We (two adults + two kids aged 10 and 6) are planning a trip to Italy in June. Would appreciate help on the following:

1) Which is the best village to look for accommodation in Cinque Terre?

2) Any recommendations for places to stay in Cinque Terre, Florence & Rome? I am assuming we will need a quad room, considering there are 4 of us, though two are kids. Would prefer a private bath too. Budget is around 100 Euros per night. Could go a bit higher if that is too less to get a decent place. We won't be renting a car, so place should be easily accessible by public transport.

3) We would like to do a one day tour of the Tuscan villages. Again, we won't have a car. So any recommendations on tours we can take?

4) How long is the train ride from Florence to Rome? Are trains frequent? Do we need to book in advance?

5) Do trains run late into the night? We will be flying into Pisa around 5pm and taking the train to CT(La Spezia). Was wondering if we would be able to go take a quick look at Piazza dei Miracoli, before heading off to CT.

Thanks in advance,
Ciny

I don't think you can get a quad in a hotel for 100 Euro. Especially in the better tourist locations. You may have to look into hostels.

June is high season and quads are hard to come by. We stayed in a quad a what is considered a budget hotel, 2*s (Hotel Casci) in FLorence in March of '01 and i think it was around $225 and that wasn't high season and was 7 years ago!

Good luck.

If you plan to visit the tower, you will have to arrange luggage storage or drag your luggage with you.

I think your hotel budget is low since you are traveling in high season and have waited so late to book rooms. How many nights do you have for each location? An apartment might be a better way to go.

Thank you for your responses. We have 2 to 3 nights in each location. If hotels will be over 200 Euros, and apartments are a better option, how do I go about finding them? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

I think in high season most hotels have weeklong minimum stays so that too could be tricky, but I am no expert on this, so hopefully someone else can offer better advice.

On another note, 2-3 days in 3 areas with 2 kids is a bit much. I wouldn't even bother with Florence, especially given that your kids are young.

I suggest you go to Venere.com (hotels, B&Bs)and plug in your dates and locations. You can sort and/or filter by price. See what's available and read the reviews.

I would guess most options would be a little off the beaten path, but if they are in a decent neighborhood and near public transportation, she should be OK as long as they aren't too far out.

Thanks a lot for the Venere.com suggestion. There seem to be B&Bs available in the 120-150 Euro range. Need to check further now.
Our kids travel well and we have no plans to visit every museum in Florence. So I think we will be ok in that respect.

Thanks again!