list for each location of places you'd be willing to stay, then use that as your starting place when you get to town...

Well, depends on how you want to spend your honeymoon!

I was "winging" it in NOVEMBER in Italy-- there was no a SINGLE room AT ANY PRICE available in Venice. Of course, because we were winging it, we only found out upon arrival at the Venice train station! Other travellers, caught in the same situation, chose to just sleep at the station, or take a train to another city.
Fortunately, we (two women) had made friends on the train with two older women who were on their first trip to Italy. They invited us to sleep on the floor of their (reserved) hotel room. Which we did...there was not a single inch to spare in the room.

It was a good lesson... (1) make reservations for Venice, even in November and (2) it pays to be really nice and helpful to everyone you meet. You never know when you will need help.

All in all, it left us with a funny story, and a cheap visit to Venice.

But is this how you'd like to spend your honeymoon???!!! You'll get better places and have a more relaxing trip if you reserve in advance. If you want to switch while you are there, that might be possible...but go with some reservations in hand for a nice honeymoon...

does your fiance have a lot of experience winging it in europe? if yes, then go for it. if not, then he justs likes the IDEA of winging it and may not know the realities.

i've done both and usually i regret winging it, to be honest (best locations full, not knowing about minimum stay policies, wasting time making a lot of phone calls or even more time consuming visits to many hotels, misleading tourist offices, etc). on the other hand, i sometimes see a place better located than my reserved hotel and wish i did wing it.

i agree with the other poster that you are still in high season and you are visiting VERY popular cities/areas. strongly not recommended under these circumstances. We were in CT in sept (and later in the month) and it was heaving.

to get around the problem of being tied to an area i am bored with, i now mainly travel to single areas where i choose a base and visit the surroundings from there in day trips. for example, tuscany, provence, cote d'azur, etc. on a recent trip, i stayed in Nice and ended up liking the city more than i thought so i just took less day trips out of the city than i had planned. in provence, one base but very flexible in the day trip explorations (e.g. didn't like les baux so we just spent an hour or two. besides i usually stay in private rented apartments which require reservations

Before you make your decision I think you need to ask yourselves two questions?

How particular are you about where you stay? Must you have a private bath? Will you be unhappy in a pension vs a hotel? Are you looking for a specific location or amenity?

How fleixible are you on pricing? Can you up the budget in one city if there is no bargain available, or if the bargain places don;t meet your requirements? Or are you fixed on a guaranted best deal?

If you discuss these honestly I think you'll have the answer that suits you - not the rest of us.

Separately, IMHO - I would never do this - but then I'm very picky about some things - like location and amenities.

I wouldn't wing it while travelling to the most popular spots in Italy, and high season as well. It's your honeymoon! Don't you want to stay somewhere nice? Honeymoons only come around once; saving the winging it for another occasion. Preferably low season!

From my own experience travelling to Italy last September (same dates as you; see how popular that time frame is?) it wasn't as exactly easy as I thought to get hotel rooms in some places. Although I will tell you that I have much the same travel philosophy as nytraveler. I didn't want to risk staying in out-of-the-way or dingy places just to satisfy a taste for adventure.

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage ez, hope this will be the first of many, many trips to Italy for you! Good luck whatever you decide to do.